UNC and Georgia Enter Top 25 Showdown With Plenty to Prove

Facing expectations that are among the highest in program history, the No. 22 UNC football team heads to Atlanta on Saturday hoping to prove last year’s 11-win campaign was no fluke.

Standing in the Tar Heels way, however, are the No. 18 Georgia Bulldogs—a perennial contender looking to remain on top under new head coach Kirby Smart.

If UNC head coach Larry Fedora truly has his sights on turning the Tar Heels into an NCAA powerhouse, then there’s no doubt he’s paid close attention to the school on the opposite sideline this week.

Georgia is immensely talented, boasts one of the nation’s top recruiting classes and went 10-3 last season.

Still, though, the Bulldogs decided it was time to fire head coach Mark Richt and bring in Smart—the former Alabama defensive coordinator—just to try and keep things fresh.

While it’s surely a bold move to make, Fedora doesn’t expect it will have any negative effects on his opponents come game time.

“Since I’ve been here, I don’t think there’s been a year that Georgia hasn’t been in the top 10 in the recruiting rankings,” Fedora said. “I mean, they’ve got players.

“There’s gonna be a tailback back there that can go,” he continued. “There’s gonna be an offensive line that can go. There’s gonna be a quarterback—whoever it is—that can go.

“And the same thing on defense.”

The question marks leading up to this showdown largely focus on the Bulldogs’ offensive backfield.

All summer long, the competition between senior Greyson Lambert—last year’s starter—and highly-touted freshman Jacob Eason has been a hot-button conversation down in Athens.

Then there’s Nick Chubb.

Considered one of the country’s top running backs in 2015 before suffering a serious knee injury, Chubb is expected to make his much-anticipated return on Saturday. While it’s not unusual for a player coming off such an injury to need time getting back up to speed, UNC tailback Elijah Hood—who has become quite the star himself—sees Chubb as a different breed altogether.

“I knew Nick Chubb was gonna play [in this game] this spring,” Hood said Monday. “I told the media then that there was no way Nick Chubb was not going to play.”

“He’s a competitor, he’s strong, fast, physical, agile.” he added about his former teammate during the U.S. Army High School All American Game. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for Nick Chubb and the way he runs the football.

“As a running connoisseur myself, we look at each other’s runs and we’re like ‘Wow.’”

Here’s where this game gets really interesting, though.

The Tar Heels also have a highly-touted new starting quarterback. And guess what? They also have a tailback that can inflict all kinds of damage on a defense.

That’s not even including a defensive coordinator—Gene Chizik—that won a national title when he coached in the SEC, and a group of defensive backs dead-set on becoming the one of the best units in America.

Senior cornerback Des Lawrence would rather not hear another word about Georgia or the SEC—especially if the Tar Heels come out on top.

“Coming out of high school, everyone knows the SEC is what’s loved and what everyone loves to talk about—regardless of what the next conference is doing,” Lawrence said.

“So you do get tired of it,” he continued. “And I think it adds a chip on any other conference’s shoulder.

After a short shrug, Lawrence finished by saying: “As long as we go out there and do what we need to do, we’ll get some talk.”

Last season, UNC learned the hard way how important it can be to win marquee games such as this during opening week. Losing to South Carolina—a team that went on to struggle all year—hurt the Tar Heels’ credibility in the rankings, and in the eyes of the college football elite.

This game, for all intents and purposes, is a shot at redemption—even if Fedora wants to try his best to undersell it.

“Win or lose, it doesn’t make or break our season one way or the other—because it doesn’t affect the goals of this football team.” Fedora said. “But yeah we want to go out there and win a football game—and we’re preparing that way.

“And I believe–that our guys are gonna believe–that they can win that football game.”