When the UNC football team rallied from 21 points down for the largest comeback win in school history two weeks ago against Georgia Tech, it was also the first time the Tar Heels had won in Atlanta since 1997.

This week at home against Wake Forest, 1997 will still be on the minds of the Tar Heels—but for a different reason.

In Mack Brown’s final season as head coach in Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels finished 11-1, ranked fourth in the final Coaches Top 25 poll after a win against Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl. Led by future NFL players like Dre Bly and Alge Crumpler, the 1997 group is still the last UNC team to begin ACC play 2-0.

It was so long ago, the Backstreet Boys were still topping the music charts.

Senior Quinshad Davis (14) says this team has a special bond. (Photo: Smith Cameron Productions)

Senior Quinshad Davis (14) says this team has a special bond. (Photo: Smith Cameron Productions)

With the win over Georgia Tech giving this year’s bunch a 1-0 start, offensive guard Landon Turner says he understands what’s at stake.

“As a senior, having been here five years and with all the stuff that me and my fellow seniors—especially [what] my fifth year seniors have been through—this season for us has been about leaving a legacy,” Turner said after practice Tuesday. “Putting in the work to do that, keeping each other accountable, working off each other, and striving to do that.”

The “stuff” that Turner is referring to is the black cloud of the recent academic scandal that saw former head coach Butch Davis–the man who recruited fifth year seniors like Turner and quarterback Marquise Williams– sent packing.

Wide receiver Quinshad Davis is a senior, but was part of Larry Fedora’s first recruiting class at UNC. Since he’s been surrounded by a lot of the same turmoil throughout his college career, it’s tough not to take Davis’s word seriously when he says this is a special group capable of special things.

“I knew we was close,” Davis said about the bond between he and his teammates. “But I didn’t know we was that close.

“During the Georgia Tech game, you could see how close we really were,” he continued. “When we got down 21, didn’t nobody panic and didn’t nobody start fussin’ with one side or the other. We all came together and said ‘Let’s make it happen.’”

There’s plenty of reasons why winning against Wake this weekend is important for the Tar Heels. Recent history, both on and off the field, has not been kind to this team.

But some players, like Davis, see this season as a chance to accomplish more than just a 2-0 conference start. They want to win the league—something that no UNC team has done since 1980.

“We knew before the season we had the talent to do it,” Davis said. “We just coming together as a team [now], making things happen. We feel like we have a shot to win it all this year, and we gonna play like it.”

Going seventeen consecutive years without winning back-to-back conference games at the beginning of the season can take its toll on everybody involved—the players, the coaches, and even the fan base. Heartbreaking losses, blow out losses, and everything in between have become all too common for UNC in critical ACC games.

Quarterback Marquise Williams doesn't want to look past Wake Forest. (Photo: Smith Cameron Productions)

Quarterback Marquise Williams doesn’t want to look past Wake Forest. (Photo: Smith Cameron Productions)

None of that matters to Williams, however, as the senior signal-caller has not been interested in any of the history lessons he’s been given this week.

“Coming off a bye week, a lot of people think we’re gonna slack off and drag,” Williams said. “We’ve been practicing hard all week. To be 2-0 [in the ACC] is great, but we’re just focused on the next game. And the next game is Wake Forest.”

Finding a medium between the opinions of his senior teammates, Turner tried his best to be diplomatic like Williams—but he couldn’t quite stop himself from publicly agreeing with Davis’s claims about this team’s potential.

“We’re obviously happy with where we’re at,” Turner said. “We’re kinda controlling our own destiny right now, but we gotta make sure we stay focused.

“We’re taking this one game at a time,” he added. “It’s our in-season goal—to be champions—but we’re not looking ahead to anything.”