Riding high after a dominant victory over rival NC State last weekend, the 15th-ranked UNC football team heads to Charlottesville this Saturday to face Virginia — with the hope of putting together the same type of performance on the road in prime time.

The major difference in this year’s matchup of the South’s Oldest Rivalry is Virginia no longer has the benefit of star quarterback Bryce Perkins, a dual-threat who tallied nearly 500 total yards as the Cavaliers defeated the Tar Heels 38-31 last season in Kenan Stadium.

Without Perkins, Virginia is off to a 1-4 start, dropping four straight games while using both junior Brennan Armstrong and senior Lindell Stone at quarterback.

The Tar Heels, meanwhile, returned nearly every major starter and have shown tremendous growth on the way to their 4-1 start to the season.

While sophomore quarterback Sam Howell entered the year with all the hype, the dynamic running back duo of Javonte Williams and Michael Carter has taken the spotlight in recent weeks —combining for over 1,100 rushing yards, 300 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns through the team’s first five games.

Junior offensive tackle Jordan Tucker said earlier this week that the chemistry on the offensive line has been critical to that success running the ball. 

“I think our improvement dates all the way back to last year and how we ended the season,” Tucker said. “Getting the three-game win streak I think, as an o-line, everyone really bought in. The young guys really bought in, saw that they were gonna get playing time in the future. We didn’t get the spring, but everyone attacked the fall and just film studied at home. 

“We’ve just been jelling to a whole different level,” he added. “Those dogs wanna fight and I’m ready to fight with them. But, throughout these first four or five games, we’ve just been jelling, moving and we’re shooting for 250 [rushing yards] a game, if not more.” 

 Virginia’s numbers on defense haven’t been anything special this season, but UNC head coach Mack Brown was quick to point out that the Cavaliers do possess tremendous height and length on that side of the ball — which could complicate things if they come out playing with a lot of energy.

Brown also noted this game being on the road and starting at 8 p.m. presents the Tar Heels with a similar challenge to the one they faced in their only loss two weeks ago at Florida State. Because the Tar Heels typically practice early in the morning, he’s tried to make some adjustments to the schedule this week to avoid the same kind of letdown. 

“We’re gonna take the bus up a little bit later [on Friday], so we’ll eat here, we’ll drive to Charlottesville,” Brown said. “And that’s not comfortable with an N-95 mask when you can’t eat or drink for three and a half hours, so we’ll probably stop and let them have a break halfway up. And then just go to bed and let them sleep in a little bit longer on Saturday.” 

In addition to this being UNC’s second night game of the season, it will also be the team’s third game on the road. In each of the first two—against Boston College and Florida State—the Tar Heels appeared flat for large portions of the game.

With as much talent as UNC possesses, there is still plenty of inexperience lining the roster. In the continuing climb from ACC bottom-dweller to nationally respected program under Brown, playing well on the road is the next step the coach wants to see from his team. 

“Saturday night we’ll learn, have we learned how to handle success?” Brown said. “It’ll be very obvious. It’s one of those, you ask me, I don’t know. We’ll know after we see the game on Saturday.  

“Will we handle road games better?” he continued. “We haven’t handled the two road games we’ve had near as well as we have home games. And that usually happens, especially with new programs and inexperienced teams. You have to learn how to win on the road.” 

Cover photo via ACC Media

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