Confidence is Key for UNC Football Against Virginia Tech, Throughout Second Half of the Season

With the second half of the season beginning this Saturday in Blacksburg against Virginia Tech, the UNC football team is looking to remain confident and close the year out as strong as possible.

The road to 3-3 has been somewhat of a roller coaster ride for the Tar Heels in their first season of head coach Mack Brown’s second tenure.

The highs from last-second wins over South Carolina and Miami giving way to lows like a blown two-point conversion that could have provided a win over then-No. 1 Clemson, only to come back up with a dominant win in Atlanta over Georgia Tech—just the second time UNC has done that over the last 22 years.

Despite all the drama, the Tar Heels have learned in that time just how good they can be when they play their best. Winning tends to breed confidence, and that’s been noticeable with this team.

Having last week off, Brown challenged his players to take a look around the country and check out both the teams they’ve already played and the ones still remaining on the schedule. With a chance, still, to claim the ACC Coastal Division crown, Brown needs his players to keep their belief that they can beat anyone.

“Yeah, if you look at South Carolina beating Georgia, that has to give our guys confidence,” Brown said at his press conference on Monday “You look at Clemson just dominating Florida State. Once again, it has to give our guys confidence.

“One thing we asked them to do, their assignments on Thursday night, Friday and Saturday, were to watch N.C. State against Syracuse, and go through a game plan in your mind, and try to pit us against them,” the coach added. “Watch Virginia against Miami. Watch Georgia Tech against Duke, because you’ve played Georgia Tech. Watch Clemson against Florida State. See where that is. Watch South Carolina.”

Virginia Tech presents an interesting challenge to the Tar Heels, in that nobody has been quite sure what to make of the Hokies this season.

They opened the season with a loss to Boston College, struggled in wins over Old Dominion and Furman and then got absolutely smoked at home in a 45-10 loss to Duke.

Since then, however, Virginia Tech has shown improvement in wins over Miami and Rhode Island and still boasts a respectable 4-2 record.

Defensive coordinator Bud Foster has long been known as one of the game’s best minds on that side of the ball, and there’s reason to believe the Hokies’ talented wide receivers can find success against a UNC secondary missing four key contributors due to injury.

Lane Stadium also typically provides a strong home field advantage, which means the Tar Heels can’t just look at how the Hokies performed against Duke and assume an easy victory is imminent.

“You can see a team one week and they look absolutely great,” Brown said. “You can see them the next week, and they’re awful. It’s the same people. It’s really hard to understand, but I think other than maybe golf, there’s the biggest differential in teams in college football week to week. I’ve learned that one game doesn’t lead to another.”

A win Saturday puts the Tar Heels into the driver’s seat of the ACC Coastal Division race, as Duke and Virginia—the teams tied with UNC in first right now–will have to each come to Chapel Hill over the following two weeks.

Showing the ability to earn a tough victory in Blacksburg could do wonders for UNC’s confidence down the stretch.

That alone could be enough to accomplish a goal which was previously unrealistic, in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year.

 

 

Cover photo via Dakota Moyer