Looking for its first win this season, the Virginia football team heads to Chapel Hill, N.C. tomorrow to take on North Carolina in the Cavaliers' ACC opener.
The Cavaliers (0-3) have won six of the last seven games against their century-old rival, including last year's 16-13 overtime victory at home against the then-nationally ranked Tar Heels.
Coming off a much needed bye-week, the Cavaliers will try to repeat some of the offensive success they found in their disappointing three-point loss against Southern Mississippi two weeks ago, in which they put up 390 total offensive yards. After completing 24 of 46 passes for two touchdowns and only one interception against Southern Miss, senior Jameel Sewell hopes to continue to grow into his role as quarterback.
"He's got a little bit of momentum going," coach Al Groh said. "Certainly he can play better, but he is playing better. That's been his history in his previous two years as a starter - to continue to play better, as he accumulated more starts - and we have to remember that this is a player, who once he did get into that type of rhythm two years ago - won nine games for us."
Sewell also said he is optimistic that the team will continue to improve on the offensive side of the ball.
"The offense showed what we were capable of doing, and that gave us confidence that we can compete with whoever it is," Sewell said. "Coming off that Southern Miss game, scoring points, we gotta build off of that and continue to do it."
Finding offensive rhythm, however, could prove difficult against a North Carolina (3-1, 0-1 ACC) defense that, on average, has given up only 132 yards of offense through the air and less than 15 points per game. Additionally, the Tar Heels have allowed only one passing touchdown this season.
Success at the quarterback position is crucial if the Cavaliers want to put up points against the formidable Tar Heel defense, Groh said.
"Usually against a defense of that strength, it takes a quarterback to really step up and do something spectacular," he explained.
Virginia also hopes to significantly improve its rushing game. The Cavaliers have averaged only 88.7 total yards on the ground per game and 2.8 yards per rush - and a sizeable chunk of those rush yards have come from Sewell.
"It's like everything else, we want to see it get better," Groh said. "That's pretty much the way we feel about our team."
Improvement in all aspects of the game is critical if Virginia hopes to begin ACC conference play on the right foot.
"This is the ACC - it's like a whole different season," sophomore safety Rodney McLeod said. "We'd definitely like to get those three games we had back, but you just got to move on to the next game."\nNext Saturday, Virginia will host non-conference opponent Indiana before traveling to College Park, Md. for its second ACC matchup Oct. 17 against Maryland.
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