College Sports
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Tar Heels say they are eager to prove themselves
AP File Photo
Butch Davis had a 4-8 record last season, his first as North Carolina’s coach.
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Published: August 26, 2008
CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina will start scratching an irritating seven-year itch Saturday when it opens its football season against McNeese State at Kenan Stadium.
UNC will begin its second season under Coach Butch Davis against McNeese, an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision power from Louisiana. The Tar Heels are brimming with confidence from what they have called a successful month of practice after a productive offseason.
The objective is, as usual, a winning season, which would be the first at UNC since 2001. The 2004 team finished 6-6, but the other five UNC teams finished with losing records.
Mark Paschal, a senior linebacker, is confident that the program's fortunes can change in his last season, if the progress made this month in practice is any indicator.
"Last year we didn't know if we were going to be any good," Paschal said. "We didn't know if we were going to be terrible. It was more of a nervous-type thing. We were almost scared until we played that first game. We had no expectations.
"This year, we have something to build on. We know where we stand. We know what the coaches expect from us. We know what to expect from each other. So it's exciting."
UNC athletics officials said yesterday that the game is a sellout. Four of UNC's seven home games are sold out for the 60,000-seat stadium.
Last Saturday, Davis put his team through a 98-play scrimmage, its last of the preseason.
Davis has fewer major worries this season than last, but he still has a long list of concerns. The Tar Heels are still young, with only 11 seniors. The running game should be stronger with Greg Little and a slimmed down Ryan Houston but the defensive line might not have the depth that Davis would like.
The team's strengths and weaknesses are more apparent to Davis now. Last season's 4-8 record produced trying moments, but Davis believes that his coaches and players will be able to adjust more easily this season.
He is certain that UNC will be forced to react quickly against McNeese State, which used a spread offense to go 11-1 last season. It did not lose until the first round of the FCS playoffs.
"It's very difficult to project, especially in the first ballgame, how the other team is going to play," Davis said. "If they do come out with something totally new -- a new look, a new pressure -- we can get on the sidelines and instantly draw it up on the board and guys will go, ‘Yeah, OK, now I understand what calls we need to make to care of that.'
"A year ago, it might not have been as easy to fix some of the mistakes."
Little, a sophomore, is typical of the program's change since last year. At this time last year, he was finishing his first month of college practice, and he was a receiver.
He has had a spring practice and a summer practice of working exclusively at running back. He feels more comfortable at his position and senses that other players feel the same.
"The guys are a lot more loose in the way that they're playing," Little said. "They're just able to play rather than think about what they're doing. That way, you can actually have a lot more fun. You can do a lot more on the field.
"The coaches are actually able to put more plays in and have a little more excitement in how we're playing whether it's pounding the ball down the field or being able to blitz a lot more and things we weren't able to do last year."
UNC won its opener in Chapel Hill last season, beating James Madison, another FCS team, 37-14. But the Tar Heels lost their next four games.
Davis knows that how a team finishes is much more important than how it starts but he also understands that a strong effort against McNeese State could be essential for his young players' confidence.
"We've got to play well," Davis said. "I've talked to our team throughout all of training camp that every week it's really kind of about us.
"You get caught up an awful lot about who the opponents are and when they are and all those kinds of things, but we've got to play well. We've got to play well and get better every single week."
Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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