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Tar Heels will be on comeback trail again
North Carolina will be home to Boston College after loss to Virginia
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Published: October 21, 2008
CHAPEL HILL
North Carolina is on the rebound for a second time after its first attempt at gaining bowl eligibility last Saturday was denied.
The circumstances UNC is in this week after losing at Virginia 16-13 in overtime are almost identical to those the week after it was beaten by Virginia Tech in September. A three-point loss was the result of a strong late comeback by the other team.
Quarterback Cameron Sexton sees a different response this week to losing, however, which he is hopeful will spark a recovery.
"After Virginia Tech we got over that loss but it was tough," Sexton said. "This time we're just really ticked off. More or less teams lose games than win them. We felt like the mistakes we made cost us the game."
Boston College will visit Kenan Stadium on Saturday. A third offensive starter will be missing from the lineup after fullback Anthony Elzy fractured a shoulder blade at Virginia and will be sidelined for about four weeks.
Elzy, a sophomore, will join quarterback T.J. Yates and receiver Brandon Tate on the sideline. Tate is out for the season but Yates could return in early November. Bobby Rome, the other fullback, should move into the starting role.
UNC couldn't hold a 10-3 lead in the final 2:22 of regulation or protect a 13-10 advantage in overtime against Virginia.
E.J. Wilson, a defensive end, had forgotten the disappointment by Sunday when UNC assembled for a light workout.
"I've been here for a while," Wilson said. "I've definitely experienced the losses so I know not to get my head down too far. There's going to be a better day."
A few others, including tailback Shaun Draughn, were having difficulty in dealing with the frustration of the loss.
"I was devastated," Draughn said. "When I went into the locker room I was hurt. I feel like I left everything out there and we still came up with a loss.
"I know the team was hurt. The hard work we put in during practice and during the week, it's hard when you lose like that."
The approach Davis took in Sunday's team meeting was a first in his two seasons at UNC. He had always talked to his team first before reviewing the game tape of the special teams, the offense and the defense.
"We showed the tape so that what I had to say would be a little more visually impactful," Davis said. "This way the position coaches and the coordinators could kind of go through the game and make the corrections and what I had to say would register more about discipline and being in the right place and doing the right things."
One matter addressed was UNC having no timeouts in the last 47 seconds of regulation after Virginia tied the score at 10. Sexton took two snaps starting at the UNC 20 and kneeled down twice to not take chances and play for overtime.
Davis said he would have liked to have had at least two timeouts left if not all three so UNC could have tried to advance for a field-goal attempt. UNC used its last two timeouts on its previous possession when driving to the Virginia 25-yard line for a field goal from Casey Barth and a 10-3 lead.
Davis said he did a poor job helping his offense keep the timeouts. The coaching staff wanted to give Sexton and the offense more time to figure out what to do against certain Virginia defenses but the process took too long and forced use of the timeouts.
"This team is obviously learning how to finish football games," Davis said.
"How do you play the fourth quarter? How do you finish those last 6-7-8 minutes of a game? It's one of those things that you've got to learn. I know that some of the things that probably didn't help us on Saturday are things we'll probably do better in the future."
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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