CHAPEL HILL
The North Carolina Tar Heels and Cameron Sexton will walk into Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday stronger than when they walked out of it two years ago.
And there's hope that UNC will be able to end an annoying losing streak of 13 games, and win in Charlottesville for the first time since 1981.
UNC lost 23-0 at Virginia in 2006 in a dreadful performance. The Tar Heels managed only 98 yards rushing and 84 passing. They were called for eight penalties and showed little inspiration in losing their fourth straight game and their sixth in seven games. Coach John Bunting was fired three days later, effective at the end of the season.
Senior linebacker Mark Paschal remembers that Thursday night as one of the darkest days of his UNC career.
"That was probably the lowest of the lows," Paschal said. "It was on national TV. Coach Bunting was fired shortly thereafter. It was embarrassing for us as players. It was embarrassing for the university.
"It's something that has stuck in my mind. A lot of the older guys have kind of dealt with that but have tried to move on and learn from it. We're trying to get ready for this game."
Ronald Reagan was president the last time that UNC won in Charlottesville. Dick Crum was UNC's coach. Some very good UNC teams have not won there since. Some very bad UNC teams have lost there.
Receiver Hakeem Nicks considers Scott Stadium one of the most hostile places in the ACC. Paschal isn't certain that the stadium is any more difficult to play in than others but notes that the stands are full of passionate fans who don't seem to like anybody wearing light blue. Saturday's game will be Paschal's last at Virginia, and he would consider a win significant achievement for the program.
"Every year it seems like we play Virginia (and people say), ‘Well, you haven't beaten them there in 30 years or whatever,'" Paschal said. "I would love for some guys next year to be sitting in this seat and not having to answer that question."
Sexton's UNC career was nearly derailed at Virginia in 2006. He completed 3 of 8 passes for 22 yards and was sacked once before being replaced by Joe Dailey. He did not start another game until Oct. 4 of this season, ending a run of 21 games on the bench.
He is attaching no special significance to returning there as the starter of a team that's 5-1 and ranked No. 18 by The Associated Press.
"It's another week for me, really," Sexton said. "I really don't treat it any differently. That's not just me talking to you (reporters). That's really the way I feel.
"I want to go get a win just because I want to win, not because I want to prove to people that whatever happened at Virginia two years ago (was a fluke)."
Sexton was upset with his play at Virginia two years ago, feeling that, as the leader of the offense, he let his team down completely.
"I think in some sense when I look at that game, it kind of changed my career," Sexton said. "I remember talking to my parents after that game. Getting benched on national television, especially Thursday night, wasn't easy.
"We didn't play well. I kind of said to myself and to my parents, ‘This is going to be the point that's going to change.' That's when I started putting in some of the extra work in the early mornings. I kind of felt that I made some changes after that game that said I was not going to let this happen to me again."
Regaining his spot at quarterback took longer than Sexton anticipated, but he has led UNC to three straight wins since coming off the bench at Miami.
He is playing as well as he has in his college career, and he doesn't believe he has anything to prove at Virginia.
"I just want to go up there and play my game and our game within the offense and not try to do anything special," Sexton said. "I'm not going to try to do anything special the rest of this year. We just want to go play well."
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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