Coach Butch Davis has talked to his North Carolina team about banding together after a key injury, staying alert and trying to avoid a letdown today.
He hasn't talked about a more obvious subject -- that UNC needs one more win to become bowl eligible-- and says he never will.
"Nope, not at all," he said. "We don't."
The one matter on Davis' mind is to have his team ready to play Miami today at Kenan Stadium (3:30, WXLV Ch. 7), and he's hoping that's the only thing on his players' minds.
"This is probably the most athletic football team that we've certainly played this entire season," Davis said. "They've got more overall team speed than anybody that we've played."
Quarterback T.J. Yates confirmed that Davis hasn't mentioned the postseason and also said that players don't talk about bowl games, either.
"We try not to focus on that type of stuff because, really, we have no control over it," Yates said. "The only thing we have control over is getting the amount of wins to go to a bowl, not which bowl we go to and all the different scenarios that people throw out there.
"We just know that we've got to win some ballgames, and the situation will take care of itself."
UNC (6-3, 2-3 ACC) has won its last two games. Miami (7-2, 4-2) will be trying for its first win in Chapel Hill in four games.
Ryan Houston will start at tailback for the Tar Heels in place of Shaun Draughn, who is out for the rest of the season after fracturing a shoulder blade last weekend in a win against Duke.
Houston responded with career highs of 164 yards on 37 carries last week, but Miami's defense is more athletic and faster than Duke's. Yates is confident that Houston is prepared to take the brunt of the workload and confident that Houston can draw the attention of Miami's defense and open space for the passing game.
Houston was sore for at least two days after playing against Duke, but Yates has no worries that he can carry another 37 times if necessary.
"If anybody would be able to do it, it would be him," Yates said. "He's a huge guy. He's extremely strong. He's powerful. Things that might hurt some people don't hurt him."
Today's game will be the last home game for 10 UNC seniors, who were sophomores in 2007 when Davis took over as coach. Davis has bemoaned the small size of all three of his senior classes, but is grateful to this group for its efforts in building his program.
"Seniors are always extraordinarily important," he said. "They kind of set the tempo of practice. In the offseason and the summertime, they're the leaders. You need those kind of guys.
"This year's senior class is different probably than previous years. The first one in 2007, I think we had 10 seniors but only two or three of them actually played in games. This one, they're all pretty significant players."
There's one other thing Davis hasn't talked about with his players this week. His previous college job was at Miami, where he compiled a 51-20 record in six seasons. Although Davis doesn't talk about his time at Miami, his players sense that this game is important to him.
"He doesn't make a big deal (of it), but that's where he used to coach," cornerback Kendric Burney said. "We know exactly the emotions.
"He won't ever tell you the emotions about it, but we know. We're definitely going out with a little extra (motivation) when we go out and play Miami."
bcole@wsjournal.com.
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