CHAPEL HILL
The memory of North Carolina's first loss of the season is starting to fade away, but not the pain.
Almost three full days have passed since the 24-7 setback at Georgia Tech, but quarterback T.J. Yates is still upset with the manner in which he played. Many other UNC players are also seething at the team's performance.
Yates said he expects UNC to have "a chip on its shoulder" on Saturday when it plays its ACC home opener against Virginia.
"A lot of guys on the team kind of have a bad taste in their mouths because of the expectations we had for ourselves and for this team," Yates said. "We didn't see ourselves losing so early. A lot of guys are angry and mad."
Kendric Burney, a cornerback, said that the team wasn't ready to play its first ACC game. He was at a loss to explain why UNC was in such a state, given that it hadn't won in Atlanta since 1997 and had lost its previous eight ACC openers.
"It's not the coaches' fault," Burney said. "It's us, as the players, our fault."
Burney is expecting a demanding week of practice, set forth by Coach Butch Davis, to sharpen play and help end a three-game losing streak to Virginia.
"We're definitely a team that can bounce back," Burney said. "I'm definitely looking forward to (today's) practice and this week of preparation. It's going to be a training-camp atmosphere. I can already tell that.
"It's going to be a lot of ones on ones (starters against starters). We're going to battle each other. We're going to go at each other because we've got to find a way to get better."
Davis thought his team played hard, but not efficient and not necessarily smart. He told the players in a usual Sunday night meeting to forget the game and move ahead, and think only of Virginia and the threat that it poses as a team desperate for its first win of the season.
Davis does not believe that he will have to go back to square one with his third UNC team. He said that the coaching staff will look at all aspects of play, especially all parts of a struggling running game, but no starters are in jeopardy of losing their jobs yet.
"I think that we're playing the best players that we've got," Davis said. "We've got to look at their capabilities and see what they can realistically do. And how can they get better at what we're trying to do.
"I think the worst thing we can do is try to do some kind of a magical hodge-podge where you move the offensive line around. They've got to get some consistency and some continuity during the course of the week and the season. We've got to be more effective. We've got to get the ball in the hands of playmakers better."
Yates said that he was still embarrassed by his play at Georgia Tech, misfiring on 15 passes in 26 attempts and being intercepted twice. Many of the players spoke out about the team's shortcomings in Sunday's meeting.
Yates said that he, receiver Greg Little and tackle Kyle Jolly took the offense to task for its performance.
"There were certain guys who said that they had had enough of this kind of up-and-down offense that we've been having," Yates said. "We've got to be more consistent. We've got to do things right every game and every play.
"We've got to put our best stuff out on the field every game that we go out there and not be there one day and not the next. It was a couple of the older guys that had been around here for a while (who spoke out) and have a voice on the team."
bcole@wsjournal.com
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