After three consecutive road games, Virginia plays its second home game in six days on ESPN's Thursday Night package against North Carolina in the 111th meeting of a game billed as "the South's Oldest Rivalry." Both teams have quick turnarounds this week after playing last Saturday.
The Cavaliers have lost two in a row, including a 28-26 loss to Maryland on Saturday, and stand 2-5 this season. The Tar Heels are also not having the type of season they would want and are 1-5 overall, including 0-3 in the ACC.
This is the first time in 28 years that both teams have come into this game with losing records. In that 1978 meeting the Tar Heels stood at 3-6, while the Cavaliers were 2-7. North Carolina won that afternoon in Chapel Hill 38-20.
The Tar Heels have sometimes been the tonic the Cavaliers have needed to end a losing streak. Since 1983, Virginias’ first win over North Carolina in 10 years, the Cavaliers lost the game before playing the Tar Heels 10 times and have gotten back on the winning track eight times. Last year Virginia lost to North Carolina in Chapel Hill after losing the week before, but the Wahoos have won the last eight times in Charlottesville against UNC after losing the game before. It should be noted that North Carolina hasn't won in Charlottesville since 1981.
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For the first four games of the season the Cavalier running game was not very effective. They averaged just 51 yards per game and ran for a total of 204 yards. In the last three games, however, the running game has picked up. Virginia has topped 100 yards each time and is averaging 146.7 yards per game. Senior tailback Jason Snelling has been the primary contributor to this offensive explosion. Through the season’s first four games he had run for 128 yards total.
Against Duke last month, Snelling rumbled for 92 yards on 18 carries and one touchdown. On back-to-back carries he dashed for 23 yards and then 27 yards. He reached the century mark in a loss to East Carolina when he ran for 103 yards on 16 attempts. He gave over the team lead in rushing to Jameel Sewell last week against Maryland. Sewell rushed for 92 yards on 10 carries while Snelling bulled his way to 81 yards on 21 carries.
Kevin Ogletree is Virginia’s leading receiver with 31 receptions for 382 yards and four touchdowns. He ranks third in the ACC in receptions and second in yards with an average of 54.6 yards per game.
The Tar Heels need more consistency on both sides of the football. Tar Heel quarterbacks have thrown 12 interceptions, and the offense has been sloppy the last two weeks with late blocks, clips, holds and procedure penalties. Carolina is rushing for 120 yards a game and giving up 208 yards a game on the ground. The defense is allowing 392 yards a game, 100th among 119 NCAA Division 1-A teams; that’s up from 350 yards a game a year ago.
Virginia has been installed as a –6.0-point favorite with a total of 41. We at POINT-SPREADS.COM really like the Wahoos in this game and think only giving six is a bargain. Virginia hasn’t been very good this year to say the least however; North Carolina has joined the ranks of the woeful.
