While they did play a bit better, UNC football’s struggles continued last weekend. A trip out west to play Cal ended in a loss after Nathan Leacock had a potential go-ahead touchdown punched out of his
hands and out of the back of the endzone for a touchback and a turnover. Now, Bill Belichick’s squad is still looking to turn things around as they return home to play Virginia.
Going into the season, Virginia wasn’t expected to be a tough game, but the Cavaliers have gotten off to a very impressive start to the season. UVA comes into this weekend’s game ranked #16 in the nation with a 6-1 record. Their lone loss came to NC State back in September (in a non-conference game), although they did have a close call against Washington State in their last game. However, they also have a win over a ranked Louisville team (and one over Florida State, although that one’s getting less notable by the week) in recent weeks.
A key to pretty much any game a team plays — against anyone — will be how well they can keep the opposing quarterback in check. That will likely be the case for the Tar Heels against Virginia this week, not least because the opposing quarterback is just pretty good in general. However, there’s an added layer of intrigue in how Carolina will match up against Cavaliers’ signal caller.
Chandler Morris transferred into UVA after spending the 2024 season at North Texas. So far this season, he’s completed 68.7% of his passes for 1607 yards (7.6 yards per attempt), and 11 touchdowns to four interceptions. Three of those interceptions also came in just one game against Florida State, and FSU’s defense hasn’t been the reason for their struggles this season.
When Morris put his name in the transfer portal, eventually leading him to Charlottesville, he reportedly had an interest in possibly coming to UNC. However, with Morris a bit on the small size, Belichick and general manager Michael Lombardi reportedly did not reciprocate that interest. In the end, Morris ended up at Virginia and Carolina added Gio Lopez — who, funnily enough, isn’t listed as all that much bigger than Morris.
With the Tar Heels mostly struggling this season, opposing teams have been more than willing to dig the knife in and have some fun at Belichick and UNC’s expense. Now, there’s an opposing player coming in with a public reason as to why they might have an axe to grind, whether you think that’s fully earned or not. That could be an issue.
Throughout the history of sports, pulling out the “nobody believed in me” card has often been a very powerful play. There’s a reason why almost every championship-winning team seems to think that, even if they were an overwhelming favorite.
Now, the flip side of that is that if Morris does feel aggrieved, he could come in wanting to play aggressive and ended up doing a little too much. If that’s the case, and he throws three interceptions because of trying to force things to prove people wrong, that would obviously benefit UNC quite a bit. Considering how this season’s gone for UNC so far, I would bet more on him “balling out,” as the kids might say, but who knows.
Carolina will go into this weekend’s game against Virginia as underdogs, mainly because they’re going to be an underdog in almost every game until they prove otherwise. However, some roster management choices may have put some more juice into this particular matchup.
