Going Scouting: North Carolina

Now, the knock on coach Dabo Swinney’s Tigers is that with five of their first six games in the friendly confines of Death Valley, they have yet to be tested on the road.

Wearing a No. 2 jersey instead of his regular No. 12 in honor of teammate Bryn Renner, who suffered a college career-ending injury while playing quarterback a week earlier against N.C. State, Williams offered a preview of things to come. At UNC he had 42 receptions for 574 yards and five touchdowns in his career. A pretty decent day for a young starter, but he added a little extra flash of brilliance not often seen from guys in his position when he caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Quinshad Davis in UNC’s 45-14 win against U.Va.

North Carolina (5-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) enters its visit from Virginia (2-4, 1-1) on Saturday after reversing its record from the midpoint of 2013. He’s evolved into the conference’s most unsafe all-around threat in his senior season.

“He’s a huge weapon”, U.Va. defensive tackle David Dean said. “He’s definitely a point of emphasis for us this week”. The Cavaliers allow an average of 36 points per game, more than a touchdown’s worth behind the next-lowest scoring defense.

Although Virginia hasn’t had a great start to the season, the Cavaliers are coming off a potentially momentum-swinging victory over Syracuse. This would turn out to be another National Championship team, the second for Roy Williams. While history might be working against Wolfpack, one thing it has going for it is that both of Wake’s quarterbacks – John Wolford and Kendall Hinton – are banged up after last week’s 50-14 loss at UNC.

When UNC Head Coach Larry Fedora looks at the tape, though, he doesn’t see a 2-4 team at all.

North Carolina lost its opener to rival South Carolina but now the Tar Heels have won their last five games to climb to a 5-1 record. He would kick my parents out of the room if they were losing and then you know, they started winning. He has 176 yards and a touchdown through the season so far. As a team, the Cavaliers rank 119 in the nation in rushing yards per game. While Virginia’s offense struggled early on – particularly in a scoreless first quarter – it bounced back strongly, erasing a 10-point deficit and scoring three consecutive touchdowns through three overtimes to win the game. The touchdown he scored against Illinois in Week 3 made him UNC’s all-time leader in that category with 22.

How unsafe a game is North Carolina’s matchup against Virginia? That is third in the nation. North Carolina’s high octane offense scores a lot of points and it relies heavily on explosive plays to get that done.

That inconsistency can be tied to the play of Marquise Williams.

“Guys were exhausted of it, didn’t want to feel that feeling anymore”, Thorpe said. “Other than that, our defense is going to stay our defense”. “He’s worked his tail off in the offseason and we need him to score, take the ball to the basketball and be a lot more agressive than he’s been in the past”. Senior Landon Turner is considered an All-American candidate at right guard.

Williams is creeping up on a few significant milestones. It gives him confidence U.Va. can do it again. UNC is the better team and should be able to put up enough points to beat UVa at home, but if the Tar Heels get caught looking ahead to next Thursday’s Coastal Division showdown at Pittsburgh, coach Mike London’s team is good enough to make them pay. “They’ve played against him daily in practice, our defense”.