The low point of last year’s football season for North Carolina is easy to pinpoint. On Oct. 3, a mediocre Virginia team came to Kenan Stadium and stuffed UNC, 16-3. Carolina got nine first downs, rushed for 39 yards and passed for only 135.
It was a remarkable performance by beleaguered Cavaliers coach Al Groh, who was fired after the season.
Guess where Groh is now? The defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech. With the Yellow Jackets coming to Chapel Hill Saturday, Carolina is quite aware of Groh’s abilities on the defensive side. Groh has switched Georgia Tech from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4, which has UNC coach Butch Davis concerned.
“The majority of the teams we play are all 4-3 teams, whether conference or non-conference, and any time you see a 3-4 defense, it’s something unique. It’s something we don’t run in practice,” Davis said. “Al Groh has a great defensive background and pedigree. And I think that we’ve seen evidence of that over two games.”
Georgia Tech is 1-1, with a 41-10 win over South Carolina State and a disappointing 28-25 loss at Kansas.
Cam Holland, who will return to the starting job at center, said the UNC offensive line well remembers its struggles against UVa last year. He remembers the Cavaliers shifting around frequently to confuse UNC’s assignments.
“We’ll definitely be looking at that Virginia film,” he said.
Groh, by the way, was 7-2 against UNC while at Virginia.
