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Virginia Hosts North Carolina on Thursday Night
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NC State Kickoff Set for Noon
Oct. 17, 2006
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. A five-day span between games is relatively rare, but is becoming more common with the 12-game regular season schedule.
This is UVa’s second five-day turnaround in this season after not having one since 1993 before this season. This is the second time Virginia has faced the Tar Heels on a five-day turnaround since 1937 and the Cavaliers no doubt hope history holds. On Thanksgiving Day in 1941 Bullet Bill Dudley ran wild in his final college game as UVa downed the Tar Heels 28-7 in Chapel Hill five days after defeating Lehigh.
Virginia and North Carolina have met every season since 1919 and there have been only four seasons since 1900 when they didn’t meet (1906, 1909 and 1917-18, when football was postponed at both schools due to World War I).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, UVa’s 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.
Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Jamestown
Next year, the Commonwealth of Virginia celebrates the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It is, in essence, our nation’s birthplace. The traditions established at Jamestown–including representative government, the rule of law, free enterprise and cultural diversity–form the basis of American culture today.