College Football 2021: 3 teams that will be on upset alert in Week 3

1. North Carolina (vs. Virginia)

Last year is last year, but it’s nearly impossible to forget the images of Virginia’s 44-41 shootout shocker in 2020. The two teams combined for nearly one thousand yards of offense but North Carolina’s two turnovers (that led to Virginia touchdowns on the preceding drives) and a missed field goal is what cost North Carolina the win.

There’s two takeaways from that game: North Carolina can clean up the mistakes and come away with a win, and Virginia knows it can win this game and exactly what it takes to do it.

For the Cavaliers, it starts with physicality. That’s the way Bronco Mendenhall’s teams play. They’ll punch you in the mouth, and punching them back only makes them tougher.

North Carolina has to contain Brennan Armstrong. Armstrong has shown the ability to scramble for solid yardage, especially last season. He ran for 89 yards and a touchdown against the Tar Heels last year. That was only part of his 552 rushing yards last season.

It doesn’t help that overall, the North Carolina defense has been prone to giving up big yards dating back to last season. Virginia has averaged 550 yards over the first two games.

A lot of people will probably look at this game as an easy North Carolina win. But the Tar Heels see it much differently. If you want to know how seriously they’re taking this game, Mack Brown told the media on Monday he believes Virginia should be raked higher than his own team.

If this upset does happen, it absolutely will not be a case of North Carolina looking past the Cavaliers.