1. UVa trying to stay process-oriented and get back on track this weekend against UNC.

UVa has had a pair of two-game winning streaks this season, and now, they have their first losing streak. Following back-to-back setbacks against Louisville and Clemson, Virginia has dropped from 4-1 to 4-3, and sit at .500 in ACC play, with five games remaining. In Tuesday’s press conference, Tony Elliott talked about the need to stay the course despite losses, and how the team can’t make their entire focus about the results. He feels that if the team focuses on their controllables and get “back to basics,” they can rally down the stretch and win some more games.

“We’re sitting here at 2-2 in the ACC and we’ve got a chance to finish 6-2 if we take care of business. Still playing for everything that we started the season playing for, so the focus is to really learn from this past weekend and focus on things we can control, and get better.”

2. Once again, UVa’s injury report was a mixed bag.

UVa has been through the grind of conference play since their first open date, with their next off week just around the corner, following Saturday’s clash with North Carolina. Virginia stayed pretty healthy through September, but are a bit more banged up heading into the final month of the season.

Elliott confirmed that receiver Trell Harris had his surgery, and should return in about three weeks; that puts his return date somewhere between the clash with Pitt on November 9th and Notre Dame on November 16th. Guard Ty Furnish is expected to miss Saturday’s matchup with UNC after getting hurt against Clemson, and running back Jack Griese remains out, too.

There was some positive injury news, however. Safety Antonio Clary returned to practice this week, and seems likely to play on Saturday. Fellow defensive back Dre Walker is also back practicing after being out for some time; Michael Diatta and Kempton Shine were banged up in the Clemson loss, but both look good to go too. And Kam Courtney is back on the practice field too, after missing last week’s game.

3.Despite their recent losses, the Tar Heels shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Saturday’s game features a pair of programs that should be motivated to push hard for the win. We mentioned UVa’s two-game losing skid, and it’s fair to say that Virginia still has postseason aspirations, but they become a lot more difficult with a loss to Carolina. The Tar Heels started the season 3-0 despite losing their starting quarterback, but have hit the skids since, giving up 70 to JMU in a game that started a four-game losing streak. Still, Elliott was clear that the Tar Heels should not be taken lightly in this latest installment of the South’s Oldest Rivalry.

“You can’t look at the record,” Elliott said of the 3-4 Heels. “You look at all their games. For the most part they’re close games. They are coming down to one possession late in the game. The last game against Georgia Tech, 44 seconds left in the game and they’re tied getting ready to take it to overtime and a miss-fit (happens) and the guy pops a long run.”

UNC will also looking to avenge last year’s upset win for the Wahoos in Chapel Hill that derailed a then undefeated season for Carolina. And, on top of that, UNC is coming off of a bye week.

1. What’s going on in the third quarter?

Elliott has preached to his team, and stated publicly, that they want to win games in the fourth quarter. And in their first two ACC games, they did just that, rallying to beat BC and Wake. UVa also took a fourth quarter lead against Louisville, but couldn’t hang on. While the Hoos have closed strong in many games this year, sometimes they’re forced to because they’re getting beat badly in the 3rd quarter.

On Tuesday, Elliott was asked about UVa’s issues coming out of the locker room. He talked about how they’ve structured practice to get off to faster starts, and go fast when they can.

“I really challenged them today at practice, right, to practice so that we can come out fast after the half. So yes, we have put that under a microscope. We call that the middle eight. This last game was lost in the middle eight. You look at where we were offensively the last few minutes of the second quarter, we had three possessions and couldn’t really do anything with it. Defensively they held and didn’t allow them to score anymore, and then we had a great opportunity coming out of the half in a one-score game and then we gave up a touchdown.”

Virginia has lost the third quarter 82-23 this season. They’ll need to be better on Saturday against a Carolina team that can score in bunches.

2. Can Anthony Colandrea keep his interception-free streak going?

Heading into this weekend, UVa’s quarterback is playing cleaner football than he has at any point in his young career. Colandrea hasn’t thrown an interception since the third game of the season against Maryland, getting through games against Coastal Carolina, Boston College, Louisville and Clemson without throwing the ball to the other team. Colandrea had a gunslinger’s reputation last year, and while he’s still made some big plays, the sophomore QB has been more restrained and careful. Elliott said that’s the balance they’ll need from him going forward against more talented defenses.

“He has to take chances, we know that,” Elliott said on Tuesday. “You want to go through his progression. You want him to sit in there and throw the ball in tight windows. There will be some risk-reward, but right now he’s doing a good job not putting the ball in jeopardy.”

1. Regardless of UVa's record, attendance is going to be an issue and a talking point for a while.

The second question Elliott received in Tuesday’s presser was about crowd size and getting UVa fans to turn out this weekend, and beyond. It’s the third time this year already that Elliott has been asked specifically about attendance in the week leading into a home game. Elliott had a message on Tuesday, but he’s surely getting tired of going over the topic.

“The message is we’re all in this thing together. We’re building a program. The fanbase is just as much a part of the program as myself and the players that are here in this building.”

That’s a nice sentiment for the fans. And obviously, he, along with the players and staff, can impact attendance positively in the future by putting a good product on the field and doing it consistently. But at some point, the ball is in the court of the fans. The team could use a good atmosphere on Saturday, playing a rival, with a winning record, in the last home game for a month, looking to work towards bowl eligibility. And the crowd will be 20,000+ under capacity, because a lot of fans have decided coming to Scott Stadium isn’t worth their while. And if scores of those fans are also complaining about the program not getting over the hump and getting back to relevance, they’re part of the problem for sitting games out, not the solution.

It’s on the administration and the program itself to give fans a reason to come back, but it’s on the fans at this point too. If they’re still out there at this point, that is.