GoHeels Exclusive: Midweek Notebook

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

Four years have passed since North Carolina traveled to Pittsburgh for a Thursday night game in 2015 and left with one of its most significant wins this decade.

Behind a 26-19 victory, their seventh of the season and fifth over an FBS team, the Tar Heels solidified their bowl eligibly. They also inched closer to their first ACC Coastal Division title, which they went on to capture three weeks later at Virginia Tech.

Jason Strowbridge was a true freshman back then. And although he didn't play a single defensive snap that season as he redshirted, he learned then what it takes for a team to achieve its goals.

Now, as UNC prepares for another Thursday night showdown at Heinz Field, the fifth-year senior is looking to apply what he learned in hopes of winning at least two more games this season and finishing his college career with another bowl game.

"We know what it looks like when we first came in," Strowbridge told reporters on Monday. "Things didn't go our way the last couple of years, but we know what to do, we know what it looks like. It means a lot just to finish out strong. Everything we've been through, it's only right we finish strong."

Strowbridge was one of four Carolina players who met with reporters on Monday evening. Here are three more notes from what they had to say:

Polino's return

After missing six games due to a lower-body injury he sustained in the first half of the Miami game on Sept. 7, Nick Polino returned for the Virginia game on Nov. 2 and played 14 offensive snaps at left guard, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).

Phil Longo said Monday that he doesn't think Polino will start Thursday, but he'll be in the offensive line rotation. That's all the graduate student can ask for.

"It's definitely been exciting getting back out there," Polino said. "It's kind of bittersweet missing a good portion of my senior season; it's not really how I wanted things to go going into the season. But being able to be in the situation I was in and still have a chance to come back and finish up the tail end of the season with the guys and hopefully make a bowl game and that sort of thing, a lot of guys don't find themselves in that position once going down."

Polino said from a functional standpoint, he's "pretty much good to go." He's still battling inflammation. But that shouldn't keep him from seeing some action at left guard or center.

"I've been working predominantly at guard," he said. "I obviously can play center, as well. Wherever they want me to play, that's where I'll go. That's all I'm really focused on right now is helping the team out in whatever capacity I can. I've got to make up for a little lost time, so whatever I can do to help the guys these next couple of games, I'm going to do it."

O-line shows promise

Despite being without Polino for the majority of the season, the offensive line ranks 23rd nationally in pass-blocking grade (74.3) among Power 5 programs, according to PFF. Back in August, Mack Brown and Stacy Searels were both asking the unit to be tougher. And it seemingly has been.

"I think, as weeks have progressed on, we've seen that we can be dominant when we want to be," Jordan Tucker said. "We just have to really be physical from the point of attack from the first snap to the last snap. I think we've proven that we can play physical and that's what we've got to do this week."

'Getting adjusted'

Strowbridge, Polino and Tucker have all previously played in Thursday night games. But this week's will be Sam Howell's first.

"I didn't think it was going to be this easy getting adjusted …" said the freshman quarterback. "Honestly, it feels the same. It made it a lot easier coming off a bye week. It'd probably be a little different if we had a game on Saturday."

Howell said the open week gave him a chance to rest. He also spent some time reviewing his performance this season.

"I just tried to focus back on the little things, the details," he said. "We've been in so many close games, so little things and details mean so much. So, just trying to focus on playing within the play on every single play and just making really good decisions."

Players Mentioned

Sam Howell

Nick Polino

Jason Strowbridge

Jordan Tucker

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