The North Carolina Tar Heels (3-2, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) may be on a two-game losing streak, dropping both ACC matchups to Georgia Tech and Virginia by a combined score of 40-10, but they’re still in the ACC, and they’re still North Carolina.

Georgia Southern (3-2, 2-1 Southern Conference) knows it will have to play fast and unload the football in a hurry against a UNC defense ranked No. 27 in the FBS in defending the pass.

“We better get rid of the ball quickly, or it will be a long day for (quarterback Lee) Chapple,” said GSU coach Chris Hatcher. “Defensively they’re probably as good as I’ve seen. They have two d-tackles that are potential first-round draft choices and a couple of their underclassmen one day will be.

“In a game like this, you just want to keep it close at the end and anything can happen. That’s our goal – try to win it there at the end.”

Hatcher felt the team was ready for a no-huddle approach in last week’s 26-21 win against Wofford, and it worked as Chapple completed 25 of 28 pass attempts for 187 yards and a score, while the running game accounted for another 148 yards and a pair of scores.

Since the down-field passing game has been non-existent so far for the Eagles, they’ll have to continue trying to chip away at the stout Tar Heel defense.

“Right now in our situation that’s how we have to play,” said Hatcher. “We’re not going to be able to stand in there and chunk it down the field at all. We won’t have that much time. We want to control the ball, but on the other hand, we play better when we play fast, so we’ve got to do a good job of mixing the tempo up throughout the course of the game.”

Chapple echoed the approach, hoping to build on the performance against the Terriers.

“Our philosophy this week is to get four yards a play,” said the sophomore quarterback. “We feel like if we can do that, we can control the clock and keep their offense off the field.”

Defense will be key for GSU as it tries to limit the big play and force UNC’s athletes to earn their yards. Eagles defensive coordinator Ashley Anders hopes to use the speed of his three-man front look to confuse the struggling UNC offense.

“I think we’ve just got to try to keep them off balance,” Anders said. “I think we’ve got to do a good job of mixing up man coverage and zone coverage, going back and looking at ourselves, at our tenancies, and kind of go off the wall in what they think we’re going to do.”

It is the GSU defense that raises the most concern for North Carolina coach Butch Davis.

“Georgia Southern is a team that’s got a lot of gifted, talented athletes,” said Davis. “It’s a program that has a lot of winning tradition. They do a lot of unique and different things defensively that are going to challenge our offense. They’re a very fast, athletic defensive football team. They’ve got a lot of guys capable of making plays.”

Georgia Southern’s defense has averaged two turnovers per game so far, but senior cornerback Darrell Pasco feels like it’ll have to do better than that if the Eagles are going to be successful Saturday at Kenan Stadium.

“We need lots of turnovers, not just one or two,” said Pasco. “We need to increase our turnovers and just get our offense better field position. If we can limit the big plays and make them work their way down the field, it gives us more opportunities to make plays.”

The biggest concerns for many FCS schools when they play BCS-level competition are injuries. Georgia Southern will not worry about the size, strength and speed of the competition on Saturday. The Eagles are going up there to win.

“If you’re a coach and you’re worried about injuries and not playing somebody, you’re not going to be very successful,” Anders said. “We’re going up there with the intention of winning the football game. Football is football.”

Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9408.