On the surface, being an executive programmer for a network like ABC/ESPN would seem like an easy job. Take last weekend for instance. It wasn’t too difficult to pick the Auburn/Florida game (was shown on ESPN) and the Michigan/Penn State game (was shown on ABC) and know that they would be a big hit with sports fans across the country.

The Thursday night college game is a little bit of a different animal though. As popular as this game has become – many compare it to Monday Night football on the collegiate level – executives rarely have access to the top programs when choosing games to show on Thursday night.

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However, as the popularity of this game has increased ESPN has undoubtedly found more and more programs willing to work around the hassles of a Thursday game in order to play on a big national stage. This has basically ensured some pretty decent matchups week in and week out on Thursdays for the past 5-10 years.

Getting big time programs to commit to a Thursday game is one thing, making sure their game is a compelling one is up to the two teams. This unfortunately brings us to this Thursday nights game between the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina.

On paper this game sure sounds nice, as it must have when ESPN signed it up. But you don’t need a microscope to look at this game and see two teams that are in total disarray. In fact, the word “rebuilding” just called and said it was insulted to be associated with the football programs at UVA and UNC. All of sudden “My Name Is Earl” (8 PM, NBC) and a “Simpsons” repeat (8 PM, FOX) don’t sound so bad!

All jokes aside, it is a pretty grim scene for the Cavaliers and Tarheels on the gridiron this season. At 1-5 (UNC) and 2-5 (UVA), these two teams have combined to beat such powerhouses as Wyoming (by a missed extra point in OT), Duke (who doesn’t beat the Blue Devils) and the Purple Paladins of Furman (does a victory against a 1-AA really count?).

Consider that Virginia had what is being called a “breakout” game for its offense last weekend against Maryland when they posted 26 points in a losing effort. That performance vaulted the Cavaliers offense to the lofty national ranking of 109th. They had been 116th. The Tarheels have no room to laugh. Their offense is ranked 95th.

So there you have it. Two teams that are a combined 3-10 and with offenses that are statistically worse than programs like Buffalo, Louisiana-Lafayette and Idaho. I can’t wait to hear how Kirk Herbstreit breaks down this pile of dung.

Honestly, expectations for both programs weren’t sky high but I’m sure that neither Al Groh of Virginia nor John Bunting of North Carolina – alums of their respective institutions – thought this kind of season was in order.

It’s no surprise considering those aforementioned stats that offense has been the main problem this season for Virginia. Groh started the year with senior Christian Olsen – a transfer from Notre Dame – at quarterback. A couple of disastrous outings later he turned to junior Kevin McCabe. That decision lasted about half a game before Groh decided to look toward the future and handed the job over to freshman quarterback Jameel Sewell.

The growing pains have been obvious to anyone that has seen Virginia play. Take a Thursday night game earlier this season (September 21) at Georgia Tech. Sewell was making his first-ever collegiate start and to use an old cliché, looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

The only thing remotely holding the Virginia ship together is the defense, which ranks sixth in the ACC and has averaged a somewhat respectable 21 points a game.

That figure sounds more than “respectable” right now to Bunting considering his “defense” is allowing over 35 points a game on average. It’s really hard to believe that this guy coached defense at the NFL level!

In defense of the Tar Heels, they have played some better offensive teams than Virginia has so far this season. Still, that is a weak argument to hold up when your squad ranks dead last in the ACC in defense. And just when you would think it couldn’t get any worse, North Carolina found out this week that they will be without their top tackler, LB Larry Edwards for the rest of the season with a broken left collarbone sustained in last week's loss to South Florida.

Combine a defense that porous with an offense nearly as inept as Virginia and you can start to see why UNC is a six point underdog here. Bunting too has had to play quarterback shuffle after poor early-season results forced his hand. UNC started the season with Nebraska transfer Joe Dailey under center but pulled the plug on that experiment about three games into the season and, like Virginia, turned to the future and handed the job to a freshman, Cam Sexton.

After all this build up I’m sure everyone out there has started counting down the minutes to kickoff of the 111th meeting between these two schools, a game billed as "the South's Oldest Rivalry." The good news is, and even Lee Corso could tell you this, one of these teams will win this game. Whether the game itself is anymore entertaining than “Survivor: Cook Islands” (8 PM, CBS) remains to be seen – or not. You could always just check the score in the morning and read my recap in my blog.

North Carolina at Virginia factoid:

North Carolina hasn't won in Charlottesville since 1981!