So I learned a new football term this week, adding it to the twists we discussed here in this space leading up to the Georgia Tech game. This week’s phrase—I feel like I’m on “Sesame Street” here—is “biting the cheese.“ North Carolina coach Butch Davis wants his players to pretend like they’re lactose intolerant this week and avoid doing this.

So what exactly does biting the cheese mean? Virginia Tech senior linebacker Purnell Sturdivant said he’s never heard of it. I hadn’t either, until I was e-mailing with the estimable Jack Daly from the Durham Herald-Sun. Jack explained the term thusly ...

“Biting the cheese is what UNC calls it when you fall for something you shouldn’t—a double move, a pump fake or just moving forward to make a play when you’ve got contain—and leave your area or get out of position. Not biting the cheese is a priority with Tyrod [Taylor] this week.“

Jack actually wrote a cool story about biting the cheese in Tuesday’s paper. I’d link to it, but the Herald-Sun has one of those stupid Web sites that makes you register. So I’ll just copy and paste it below ...

CHAPEL HILL—Biting the cheese.

Maybe you did it at a party over the weekend. Or when you moseyed on over to the refrigerator while watching NFL games on Sunday. Or when you fired up the grill and made cheeseburgers Saturday night.

In football parlance, a defensive player bites the cheese every time they sink their teeth into the first move an opponent makes on offense, whether it’s a double move by a wide receiver or a pump fake by a quarterback or the quarterback scrambling around only to ditch the ball to an open target.

“Not just getting sucked in on the first thing that appears and realizing down and distance, realizing personnel groups, and allowing things to unfold and being in the right place,“ North Carolina coach Butch Davis said on Monday by way of explaining the term.

With the Tar Heels (2-0) set to face Virginia Tech (2-1) on Saturday at Kenan Stadium (WTVD, 3:30 p.m.), it’s a phrase UNC defenders can expect to hear a lot of in practice this week. The Hokies have made Tyrod Taylor their starting quarterback, and if there’s one thing you can say about the dynamic Taylor, it’s that he keeps defenses on their toes by using his legs just as much as his arm.

So UNC will have to avoid biting the cheese if it hopes to be successful.

“We’ll probably say discipline 150 times this week to the players and stuff about just making sure you’re in the right place,“ Davis said.

Cornerback Kendric Burney bit the cheese in UNC’s opener against McNeese State, running forward to try to cover a McNeese State wide receiver on a crossing route only to have the McNeese player then sneak behind him for an easy reception.

Against Rutgers, Burney resisted the urge to press forward midway through the first quarter when the Scarlet Knights ran two crossing routes in his general direction. When Rutgers’ Tiquan Underwood caught the ball right in front of Burney, Burney was in position to unleash a mammoth collision that helped change the course of the game.

“A year ago, he probably gets sucked in and chases the other crossing route and lets that guy catch it and turn up the boundary and it turns into a 15-yard gain,“ Davis said. “Now guys are starting to realize where they’re supposed to be and when they’re supposed to be there.“

Added Burney, “I definitely jumped the cheese against McNeese State, but I got a different kind of cheese when I waited back a little more [against Rutgers].“

It’ll be important for UNC’s defenders to remember their defensive responsibilities against Taylor.

Virginia Tech’s plan was to redshirt Taylor this season, but after the Hokies lost to East Carolina in its season opener with Sean Glennon as quarterback, Frank Beamer and the rest of the Virginia Tech coaching staff decided they were in no position to let Taylor’s athleticism go to waste.

“Tyrod brings a dimension to the table that we don’t have anywhere else on the team,“ quarterbacks coach Mike O’Cain told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Glennon and Taylor split carries against The Citadel, but in the Hokies’ 20-17 win over Georgia Tech on Saturday, Taylor was in for every play, passing the ball 14 times for 48 yards while running it 15 times for 74 yards.

With Virginia Tech not having much in the way of wide receivers—Dyrell Roberts is the Hokies’ leading receiver with five catches in three games—the Tar Heels’ focus on defense will be making sure Taylor doesn’t beat them all by his lonesome.

Making sure they don’t bite the cheese.

“That’s the biggest thing—can we contain Tyrod Taylor?“ Burney said. “That’s the biggest question people are going to be asking.“