GREENVILLE — Well, the good and bad news about Saturday’s 70-41 loss at East Carolina is that it looks neither Larry Fedora nor the Tar Heels are going anywhere after the season.

Pounded by the bigger, stronger, faster Pirates and still plagued by missed tackles and mental miscues all over the place, Carolina embarked on a murderous stretch of nine games that could kill its hopes in the Coastal Division of the ACC and its chances to get the six wins needed for a second straight bowl bid.

Photo courtesy The Daily Tar Heel

Photo courtesy The Daily Tar Heel

And unless the Heels pull a Houdini act in weeks to come, Fedora will also fall down the list of hot coaching prospects being eyed by schools looking for a new man. That’s the good news, because despite all the exciting things The Hat has accomplished so far, It sure looks like he has a long way to go on the recruiting trail, in the weight room and in practice compared to Saturday’s seasoned opponent.

If the Heels need to see where they want to go, all they had to do was look across the line of scrimmage at their black-clad foes that average close to 300 pounds on their interior lines, compared to the 20 pounds lighter and light years younger guys in the white shirts and blue pants. It certainly did not help that their second 300-pound offensive lineman (Jon Heck) joined Landon Turner on the sidelines with an injury.

The game plan for an upset was to live up to Fedora’s motto — play smart, fast and physical. His team did none of the three, settling for field goals on two trips into the red zone and scoring its first two touchdowns on trick plays. Those were effective and fun to watch, but no one wins a big game on trickery alone.

After the second TD, a fake field goal that gave the Tar Heels their last lead, ECU outscored UNC 42-7 and that was all she wrote. Behind 35-20 at halftime, the Heels clearly were not holding the Pirates under the 55 points they gave up in Kenan a year ago. Keeping it under 70 seemed like a far more realistic goal.

A record crowd at Dowdy Ficklen Stadium, which had tailgated for two days in anticipation of a second straight win over Carolina and only its fourth in 17 match-ups since the first in 1972, watched the purple people eaters set new marks for total yards gained (789) and points, yards and first downs (39) ALLOWED by the school it has disliked to the core for most of East Carolina’s existence.

With senior quarterback Shane Carden throwing for more than 400 yards himself and four touchdowns, it looked like 11 on 7 much of the cloudy afternoon. Carden repeatedly hit targets in wide open spaces that then ran right through the shoulder-lowering and arm-tackling Tar Heels. Three receivers averaged more than 100 yards each, and one rusher piled up more than 200 yards in large chunks at bullet speed.

The very first possession was an indicator for the Pirates, who went first down, first down, touchdown to cover 75 yards in 56 seconds. It was also an indicator for the Tar Heels, whose Dominique Green seemed in position to pick off the scoring pass but mistimed his jump and was flat on his face as he watched true freshman Trevor Brown finish the 55-yard bomb from Carden. It was the first of many blown assignments for the sometimes-helpless Heels.

Coming in, Carolina knew it HAD to keep Carden and his offense on the sideline but could not do it, failing on 12 of 18 third-down plays. Neither Marquise Williams nor Mitch Trubisky was sharp at quarterback, a big reason why drives could not be sustained.

The rotators had no hand in either first-half touchdown, a halfback pass from Ryan Switzer to T.J. Thorpe and holder Tommy Hibbard’s fake field goal toss to tight end Eric Albright uncovered in the right flat. Switzer has now thrown two college passes, both for TDs.

Early on, it seemed this Carolina could play with that Carolina after Brian Walker’s third interception of the season. On first down, the Switzer-to-Thorpe beauty gave the Tar Heels their first lead. And on the first series of the second quarter, Junior Gnonkonde blocked a field goal that led to the faked kick and the Heels’ last lead.

Typical of the Tar Heels’ defensive futility was when the Pirates faced a third-and-28. THIRD AND 28! ECU’s Breon Allen, who led all rushers with 212 yards and a 12-yard average on 18 carries, broke an open-field run and raced 44 yards to the end zone and a 28-20 lead. The deficit grew to 15 at halftime, after ECU went 80 yards in less than two minutes.

A miffed Fedora put the blame squarely on the offense while walking off the field, confirming that the only way to stop East Carolina was to keep the ball for long, time-consuming drives. Three straight three-and-outs that used up less than five total minutes had ruined that plan. And when the Pirates’ Zeke Bigger took a pick six to the house to open the second half, the East Carolina post-game party was on.

The last three UNC touchdowns meant nothing, except to make it look more like a basketball blowout. Finally, ECU coach Ruffin McNeill felt his opponent’s pain after his team had averaged nine yards a snap. McNeill, in his sixth season here and having once had a team that led college football in yards allowed, called off the dogs after rolling up the record real estate for both teams on the one-sided field.

Next up for the body-battered and ego-bruised Tar Heels is a trip to Clemson, where the Tigers will be smarting over their opportunity lost in the OT defeat at FSU. In Death Valley, we will find out if the Carolina corpse can be revived.