North Carolina A&T Hoping to Keep UNC on Its Heels

Last week’s tight 17-13 loss to South Carolina let a national audience see some of the rust the UNC football team had left over from the offseason. But in a surprise to most of the Chapel Hill faithful, it wasn’t the defense that was the problem.

Heading into Saturday night’s home opener at Kenan Stadium, it remains to be seen if the new-look group can continue its strong play under first-year coordinator Gene Chizik–as they welcome a North Carolina A&T team with an explosive offense capable of turning some heads.

While the Tar Heels come into the game at 0-1, the Aggies began their campaign 1-0, fresh off a 61-7 blowout of Shaw last week, and a conference championship last year.

However, games that pit large power conference teams–like UNC–against smaller teams from the Football Championship Subdivision–like A&T–are typically viewed by fans and media members alike as easy victories.

For a coach, that mindset won’t get you very far–which is why Tar Heel head man Larry Fedora is doing everything he can to keep his tunnel-vision working at the start of the long grind that is the regular season.

“A lot will be said about how we approach this team,” Fedora said. “This team can beat us, just like any other team can beat us. And so it’s all about our attitude, and our mindset—the way we approach a football game.

“It should be no different than the way we approached the last one.  And that’s what we’re striving for. Consistency.”

The Aggies’ head coach is Rod Broadway, a UNC alum currently in his fifth year at the helm in Greensboro. Leading the way for his team is junior running back Tarik Cohen, a 5-foot-6-inch speedster who’s dashed for an incredible 2,488 yards over the past two years—something Fedora is well aware of.

“Everybody’s gotta do their job. They gotta fit their gaps, they gotta do a great job of tackling because that guy can go,” he said about Cohen after Wednesday’s practice.

“He’s got great speed,” the coach added. “He can take it from goal line to goal line–I mean, on any play. So if you’re out of position, you don’t use the proper technique, you miss a tackle—he can take it the distance. He can burn you.”

Cohen made noise in the offseason when he starred in a viral video showing him catch passes while doing backflips simultaneously. He was even invited to appear on ESPN’s SportsCenter, where he performed the feat on live TV.

None of that, however, matters to Chizik. He wants his defense to focus on preventing big plays like the 48-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter by South Carolina’s Shon Carson, which Cohen could easily replicate.

“We call those catastrophic runs–and our goal every game is to have zero of those, obviously,” Chizik said. “That was the one that got away, and it was at a critical time in the game. We can’t take it back, but we can certainly learn from it.”

With it being the first go-round under Chizik’s regime, the game against South Carolina served as a measuring stick for the Tar Heel defense. Everyone that played UNC in 2014 scored at least 20 points. The Gamecocks managed to put up just 17.

But senior middle linebacker Jeff Schoettmer wasn’t completely satisfied with what he saw from his group.

“We didn’t get any turnovers,” Schoettmer said. “That’s huge, especially in a game at the beginning of the season. The team, usually, that forces more turnovers is the one that wins. They forced three, we didn’t get any. That was the big thing we took away.”

One thing that might help the defense out this weekend would be for the offense to perform up to the expectations they came into the year with. Putting North Carolina A&T in a hole to begin the game would give the Tar Heels some much-needed breathing room.

Junior wide receiver Bug Howard, who caught six passes for 114 yards and a touchdown last week, recognizes that fact—and isn’t afraid to tell it like it is.

“It’s basically their championship game,” Howard said about the Aggies. “So they’re gonna come in trying to win. We can’t take that lightly, we just gotta take their heart from them early.”