Coach Fedora: UNC Getting Back to Fundamentals in Bye Week

UNC head football coach Larry Fedora is glad his Tar Heels are 2-0, but knows there’s a need for improvement with a tough schedule looming after the bye week. For now, the Carolina skipper is preaching fundamentals on the practice field in the hope that the talented Tar Heels can crack their untapped potential.

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Missed tackles and blown assignments plagued the Carolina defense Saturday night against San Diego State.

In lieu of the erratic play, Coach Fedora says the team will be spending some extra time shoring up the basics this week.

“That [sloppiness] concerns you, it always does. We’ll have to go back to the fundamentals this week. When I say that, it does not mean that we haven’t been practicing fundamentals, it just means that we have to go back and really work hard on the fundamentals,” Coach Fedora says.

Despite the sloppiness, Coach Fedora says he’s most pleased with the fighting spirit he’s observed in his team two weeks into the young season.

“We made enough plays to win the game. Our guys made the plays when we had to make the plays. I give our team credit for how they persevered throughout the game. They were positive and had great energy on the sideline. There were a lot of guys that were frustrated, but they fought and fought until we got it done,” Coach Fedora says.

The Tar Heels rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half against the Aztecs and trailed Liberty in the opening week of play before turning it on in the third quarter.

Junior starting quarterback Marquise Williams leads UNC in rushing yards up to this point in the season. But with a talented stable of running backs that includes sophomore T.J. Logan and freshman Elijah Hood, Coach Fedora says that needs to change.

“Anytime we can run the football, we are going to be a better football team. We weren’t having success in that first half [vs. SDSU] running the football,” Coach Fedora says.

Slow first half starts, especially by the offense, have become an issue for this UNC squad, but Coach Fedora says he’d rather the guys play their best brand of football in the latter stages of the game than the other way around.

“That’s not concerning for me. I think that’s a great thing. We played our best ball when we were down. I would much rather have it that way than the other way. There are going to be some times when we are going to be in that situation, and I know how this team is going to respond. We’ll get better on the front end. We’ll get better,” Coach Fedora says.

There isn’t a more opportune time to get better than in the bye week. With no opponent to worry about this Saturday, the Tar Heels are afforded the chance to focus on themselves.

“We’re not where we want to be right now. But we’re 2-0. We’re going into an open week. We can get some guys healed up and continue to get better in all three phases. We haven’t even got close to our potential,” Coach Fedora says.

Not close. Not yet. But an open week spent addressing core issues and weaknesses may do wonders for a UNC team that has scraped its way to a 2-0 mark, but has slid down to No. 25 in the most recent coaches’ poll and dropped out altogether of the AP rankings.