Fedora Optimistic About Future Despite Loss to Georgia

After taking time to digest Saturday’s gut-wrenching loss to Georgia in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game, UNC head football coach Larry Fedora told the media on Monday that the Tar Heels are still in good shape—with all of their season-long goals still in reach.

“We didn’t walk into this season saying our goal was to play 15 games,” the coach said, referring to how many games it takes to reach the National Championship. “Our goals are to win a state championship, win the Coastal Division, win the ACC Championship and to win our last game.”

Fedora preached similar goals last season, but added ACC Champions and a bowl victory to the list after UNC came up short on those occasions in 2015.

Winning the first game has never been the most important task on the agenda.

Elijah Hood carried the ball just 10 times for UNC throughout the entire game against Georgia. Fedora chalked that up to getting “behind-the-chains” in difficult second-and-long situations. (Jeffrey A. Camarati/ UNC Athletics)

Although the Tar Heels received a bit of playoff discussion last year, their credentials were severely damaged by the season-opening loss to South Carolina. They must have known that losing to Georgia could have the same effect this year, if only because it brings into question the team’s ability to win on the big stage yet again.

With that in mind, Fedora is doing what he can publicly to prevent his players from added pressure.

“They knew going into this game that it was not a do-or-die situation,” he said. “We also know that it doesn’t make or break our season—I’ve said that before. “It’s on to the next game. All of our goals, I still don’t really talk about that stuff because none of them really plays into it yet.”

In general, the coach appeared very optimistic—having already accepted responsibility for his costly unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that hurt the Tar Heels during the second half of Saturday’s loss.

While the criticism of the run game—and how little it was utilized–may be warranted, Fedora doesn’t seem too concerned about the long-term effects moving forward.

“It’s the same situation as always,” Fedora said. “If we don’t run the ball good enough, then [critics say] we didn’t throw it enough. If we don’t throw it well enough, then we didn’t run it enough.

‘It’s always the same thing.”

Sophomore linebacker Andre Smith has shown great potential, but he and the rest of the Tar Heel defense have to clean up their tackling in order to stop the run–according to Fedora. (Jeffrey A. Camarati/ UNC Athletics)

When discussing the team’s struggles defending the run, however, Fedora blamed missed tackles and said that was an area that needs to be fixed as soon as possible—despite giving credit to Georgia tailback Nick Chubb and all of his talents.

He also said quarterback Mitch Trubisky didn’t quite play up to his expectations, but trusts that he’ll get better as he grows into his role.

In hindsight, it’s easy to second-guess the decision to have Trubisky throw the ball so often—especially on first down—but there’s still plenty of football left for Fedora and company to get things back on track in time to reach their goals.

“All of the mistakes that we made that kept us from being successful in that game are correctable,” Fedora said. “I feel relieved in that.”