Gio is Gio and a win is a win.

Fortunately for the Tar Heels, those two things have to go hand in hand to pull out a beautifully ugly 18-14 victory over Miami for the first road W of the Larry Fedora era.

Carolina did a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong, but only a team with moxie pulls one out when it was there for the losing. Nearly 500 yards of total offense and only 18 points is generally a formula for many mistakes. Take your pick.

Two failed field goals and one interception in the red zone. A second straight game with 15 penalties, this one for more than 150 yards that included consecutive 12-men on the field flags. When it figured out you can only play with 11, the defense warped and bent but, thank goodness, did not break.

Most of all thanks to the human bowling ball known as Giovani Bernard, who finished like he started on his way to 177 yards rushing, 36 receiving and 26 returning.

The biggest mystery surrounding Bernard’s homecoming to Fort Lauderdale, where he starred for St. Thomas Aquinas High School, is how the hell he ever got out of Florida without signing with Miami, Florida, Florida State, Central Florida, South Florida, Florida International or Florida Atlantic? Well, you get the point.

Rumor has it the bigger of those schools thought he was too small. A 5-10, 205-pound all-purpose stud who is Ray Rice small, Emmitt Smith small, more than 500 yards in the last two games small. All those recruiters and recruiting coordinators who still have jobs in the Sunshine State are saying today, “Not me, coach, he wasn’t my responsibility.”

Fedora should send a thank you note to Butch Davis and his staff for snagging this bullet train, among other talented players that are flourishing in the new system.
 

Seemingly, the only thing Bernard lacks halfway through his second season at Carolina is a nickname that’s even cooler than his abbreviated first name. Go-Go? Bam-Bam? The new Choo Choo?

Bernard scored both of Carolina’s touchdowns, picking his hole and then blasting through it to the end zone. The first one set the tone for what looked like a blowout on the beach before the Tar Heels began blowing opportunities to do so. The second one gave the guys in all white the lead they kept for good, precariously protected by Bernard’s last-drive yardage that put Miami into the Hail Mary mode.

Carolina’s secondary gave up 235 passing, mostly to wildly erratic quarterback Stephen Morris, but the DBs kept the Miami receivers in front of them and forced long drives. That’s not the Hurricanes’ MO. The Heels, on the other hand, love lopping off large chunks of yardage quickly, trying to tire out the defense. Bernard is a brilliant weapon in such an attack.

Gio’s golden moment was a drive-sustaining shoe-top catch of Bryn Renner’s lob that only someone so small with such hands of glue could snag off the grass and control while he rolled over twice. With a fresh set of downs, Carolina needed only one snap as Bernard bolted 17 yards for the lead, which became eight when punter Tommy Hibbard caught the ‘Canes napping before the point-after team shifted over.

Hibbard’s two-point pass to Eric Ebron provided a lead that Miami could not match when its own trick play for a tie was slapped with a delay-of-game penalty. The Canes kicked to get within one, the closest they ever were in dropping to 4-3 and 3-1 in the ACC.

It didn’t work last week, but maybe when the Tar Heels prepare for Duke. Fedora had plenty to bitch on following the fabulous offensive display against Virginia Tech, like those 15 penalties, special team gaffes and defensive lapses. He’ll have even more to ride them about this week.

But bottom line, thanks to gyrating Gio, is that Carolina is 5-2 overall and near the top (2-1) of the ACC Coastal Division they cannot win.  Their next two games will also determine the so-called state championship that they CAN win if only they will celebrate it.

When you have so little to play for, it’s a good thing you have a too-small back to lead the way.

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