CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Yeah, Larry Fedora does like fast-break football, and his new team certainly seems capable of playing it as well.
North Carolina blew past Elon 62-0 on Saturday at Kenan Stadium while playing at a very fast pace.
Granted, North Carolina's opponent didn't provide many speed bumps, but it was still an impressive display by the Tar Heels. UNC was very fast, not just when the ball was snapped, but in between plays, which was a point of emphasis by Fedora when he took over last winter.
The new coach, who led Southern Mississippi to the Conference USA championship last season, believes in a spread offense that he thinks can be faster than how other programs run the system. He demands that it is faster, quicker, sharper and also that it packs a punch. His checklist was full in UNC’s victory over the Phoenix.
Carolina led 41-0 at halftime and got touchdowns from stud tailback Gio Bernard on the ground, through the air and on a punt return in the first 18 minutes of the contest. Bryn Renner passed the ball well (236 yards, three touchdowns) and even had a reception, and UNC’s other skill guys chipped in nicely, getting key experience for a bevy of young players. Fourteen Tar Heels caught passes and 30 made tackles.
“You go into the game as a new head coach in your first game and you want to make minimal mistakes, you want to see communication good on the sideline,” Fedora said. “You don’t want to have mistakes in substitution and you want to take care of the football and those little things. And other than turnover over the ball twice, I thought our guys responded very well from the beginning of the game and all the way through.”
More than anything, the UNC faithful saw firsthand what Fedora envisions: A passing game equaled, if not surpassed, by a potent ground attack, with both going intent on driving opponents breathless.
UNC passed for 281 yards, ran for 243 and the punt return crew gobbled up 260 more yards.
But it wasn’t just the overall speed of UNC’s new offense that would make legendary Tar Heels basketball coach Roy Williams proud. The new 4-2-5 defense was fast to the ball, in recovery, and quick to confuse Elon with its ability to change looks without swapping in personnel.
The Tar Heels laid out hits all over the field, forced four turnovers, and recorded a pair of sacks. There were enough missed assignments that the staff will get the players’ attention in the film room and practice this coming week, as dangerous Wake Forest is up next, but UNC was just much more gifted than the Phoenix, so the Heels easily recovered from their mistakes.
They also earned a shutout, the program’s first in its opener since a 45-0 thrashing of Clemson in 1996.
“I told the defense it’s hard to get a shutout against air these days, so you got to give them a lot of credit for what they accomplished today,” Fedora said.
One possible negative came when Bernard left the game in the second quarter with a knee injury, but Fedora said after the game the sophomore could have returned if necessary. It wasn't.
Fedora was quite impressed after seeing the Florida native do his thing.
“It was exciting for me because that was the first time I’ve seen him play in a game,” the coach said. “I’ve seen him practice, but until you get to see it in a game and get to see him really light it up, get to see the bursts that he has, the explosiveness, that was a lot of fun to see.”
Even Idaho, which comes to Chapel Hill at the end of the month, should be more resistant than Elon, so the rest of UNC’s schedule will be far more revealing than this was. But as openers go, especially with new coaches and new systems on both sides of the ball, this one was pretty smooth.
