Fedora: Tar Heels need to make key plays
After giving up a touchdown with 19 seconds left in a 22-19 setback to Virginia Tech and then losing 40-37 in two overtimes at Syracuse, North Carolina coach Larry Fedora is left searching for players to step up and make plays in key situations as the Tar Heels (1-5, 1-3 Atlantic Coach Conference) prepare for Saturday’s outing at resurgent Virginia.
It’s not just plays at the end of the game, but throughout the 60 minutes, he said.
“We’re so close, but yet so far away in being consistent in everything we do and our execution and the way we handle things,” Fedora said.
The Tar Heels fell behind 20-7 at Syracuse before rallying for a 27-20 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Freeman Jones missed a 45-yard field goal that would have made it a 10-point cushion.
The Heels gave up the football with just over two minutes left, just enough time for Syracuse to drive for the tying touchdown behind backup redshirt freshman quarterback Tommy DeVito.
The Tar Heels matched the Oranges’ first touchdown in overtime but had to settle for a field goal on their second possession when quarterback Nathan Elliott was sacked on third-and 10 from the 25-yard line.
Jones converted a 48-yard try, but the Orange answered with a touchdown for the win.
Fedora pulled out all stops with wide receivers Anthony Ratliff-Williams and Beau Corrales both attempting passes, and Ratliff-Williams and receiver Dazz Newsome both had runs from scrimmage.
Corrales’ pass was intercepted, and Ratliff-Williams’ attempt fell incomplete to give the Orange the ball back for its final drive. Having a receiver throw the pass at his 16-yard line and not run the ball or rely on Elliott, who was 34-of-52 passing for 321 yards, did raise some questions about the play call.
“We’re going to play to win,” Fedora said. “We’re going to call to win. We want our guys to feel confident that we have confidence in them and that we’re going to go win the game.
“We’re not going to be conservative and try to play not to lose. We’re going to play to win.”
Despite the losing record, Fedora said he doesn’t worry about the Tar Heels throwing in the towel when they face the Cavaliers (5-2, 3-1 ACC), who suddenly find themselves in the thick of the Coastal Division race with their 28-14 win over Duke.
He just wants his players to assume responsibility.
“What I worry about more than anything is somebody waiting for someone else to make the play,” he said. “It’s got to be me that’s going to make the play. I want the opportunity. I want the ball in my hands. I want them to throw it to my guy.
“That’s the mentality that you need when it comes down to a critical situation. You can’t look at it in any other way.”