Frustrations — and losses — continue for Tar Heels
Unless you count bad luck, North Carolina hasn’t gotten much in the way of breaks in a four-game losing streak that started with a turnover-generated 37-point thumping at Miami, followed by a pair of three-point setbacks to Virginia Tech and Syracuse and last week’s 31-21 loss at Virginia.
The Tar Heels (1-6, 1-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) go into Saturday afternoon’s home game against Georgia Tech (4-4, 2-3) not having won since a 38-35 decision over Pittsburgh back on Sept. 22.
The run of bad fortune has coach Larry Fedora searching everywhere for answers.
“We’ve been so close so many weeks and we haven’t been about to get over the hump,” he said. “You’re trying to leave no stone unturned when you’re looking for changes that can be made that will help us win.”
The Tar Heels lost in the closing seconds to Virginia Tech and lost in two overtimes at Syracuse after giving up a tying touchdown with just 1:39 left in the game. At Virginia, they were behind only 17-14 at the half before falling behind 31-14 early in the fourth quarter.
“Offensively, we were too inconsistent to be successful,” said Fedora, whose Heels got only 66 of their total offense total of 337 yards by rushing.
The defense gave up 208 yards rushing to Virginia and now must take on a Georgia Tech team that beat Virginia Tech without completing a pass. The Yellow Jackets rushed for 465 yards in their 49-28 rout of the Hokies.
Their triple-option game under coach Paul Johnson will put a lot of pressure on Carolina’s front seven. The Tar Heels do see it every year since both teams are in the ACC Coastal Division, but that experience goes only so far.
“There’s carryover for the guys that have played against it,” Fedora said. “but the new guys there’s no carryover whatsoever, and you have just a few days to get them prepared and get them ready. That’s the nature of that beast.”
Limited preparation time is something that Tech’s Johnson can exploit, Fedora said. “Once he hits something that you don’t have an answer for,” Fedora said, “he’s going to keep rolling with it.”