Georgia Tech, with its unusual but effective option offense, is tough to defend. Ask the Tar Heels, who put up 50 points at home against the Yellow Jackets last season and still lost, 68-50. But as the Heels get a bye week to prepare, UNC second-year coach Larry Fedora isn’t just blaming the defense – he shoulders some of the blame as well.

“Go back and look in that game,” Fedora said. “We fumbled a kickoff return which gave them the ball in excellent field position. We threw a pick on a screen pass on about our own 25 yard line that gave them the ball on a short field. They returned a pass for a touchdown. We went for a fake punt on our end of the field, didn’t get it. We
gave them another short field. I have to do a better job of making sure we manage that game and put our defense in as many good positions as possible.”

Fedora said he isn’t sure how much of an advantage it will be to have the extra week to prepare but it’s definitely something they look forward to. “Obviously everybody knows their offense is very unique,” he said. “It’s not something you see any other time of the year. Any extra time that you get to prepare for it only helps you.”

Regardless of how much time you have, it’s difficult to defend, Fedora said. “We know that. Obviously everybody in the country knows that. But we welcome the extra practices against what they do offensively. Hopefully we can
be a better team because of it,” he said.