“While the naysayers, the ABC’ers, the haters will point to the fact that what happened in Kenan Stadium yesterday was against a Football Championship Subdivision squad, the shallacking that the North Carolina football squad put on Elon, shutting the opponents out by the final of 62 to 0, was still very impressive. The Tar Heels came just three points shorts of their single game record, which if not for a lost fumble by A.J. Blue a few yards away from the Phoenix’ end zone would have probably been broken. And still it was the most points that a team from Chapel Hill had scored in the last 17 seasons. But that is neither here or there, what was important, as I said in my preview, “how the squad played”. After having watched the game twice, once live and then taking my time on replay, I can say for certain that they played well!”
– Alex Mazzolini of isportsweb
“Giovani Bernard can be scary good this year: North Carolina’s all about spreading teams out and giving its playmakers room to work this year. That’s bad news for its opponents when it comes to Bernard.”
– David Morrison, Greensboro News & Record
“Carolina debuted its new offense conjured by Larry Fedora but tailback Giovani Bernard would have looked good in any formation with 203 all-purpose yards. Bernard became well-acquainted with the end zone by the end of the first quarter before leaving the game with discomfort in his left knee. It didn’t take long for Bernard to break into the open nor for UNC to go up big in a new live-wire offense that produced the second-most points in school history.”
– Ryan Bisesi, Salisbury Post
“I don’t know if one game will establish the identity because there wasn’t much adversity for us in that game. Until we have to face some adversity it’s hard to find out who you really are.”
– Larry Fedora, UNC coach
“We were definitely overmatched by the size, by the strength, by the speed of Carolina. The snowball effect of them scoring early and continuing to score on top of it didn’t help.”
– Thomas Wilson, Elon quarterback
“Looking forward, it’s impossible to know how long Larry Fedora will coach the North Carolina football team. His tenure now consists of one game, a 62-0 romp over Elon on Saturday that will arouse hibernating fans, inflate immediate expectations and cause some pauses around the ACC. Fedora’s debut was virtually flawless, with two turnovers and three penalties buried under the roaring thunder of Giovani Bernard’s 59-yard tightrope dance down the left sideline and his 70-yard punt return.”
– Lenox Rawlings, Winston-Salem Journal