{"id":4026,"date":"2012-07-20T00:20:10","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T04:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=4026"},"modified":"2012-07-20T00:20:10","modified_gmt":"2012-07-20T04:20:10","slug":"uncs-fedora-seems-to-be-focusing-on-state-now-that-a-bowl-is-out-of-the-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=4026","title":{"rendered":"UNC’s Fedora seems to be focusing on State now that a bowl is out of the question"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>With no chance to go to a bowl game this year, UNC may be focusing a bit more on the game with N.C. State this year, new Tar Heels\u2019 coach Larry Fedora seemed to imply at Triangle Pigskin Preview in Cary Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Fedora said the Tar Heel players were upset when they learned they weren\u2019t eligible to play in a bowl this season because of NCAA sanctions but he said there is so much more to play for than a bowl game.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of bowls out there, but there aren\u2019t a lot of great bowl sites,\u201d Fedora said. \u201cThese kids play to win, they play for the interlocking \u2018NC\u2019 on their helmets and on their chests, they want to make their fans proud, and they\u2019re competitors. So they\u2019ll go out they\u2019ll compete each and every day, I promise you that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was excited about the players\u2019 attitudes. \u201cThey\u2019ve totally bought in,\u201d Fedora said. \u201cThey\u2019re excited about what\u2019s going on, they\u2019ve done everything we\u2019ve asked them to do, both on the field and off. They\u2019re working as hard as we want them to work. They\u2019re excited about wanting to change the culture at Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fedora, who has said there will be added emphasis to the game against the Wolfpack this season, knows exactly how many days until the Tar Heels face N.C. State, which has defeated UNC five years in a row. <\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it\u2019s been like any other rivalry I\u2019ve been involved in \u2014 it\u2019s pretty ferocious and the fans get into it,\u201d Fedora said. \u201cThe regional rivalries are what makes college football the greatest sport in the world, and I\u2019m excited about getting involved in this rivalry.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part State coach Tom O\u2019Brien wouldn\u2019t let himself get dragged into a rivalry conversation. \u201cHe\u2019s a good guy,\u201d O\u2019Brien said of Fedora. \u201cHe\u2019s a good football coach. So I think he\u2019s a good addition to the ACC, and he\u2019ll do a good job at Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien said that his team is in the best shape they\u2019ve been in during his six years he\u2019s been at the helm. The Pack is experienced and deep. \u201cI think the question marks certainly we have would be at the linebacker position,\u201d he said. \u201cWe walked off the field last year and knew we had lost two tackles and the middle linebacker position (Audie Cole) coming back for (this) year. Subsequently we lost two other guys (including Terrell Manning, who opted to head to the NFL). The linebacker situation will have to work itself in camp. (Linebacker coach) Jon Tenuta has promised me he\u2019ll have three guys ready to play at Tennessee so I believe him.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With no chance to go to a bowl game this year, UNC may be focusing a bit more on the game with N.C. State this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,81,80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-stories","category-n-c-state-wolfpack","category-north-carolina-tar-heels","wpcat-79-id","wpcat-81-id","wpcat-80-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4028,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4026\/revisions\/4028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}