{"id":7607,"date":"2014-10-02T00:30:13","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T04:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=7607"},"modified":"2014-10-02T00:30:13","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T04:30:13","slug":"fedora-news-conference-heels-cant-afford-to-give-up-big-plays-vs-va-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=7607","title":{"rendered":"Fedora news conference: Heels can’t afford to give up big plays vs. Va. Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Larry<\/a>
Larry Fedora.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>North Carolina football coach is looking forward to playing in front of a home crowd but he knows the Tar Heels will have to not give up big plays like it did against Clemson if they expect to win.<\/p>\n

Q. Just kind of wanted to — obviously
\nlooking at that last game against Clemson and
\nwhat happened going to this, what did you
\nlearn the most about your team in that game
\nthat you can bring forward into this match-up?<\/em>
\nLARRY FEDORA:<\/strong> Well, we did a lot of
\nthings better, and then we did some things not very
\ngood. I will say that our team fought throughout
\nthe entire game all the way till the end, and we just
\ndidn’t make enough plays. But there were some
\nvery bright spots in the game and we had some
\nguys that made some really nice plays, and we felt
\nlike we did a really good job of stopping the run,
\nbut we gave up too many mental mistakes and big
\nplays to win a football game of that caliber.<\/p>\n

Q. As you look forward with this team
\nand you look at your upcoming match-up, I
\nknow you spoke on it a little bit, but what can
\nyou say about what you’re heading into this
\nweek and what your expectations are of your
\nteam and this game against Virginia Tech?<\/em>
\nLARRY FEDORA:<\/strong> Well, we’re going to
\nhave to play better, there’s no doubt about it.
\nVirginia Tech is very well coached. Bud Foster,
\nstarting with their defense, does a tremendous job
\nof pressuring, getting people to the quarterback,
\nplaying man coverage on the outside and daring
\nyou to beat them, and they’ve done a tremendous
\njob of that. Having given up many points playing
\nthe game that way, and they’re very confident in
\nthe way they do it.
\nYou know they’re going to be very sound
\nin everything they do on special teams. There are
\nnot going to be any mistakes there. And
\noffensively I think they’ve evolved and they’re
\nthrowing the ball much better than they have in the
\npast. They’ve got some big receivers and tight
\nends, and the quarterback is doing a great job for
\nthem.
\nWe’re going to have to play a really good,
\ncomplete football game.<\/p>\n

Q. I’m curious, they’re a different
\nfootball team when they’re able to run the ball
\neffectively, and obviously with what you guys
\ndo on offense, they’re going to want to possess
\nthe football. What do you see from their run
\ngame, and why were you guys so effective
\nagainst it last year?<\/em>
\nLARRY FEDORA:<\/strong> You know, I think — I
\nmean, I’ve always thought they’ve done a good job
\nof running the football, and we felt like last year we
\nwere going to have to stop the run. We
\nconcentrated our efforts at that point, and we’re
\ngoing to have to do the same thing this year.
\nWe’re going to have to stop the run. If we allow
\nthem to be two-dimensional, it will be a very
\ndifficult day for us. They will stay on the field. For
\nus to get off the field, we have got to stop the run,
\nand then we’ve got to hold up in the passing game.<\/p>\n

Q. And on the other side of the ball,
\nKendall Fuller, and they have some very
\naccomplished guys in that secondary, but
\nthey’ve struggled some in pass defense. What
\ndo you see there that’s been a problem for
\nthem?<\/em>
\nLARRY FEDORA:<\/strong> Well, I’d like to know
\nwhere was the struggle on pass defense.<\/p>\n

Q. Well, they gave up late scores
\nagainst Georgia Tech and ECU and ECU threw
\nfor a ton against them.<\/em>
\nLARRY FEDORA:<\/strong> Yeah, they threw for a
\nton. ECU is going to throw for a ton on a lot of
\npeople. I’ll tell you this, watching them, Virginia
\nTech, with as much man, free and zero coverage
\nthat they play, I think their secondary does an
\nunbelievable job of accomplishing what they
\naccomplish, because you’re not just bouncing in
\nand out of it, you’re majoring in it, and I think that
\nsays he’s got complete confidence in those guys
\non that back end and what they’re doing.<\/p>\n

Q. Are Landon Turner and Jon Heck
\nhealthy again and ready to get back on the field
\nthis week?<\/em>
\nLARRY FEDORA:<\/strong> They’re both getting
\nbetter. That’s the best I can tell you. They’re both
\ngetting better.<\/p>\n

Q. Even though you put up some pretty
\ngood offensive numbers the last couple of
\nweeks, how much would both of those guys
\nbeing in there help your attack?<\/em>
\nLARRY FEDORA:<\/strong> Well, it would definitely
\nhelp us. I mean, it’s your two most experienced
\nstarters that we have in the offense. We already
\nhad a very young offensive line, and then without
\nthose two guys in there we’ve become much
\nyounger and a whole lot less experienced. Yeah, it
\nwould help us tremendously for the continuity that
\nwe could eventually get going in the offensive line.<\/p>\n

Q. My question was about Landon
\nTurner. You said he was going to play on
\nSaturday. What would his presence on the
\nfield as well as the leader of the line mean if he
\nwere to come back, especially with the defense
\nyou’re facing Saturday?<\/em>
\nLARRY FEDORA:<\/strong> Yeah, if we can get him
\nback, he still brings some definite leadership up
\nfront, a calming effect for guys when things aren’t
\ngoing exactly as expected, and a guy that can
\nbring those guys together and just keep them
\nfocused and keep them going in the right direction.<\/p>\n

Q. I think it’s fair to say based on the
\nlast few games, the secondary is an area of
\nconcern. What have you done this week to
\nimprove the secondary and shore up the
\nmistakes that were made against Clemson and
\njust get better on that part of the defense?<\/em>
\nLARRY FEDORA:<\/strong> Yeah, well, mental
\nmistakes are basically a lack of focus. I mean,
\nthat’s what it is. When you have a missed
\nassignment, unless you have not been taught your
\njob and don’t know your job, then I would say it’s a
\nlack of focus, and so we really haven’t changed
\nwhat we’ve done practice-wise. It’s not like we’re
\nnot practicing those things. It’s more of
\nchallenging guys to make sure they do their job
\nand they understand the importance of doing their
\njob on every snap, both in practice and in games.<\/p>\n

Q. And after the two tough losses, how
\nis the morale in the locker room and how is
\npractice this week in regards to the kids’
\nattitudes going forward and heading into
\nVirginia Tech?<\/em>
\nLARRY FEDORA:<\/strong> Morale is fine. Morale
\nis fine. The locker room is fine. I mean, energy
\nlevel, practice is fine. I mean, these guys, you
\nhave to learn how to put things to bed and move
\non so that they don’t bite you twice. Our guys have
\ndone a good job of that, and they’re ready to roll.<\/p>\n

Q. Talk about playing against Frank
\nBeamer. What does he mean for this league as
\nthe elder statesman for the league?<\/em>
\nLARRY FEDORA:<\/strong> Well, I mean, he’s a
\nlegend. 28 years at the school is — I don’t know if
\nyou’ll ever see that again in this day and age of
\ncollege football. I mean, you can’t say enough
\ngreat things about Frank Beamer, what he means
\nto the game of football, what he’s brought to
\nBlacksburg and to the ACC.<\/p>\n

Q. And talk about the new guys. I
\nknow the last couple weeks have been tough.
\nWhat do you guys have to do to improve on
\nSaturday?<\/em>
\nLARRY FEDORA:<\/strong> Well, offensively we’re
\ngoing to have to — we have to move the chains. I
\nmean, we’re going to have to stay on the field and
\nmove the chains. To do that we’re going to have to
\nplay — we’re going to have to run the ball
\neffectively, and I can’t say that probably anybody
\nbut Georgia Tech ran the ball effectively on these
\nguys, so we’re going to have to do a very good job
\nof that to be able to move those chains.
\nDefensively we’re going to have to stop the
\nrun, and we’re going to have to create some
\ntakeaways. That’s going to be huge for us to get
\noff the field on 3rd downs, and then special teams
\nwe really need to create a game-changing play on
\nspecial teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Carolina football coach is looking forward to playing in front of a home crowd but he knows the Tar Heels will have to not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-stories","category-north-carolina-tar-heels","wpcat-79-id","wpcat-80-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7607","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=7607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7609,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7607\/revisions\/7609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}