But maybe Fedora is selling his team short.
There are, in theory, two UNC football teams. One that lost four games in a row by an average of 17 points, and one that has won its past two by the skin of its teeth.
One whose season was pronounced dead just two weeks ago, and one that now sits just a half game out of the division lead.
Nowhere was this more evident than in UNC’s 28-27 win against Virginia Saturday — a game that saw the Tar Heels altruistically give up 14 unanswered points in the first 12 minutes of play and then stingily surrender just one measly field goal in the second half.
“(I saw) more energy,” Fedora said of his team’s second-half performance. “We filled our gaps better, especially in the run game, so we were able to stop the run and make them throw it a little bit more.”
The Tar Heels have proven reluctant masters of nail-biter games this season, winning three of their four games that were decided by one possession.
The Hurricanes haven’t had a single game decided by fewer than 10 points.
UNC’s past two games — which it won by six points combined — did nothing to help the Tar Heels’ blood pressure, which has risen and fallen with the fervor of a teenager's emotions in the past months.
It’s left offensive lineman Landon Turner struggling for the words to describe the feeling in the locker room the past two weeks.
“I don’t even know if I want to say relief,” Turner said. “We’re just going forward. We’re just trucking along.”
Saturday, they truck straight into the eye of the Hurricanes, where The Duke patiently awaits.
But Fedora the Magician, who has ceaselessly pulled tricks out of his Carolina Blue sleeves, has one more surprise in store — one that could prove disastrous to the reign of The Duke.
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“We’ve slowly, quietly stopped shooting ourselves in the foot.”
sports@dailytarheel.com
