Tar Heels roll to first win under Larry Fedora

As promised, head North Carolina football coach Larry Fedora’s offense was very fast.

It was too fast for Football Championship Subdivision foe Elon on Saturday, way too fast, and Fedora had to shut it down mid-way through the third quarter. The Tar Heels still took the game by 62 points.

The 62-0 win is the largest victory since beating Ohio by the same score in 1995 and the first shutout since 1999.

Tailback Giovani Bernard was the catalyst earlier on for the Tar Heels as he scored the first touchdown of the season on a 59-yard run. Bernard also caught a six-yard touchdown pass and returned a punt 70 yards for a score before halftime.

“Gio, I think he’s going for the Heisman now after that performance,” wide receiver Erik Highsmith said. “He carried us on offense, he’s our go to guy. He’s the man.”

Highsmith caught three passes in the game for 44 yards.

Fedora was also impressed with the play of his tailback while he was in the game. Bernard sat for the entire second half after some discomfort in his knee.

“That was exciting for me because that was the first time I’d seen him play,” Fedora said. “I’ve seen it in practice but until you get to see him in the game, to see him light it up, to see the burst that he has, the explosiveness. That was a lot of fun.”

Fedora said that he could have returned to the game, but the Tar Heels certainly didn’t need him.

Not only did UNC make eight trips to the end zone and record more than 500 yards of total offense, including an ACC record 260 punt return yards, but it also dominated Elon’s offensive effort for the entirety of the contest.

The Phoenix registered just 170 yards and really only threatened to score once in the game. Jabari Price snuffed out that effort with the first of two Tar Heel interceptions.
Elon’s All-American receiver Aaron Mellette was held to just two catches for nine yards.

“The defense overall, I think there were maybe a couple of third and longs they gave up that they’d like to have back but other than that they were pretty dominating,” Fedora said.

The outcome, while impressive, doesn’t have anyone fooled. Despite having a valuable threat at the receiver positon, Elon was not very impressive on either side of the ball. The Phoenix is only in its second year with head coach Jason Swepson, and last season Elon was a middle of the road team in the Southern Conference.

“To the naked eye it looks like, ‘Wow,’” Fedora said. “But there were plenty of mistakes in that game, there will be plenty of butt-chewing. Our guys will know that they need to get a lot better.”