Carden, Cooper too much for Tar Heels

He walked in, took his place at the podium, and immediately dropped his head for a few seconds as he began to gather his thoughts.

As reporters swarmed him — each one delicately placing their recorders just feet from his mouth — football coach Larry Fedora let out a sigh of dismay.

He lifted his head, and then he began.

“Very disappointing performance by the Tar Heels today,” he said after North Carolina’s 55-31 loss to East Carolina.

“It’s hard for me to find something positive from the sidelines.”

The Pirates (3-1) defeated the Tar Heels (1-3, 0-1 ACC) in Chapel Hill for the first time since 1975 when they walked away with a 38-17 victory.

Under the leadership of quarterback Shane Carden and running back Vintavious Cooper, ECU showcased its offensive prowess quickly, and grabbed an early lead just over three and half minutes into the game — a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Carden threw for 376 yards with three passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns. Cooper rushed for a career high 186 yards, good for 18 yards shy of tripling UNC tailback A.J. Blue’s 68 yard rushing performance.

The Tar Heels accumulated more penalty yards, 94, then rushing yards, 67, which paled in comparison to ECU’s 227 rushing yards.

“We went into the game saying we’re going to at least stop the run and make them throw the football,” Fedora said.

“Well, we didn’t do either.”

The Tar Heels’ first touchdown pass — not thrown by quarterback Bryn Renner — came with 6:33 remaining in the second quarter, when wide receiver Quinshad Davis connected with fellow wide receiver T.J. Thorpe on a 32-yard pass, the first pass attempt of Davis’ career.

But with a 28-10 lead at the half after four touchdowns, senior defensive end Kareem Martin said that the Pirates were thriving on high energy, something the Tar Heels had to match to pull the game closer in the second half.

“They came out really intense — meant a lot to them and I think guys underestimate them as (an) opponent early on,” he said.

“By the time we tried to strap it up, their intensity was so high and it was a little too late.”

ECU would go on to score three more touchdowns and two field goals in the second half of the game, while the Tar Heels would tack on three touchdowns of their own.

UNC

“I think we just didn’t convert on third downs and we just didn’t really ever find a rhythm until the second half,” he said

“Even then when we got back within 14, got the ball, we could’ve put it within seven and just couldn’t do it.”

As for a distressed Fedora, who couldn’t quite seem to comprehend why his team went awry, his optimism was few and far between.

“It’s hard for me to tell you what went wrong when everything went wrong,” he said.

“You find out about who you are when things are bad.

“And right now they’re bad.”