ECU loss still haunting Tar Heels

On its bye week, the North Carolina football team got the chance to do what millions of Americans do on Saturdays: sit back and enjoy college football.

In reality, the team was only focused on one game.

As East Carolina marched into Blacksburg, Va., and knocked off No. 17 Virginia Tech 28-21 at home, every UNC player watching had one thought: they had seen it before.

When ECU came to Kenan Memorial Stadium in 2013, the Pirates left Chapel Hill with a 55-31 victory over the Tar Heels. In that matchup, Shane Carden passed for 376 yards and three touchdowns. Against the Hokies Saturday, Carden had similar numbers with 427 yards and four scores.

“I can assure you they haven’t forgotten it,” Coach Larry Fedora said.

Senior defensive tackle Ethan Farmer said he knows how poorly UNC played defensively in the 2013 matchup, but also how that loss inspired the team to move forward.

“It was just missed assignments and a lack of communication from just us as a defense,” Farmer said. “That (game) was just kind of a big turnaround for us; that still sticks in our minds today.”

“Giving up 55 points as a defense, that’s not us and we’ve been working on that all summer.”

While UNC eventually shored up its defensive efforts in the second half of 2013, the same problems have resurfaced this season. Against San Diego State, UNC gave up more than 500 total yards, including 341 passing yards from quarterback Quinn Kaehler.

More importantly, North Carolina’s defensive difficulties against the Aztecs — namely missed tackles — were too reminiscent of last year’s squad.

“(Against) San Diego State we had 34 missed tackles, so (defensive coordinator) Coach Vic (Koenning) and the whole defensive staff made sure that we were wrapping the guys up,” said senior safety Tim Scott. “When we watched film we saw it was just effort ... we were just trying to arm tackle.”

While Carden and the ECU offense have shown they can rack up statistics, UNC’s defense has also stepped up.

In the season opener against Liberty, the Tar Heels trailed in the third quarter before forcing three consecutive turnovers on defense. A week later, Scott’s end zone interception as time expired sealed a UNC win.

While the defense has been a mixed bag so far in 2014, Fedora needs a similar effort this week if UNC is to pick up its third win of the season.

One thing’s for sure: ECU won’t sneak up on his team this time around.

“I don’t know how you can take someone lightly when they just beat a ranked opponent and wore you out last year,” Fedora said. “(They) will be the best football team we have played to this point.”

sports@dailytarheel.com