CHAPEL HILL – UNC football coach Larry Fedora met with the media Monday for his weekly press conference at the Kenan Football Center.
The coach talked about various issues regarding the end of Duke’s loss to Miami over the weekend, UNC’s win at Pitt last Thursday and this week’s game versus Duke. Here is what the coach had to say:
Opening Statement:
Fedora: Our team is excited about another Coastal Division game. We’ve got a really good Duke team coming into our stadium, and our kids are busily preparing for this Saturday. We’ve got to use all of our time as wisely as possible and make sure we utilize every bit of it to prepare for this game, so were looking forward to it.
Did you watch the end of that game the other night?
Fedora: I did see it. I was actually watching it at the end. I didn’t get to see the whole game but I was watching the end of the game.
What was your reaction to it?
Fedora: It’s like college football’s a crazy game. We talk about it all the time, it’s not over until it’s over. It’s just one of those things that happened.
What options does a coach have in a situation like that in terms of requesting a review getting an explanation?
Fedora: You hope you’re going to get some communication from the officials, but that’s about it. You can challenge things, you get one challenge, but I think the main thing you want is communication. That’s the biggest thing so you could be aware of what they’re thinking.
Do you think the league should have the ability to go back and overturn something like that?
Fedora: I don’t think that’s ever been done
But there’s been some discussion about that the last few days, people are advancing that as something to look at in the future?
Fedora: You want them to get it right, is what you want. You want it to be fair to both teams and you want them to just get it right. That’s all you want to happen.
What’s the platform that coaches have in the offseason to address any officiating concerns?
Fedora: As a league, we get together and we talk about it, and if we have any issues that we want to bring up we bring up to the officials. Then, in the offseason is when they start changing rules so we have input there also.
Do you use what happened there as a teaching tool to tell your kids ‘We determine the outcome of games, don’t leave it in the officials’ hands?’
Fedora: I use just about every crazy thing that happens in a season to anybody in the country, I use them all the time. So, that right there will be a teaching moment in camp next year. We cover that scenario, so now I’ve got some live film to also show that you can win or lose a game with that play. It hits home a little bit more when you have a real good visual from a game that actually happened. Sometimes you’re covering every detail of everything that has happened in college football during camp and some of them sit there and it’s in one ear and out the other and some of them are actually paying attention and some of them are saying ‘that’s never going to happen.’ But, it happened.
Does it concern you about credibility of the league as far as the outcome and how it happened, everybody saw it and it was a pretty bad mistake, does that concern you?
Fedora: No, no. I think we have good officials in this league. I don’t care what league you’re in, and I’ve been in a bunch of them, you’re going to have mistakes that are made in officiating in every single game. That just happened to be the last play of the game. But every call n a game affects the outcome of a game, so whether it happened on the first play or gave somebody a touchdown or negated a touchdown it still affects the outcome of a game.
Not on depth chart, what’s his status?
He’s no longer with our football team.
Did he leave on his own or did you dismiss him?
He left on his own.
When did that happen?
Wednesday of last week.
Are there details about that situation?
I really don’t know exactly, it would be better for you to talk to Brian Walker to get the details. I think he’s interested in finding a place where he can get more playing time.
When was the last time you talked to him?
Friday, once we got back.
Going back to Thursday’s game and the punt that was blocked, they also nicked one earlier, how would you characterize how concerned you are over your punt situation right now?
Fedora: I'm concerned any time we have a breakdown, but when you have a breakdown in that phase of your special teams it's pretty critical. Most times when you get a punt blocked you're not going to win a football game. I was very concerned about it, we had a breakdown in protection and our operation time wasn't very good. They didn't do anything special, they only brought two guys, it's not like it was some big block scheme, it was just a breakdown on our part all the way around.
How does not having Brian Walker affect things?
Fedora: That means we’ve got one less guy. It’s no different than if you get an injury, you’ve got one less guy. We’ve dealt with a lot of different things in that back end with our guys, so a guy will step up and someone else will have an opportunity to get those 40 or 50 reps he was getting.
The last couple of years you guys have gotten behind early in the conference and haven’t been in this position in November
Fedora: I like this side better.
What’s the mentality of the guys when you talk about the position you’re in?
Fedora: We don’t talk about rankings, we talk about what our goals are every week so we don’t lose sight of them with all of the other obstacles that are out there. The big thing for me is to remember how you got where you are. It didn’t just happen, you put a lot of hard work and effort in it, and we’ve got great leadership and the chemistry is great and the locker room is good, and those are the reasons why you’re in the position we’re in right now. Really, we just want to keep doing what we’re doing. I don’t want to sit here and say, ‘Hey, we need to work harder, we need a better game plan,’ because if we hadn’t been doing that what are we doing?
Do you talk to the guys about maintaining their hunger, especially now that they’re back in the polls?
I haven’t talked to them about that because our goal hadn’t been to be in the poll, that’s not what our goal is. We’ve got bigger goals than that, so that just happens to come with it. But it really doesn’t change who we are, who we were Thursday night when we weren’t ranked and who we are today. We’re still the same team, so it really doesn’t have much effect on our football team.
Is Jeremy Cash one of those guys you have to know where he is at all times?
He is a really good football player. They put him in a lot of places, they do a lot of things with him, and he's really good. He's the heart and soul of their defense.
When you look at Duke what jumps out at you?
It starts with defense. They've been pretty dominant defensively this year. They've done a really good job. And they've scored enough points to win football games. It's not like they're real complicated with what they are doing on offense but they're very efficient in doing it. David's (Cutcliffe) got a great complement with the way he's running the offense and how the defense is playing. They're always really good on special teams, that's year in and year out.
Coach Beamer announced his retirement yesterday, your thoughts on that?
Fedora: I hate it for college football, I hate it for our league. There’s one of the greatest coaches that’s ever coached the game and he’s now going to be out of it so I hate it for that fact because college football is a better place when he’s involved with it just like it was when Steve Spurrier was involved. The game is changing, and I don’t know if it’s always for the better, I hate seeing Coach Beamer go because he’s done a tremendous job up there, he made Virginia Tech football what it is.
The coach talked about various issues regarding the end of Duke’s loss to Miami over the weekend, UNC’s win at Pitt last Thursday and this week’s game versus Duke. Here is what the coach had to say:
Opening Statement:
Fedora: Our team is excited about another Coastal Division game. We’ve got a really good Duke team coming into our stadium, and our kids are busily preparing for this Saturday. We’ve got to use all of our time as wisely as possible and make sure we utilize every bit of it to prepare for this game, so were looking forward to it.
Did you watch the end of that game the other night?
Fedora: I did see it. I was actually watching it at the end. I didn’t get to see the whole game but I was watching the end of the game.
What was your reaction to it?
Fedora: It’s like college football’s a crazy game. We talk about it all the time, it’s not over until it’s over. It’s just one of those things that happened.
What options does a coach have in a situation like that in terms of requesting a review getting an explanation?
Fedora: You hope you’re going to get some communication from the officials, but that’s about it. You can challenge things, you get one challenge, but I think the main thing you want is communication. That’s the biggest thing so you could be aware of what they’re thinking.
Do you think the league should have the ability to go back and overturn something like that?
Fedora: I don’t think that’s ever been done
But there’s been some discussion about that the last few days, people are advancing that as something to look at in the future?
Fedora: You want them to get it right, is what you want. You want it to be fair to both teams and you want them to just get it right. That’s all you want to happen.
What’s the platform that coaches have in the offseason to address any officiating concerns?
Fedora: As a league, we get together and we talk about it, and if we have any issues that we want to bring up we bring up to the officials. Then, in the offseason is when they start changing rules so we have input there also.
Do you use what happened there as a teaching tool to tell your kids ‘We determine the outcome of games, don’t leave it in the officials’ hands?’
Fedora: I use just about every crazy thing that happens in a season to anybody in the country, I use them all the time. So, that right there will be a teaching moment in camp next year. We cover that scenario, so now I’ve got some live film to also show that you can win or lose a game with that play. It hits home a little bit more when you have a real good visual from a game that actually happened. Sometimes you’re covering every detail of everything that has happened in college football during camp and some of them sit there and it’s in one ear and out the other and some of them are actually paying attention and some of them are saying ‘that’s never going to happen.’ But, it happened.
Does it concern you about credibility of the league as far as the outcome and how it happened, everybody saw it and it was a pretty bad mistake, does that concern you?
Fedora: No, no. I think we have good officials in this league. I don’t care what league you’re in, and I’ve been in a bunch of them, you’re going to have mistakes that are made in officiating in every single game. That just happened to be the last play of the game. But every call n a game affects the outcome of a game, so whether it happened on the first play or gave somebody a touchdown or negated a touchdown it still affects the outcome of a game.
Not on depth chart, what’s his status?
He’s no longer with our football team.
Did he leave on his own or did you dismiss him?
He left on his own.
When did that happen?
Wednesday of last week.
Are there details about that situation?
I really don’t know exactly, it would be better for you to talk to Brian Walker to get the details. I think he’s interested in finding a place where he can get more playing time.
When was the last time you talked to him?
Friday, once we got back.
Going back to Thursday’s game and the punt that was blocked, they also nicked one earlier, how would you characterize how concerned you are over your punt situation right now?
Fedora: I'm concerned any time we have a breakdown, but when you have a breakdown in that phase of your special teams it's pretty critical. Most times when you get a punt blocked you're not going to win a football game. I was very concerned about it, we had a breakdown in protection and our operation time wasn't very good. They didn't do anything special, they only brought two guys, it's not like it was some big block scheme, it was just a breakdown on our part all the way around.
How does not having Brian Walker affect things?
Fedora: That means we’ve got one less guy. It’s no different than if you get an injury, you’ve got one less guy. We’ve dealt with a lot of different things in that back end with our guys, so a guy will step up and someone else will have an opportunity to get those 40 or 50 reps he was getting.
The last couple of years you guys have gotten behind early in the conference and haven’t been in this position in November
Fedora: I like this side better.
What’s the mentality of the guys when you talk about the position you’re in?
Fedora: We don’t talk about rankings, we talk about what our goals are every week so we don’t lose sight of them with all of the other obstacles that are out there. The big thing for me is to remember how you got where you are. It didn’t just happen, you put a lot of hard work and effort in it, and we’ve got great leadership and the chemistry is great and the locker room is good, and those are the reasons why you’re in the position we’re in right now. Really, we just want to keep doing what we’re doing. I don’t want to sit here and say, ‘Hey, we need to work harder, we need a better game plan,’ because if we hadn’t been doing that what are we doing?
Do you talk to the guys about maintaining their hunger, especially now that they’re back in the polls?
I haven’t talked to them about that because our goal hadn’t been to be in the poll, that’s not what our goal is. We’ve got bigger goals than that, so that just happens to come with it. But it really doesn’t change who we are, who we were Thursday night when we weren’t ranked and who we are today. We’re still the same team, so it really doesn’t have much effect on our football team.
Is Jeremy Cash one of those guys you have to know where he is at all times?
He is a really good football player. They put him in a lot of places, they do a lot of things with him, and he's really good. He's the heart and soul of their defense.
When you look at Duke what jumps out at you?
It starts with defense. They've been pretty dominant defensively this year. They've done a really good job. And they've scored enough points to win football games. It's not like they're real complicated with what they are doing on offense but they're very efficient in doing it. David's (Cutcliffe) got a great complement with the way he's running the offense and how the defense is playing. They're always really good on special teams, that's year in and year out.
Coach Beamer announced his retirement yesterday, your thoughts on that?
Fedora: I hate it for college football, I hate it for our league. There’s one of the greatest coaches that’s ever coached the game and he’s now going to be out of it so I hate it for that fact because college football is a better place when he’s involved with it just like it was when Steve Spurrier was involved. The game is changing, and I don’t know if it’s always for the better, I hate seeing Coach Beamer go because he’s done a tremendous job up there, he made Virginia Tech football what it is.
