UNC football coach Larry Fedora was asked several questions about Saturday’s opponent, Virginia. The Cavaliers are 2-4 and are playing much better now than earlier in the season.
But the Tar Heels are coming off four consecutive emotional games, three of which went right down to the wire. Does the staff need to do something additional in their coaching to prevent human nature from seeping in and affecting the team’s preparation and how they view playing Virginia?
“No, not at all,” Fedora said. “We know Virginia is a good football team and they’re playing their best ball right now, I can tell you this, we’ve prepared the exact same as we did last week. We just finished 2-minute drill and they were competing like crazy after it. So, I think they’ve done a good job of preparing this week.”
Defensive coordinator Gene Chizik addressed Tuesday what UVa does well offensively, so naturally, Fedora was asked about the Wahoos on defense.
“We haven’t faced many teams that are a 3-down front, they are a 3-down front the majority of the time,” Fedora said. “They’ll get into a little bit on 3rd downs a 4-man front, but they are predominantly a 50 front, and that’s what he’s (UVa coach Bronco Mendenhall) been the whole time he was at BYU, also.”
This is UNC’s eighth game of the season, and amazingly it’s the sixth team the Tar Heels have faced that have a first-year head coach. How challenging has that made preparation?
“We probably have spent a lot of time looking at film we don’t need to look at just because we’re trying to cover every base, (ad) because there’s a lot of unknown for us in a lot of situations.” Fedora said. “I’ve probably looked at eight games of BYU from the (2015) season on top of all the games they’ve played this year.
“Sometimes, you don’t see the formations that you want to see so you go back and find those formations from last year. But, they’re probably not as exotic right now at Virginia as they were at BYU, and that’s because they’re in their first year.”
Just last weekend, Virginia played Pittsburgh, which UNC defeated last month. Does it help much seeing the next opponent on film versus a team they’ve already played?
“It’s more about playing similar offenses and defenses, that’s the way you compare it,” Fedora said. “It doesn’t do us any good to look at when they played, say a Georgia Tech because that offense won’t match up with what we do. So, what they did defensively against them won’t be anything similar.”
But the Tar Heels are coming off four consecutive emotional games, three of which went right down to the wire. Does the staff need to do something additional in their coaching to prevent human nature from seeping in and affecting the team’s preparation and how they view playing Virginia?
“No, not at all,” Fedora said. “We know Virginia is a good football team and they’re playing their best ball right now, I can tell you this, we’ve prepared the exact same as we did last week. We just finished 2-minute drill and they were competing like crazy after it. So, I think they’ve done a good job of preparing this week.”
Defensive coordinator Gene Chizik addressed Tuesday what UVa does well offensively, so naturally, Fedora was asked about the Wahoos on defense.
“We haven’t faced many teams that are a 3-down front, they are a 3-down front the majority of the time,” Fedora said. “They’ll get into a little bit on 3rd downs a 4-man front, but they are predominantly a 50 front, and that’s what he’s (UVa coach Bronco Mendenhall) been the whole time he was at BYU, also.”
This is UNC’s eighth game of the season, and amazingly it’s the sixth team the Tar Heels have faced that have a first-year head coach. How challenging has that made preparation?
“We probably have spent a lot of time looking at film we don’t need to look at just because we’re trying to cover every base, (ad) because there’s a lot of unknown for us in a lot of situations.” Fedora said. “I’ve probably looked at eight games of BYU from the (2015) season on top of all the games they’ve played this year.
“Sometimes, you don’t see the formations that you want to see so you go back and find those formations from last year. But, they’re probably not as exotic right now at Virginia as they were at BYU, and that’s because they’re in their first year.”
Just last weekend, Virginia played Pittsburgh, which UNC defeated last month. Does it help much seeing the next opponent on film versus a team they’ve already played?
“It’s more about playing similar offenses and defenses, that’s the way you compare it,” Fedora said. “It doesn’t do us any good to look at when they played, say a Georgia Tech because that offense won’t match up with what we do. So, what they did defensively against them won’t be anything similar.”
