https://northcarolina.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1807179
CHAPEL HILL - UNC football coach Larry Fedora met with the media following his team's 41-14 victory over Delaware that wasn't nearly as easy as the final score indicates.
Here is what the coach had to say:
Fedora: Good to get the win today. First of all I wasn't very pleased with the way we played in the first half and that's my responsibility to have our guys ready to play mentally and I don't know if we accomplished that, so that's my responsibility. Challenged them in the second half to come out and play football the way we know we could and I thought our guys did a much better job executing and playing the way we should."
On the switch to Mitch Tribusky
Fedora: I wasn't happy with the way we were executing and so we put Mitch in and Mitch ran the offense well and did a nice job. So I decided to leave him in.
On was any Injury to Marquise
Fedora: I don't know. I have no idea, plus I don't talk about em anyway.
Bruce Young, THI
On if you did know, would you tell us
Fedora: Only if it was a season ending injury.
On could have Marquise have played in the second half
Fedora: I don't know.
On Quarterback reps in practice
Fedora: We're a little different because we're probably about 55-45 practice wise, maybe a little bit more than that. But it's not uncommon for him to go in with the ones. And that's been all year and if you think about it, from last year too. Our guys don't ever know who's going to be in there in practice, they really don't, so, they don't even think anything about it. And that's really a good situation because if something happens to one, you want the other one to go in there and guys not to even think about it.
On the one play where Mitch went in and then came back out
Fedora: The quarterback's helmet came off.
On the couple of deep passes to Mack Hollins, is that something Mitch brings to the table more so than Marquise
Fedora: No, not at all. I think both of em can throw it. He just had the opportunity. He was making plays and those plays were called while he was out there and he made em. He took advantage of his opportunities. That's what you want a guy to do, when he gets an opportunity, you want him to take advantage of it and he did.
On the linebacker play, why this rotation and not Andre Smith
Fedora: You'd have to talk to J.P. about that. I don't he wanted to play because of what they were doing on offense. I don't think he wanted to play Shott at the SAM and so he wanted to play Shaq at the SAM and that brought Bonilla in at the WILL.
On you being definitive after the A&T game that Marquise was the Number one guy, is he still the number one guy
Fedora: As of right now, there is no changes.
On if the weather affected play
Fedora: I hope not, because we don't talk about the weather. It's not an issue for us. There's nothing we can do about it. No matter where we play, what time we play, what the conditions are. So I hope that's not an issue.
On the fumbling issues you had today
Fedora: It's not good when the ball goes on the ground. It's not good at all. I'm not gonna blame that on the weather. It doesn't matter what the weather is, we gotta handle it. We gotta concentrate better. We gotta take care of the football.
On his comfort level with the team moving forward
Fedora: I'm never comfortable. I wouldn't be comfortable no matter what happened in this game. We're fixing to go to Atlanta and play Georgia Tech and play the triple option and get ready for it in about three days. So there's never a level of comfort for me since I've been coaching. But we've got to get our team ready. I think our guys will respond. I think they'll practice hard and we can't waste a rep in practice. So we've all got to be locked in, ready to go tomorrow, when we hit the practice field.
On how Delaware's rushing attack compares to Georgia Tech
Fedora: There's really not any comparisons as far as what Delaware did and what Georgia Tech does. Georgia Tech, you have to understand your option responsibilities, you've got to defeat blocks and then you've got to make tackles. If you want to make that comparison, you've got to defeat blocks and make tackles. Those two things compare on any run.
On you having three teams already rush for over 200 yards, what have been some of the issues
Fedora: We're still getting too much push up front. So we gotta do a better job with those front four guys.
On what about the offensive execution in the first half that you didn't like.
Fedora: I didn't like some of the decisions that were made. I didn't like, and that was probably the majority of it, it was more decision making in what we were doing. We gotta finish things off. I don't know if we finished off blocks in the first half. There were a lot of things that kept us from clicking. I would say most of all it was decision making.
On was it the decisions by Marquise
Fedora: Yes! By the Quarterback.
On what were the other things besides Marquise that you didn't like
Fedora: We didn't finish the blocks. We didn't finish blocks. We had a couple dropped balls in that first half. When you have a couple things go bad, I didn't like the way we responded. There was no spark! We've got enough guys in that offense, enough leaders up there to create that spark and say let's get going and we didn't get that done.
On Mack Hollins getting going today after a drop early
Fedora: Mack had a great week of practice I'll tell ya that. He practiced really hard. He did the things you need to have a good game like that. I'll have to go back and see why that ball was dropped, I don't know, but, usually that's a concentration deal.
On how to create that spark earlier in the game instead of waiting until the 3rd and 4th quarter
Fedora: We pride ourselves on our tempo and effort, hopefully wearing teams down. We believe in that. We believe that's gonna happen and we always wanna be better in the 4th quarter than any other time in the game. That's were you gotta win football games. I will say that our guys are in great physical condition, they are in great shape, they are prepared, I am pleased with that.
On Rashad having 10 tackles today in his new position
Fedora: No one even considers it a new position for him, because he's so comfortable and he's making plays all the time and he's doing a great job of leading. It's like he's been playing there the whole time. That's a tribute to him and J.P. and the job he's done getting him ready.
On your message at halftime
Fedora: It wasn't a lot of yelling and screaming. We've got 30 minutes to play, we're in this position right now, let's find out who we really are as a football team. Are we gonna continue to mess around out here or are we gonna get after it and play the type of football we can play. I thought the guys responded well, I really do.
CHAPEL HILL - UNC football coach Larry Fedora met with the media following his team's 41-14 victory over Delaware that wasn't nearly as easy as the final score indicates.
Here is what the coach had to say:
Fedora: Good to get the win today. First of all I wasn't very pleased with the way we played in the first half and that's my responsibility to have our guys ready to play mentally and I don't know if we accomplished that, so that's my responsibility. Challenged them in the second half to come out and play football the way we know we could and I thought our guys did a much better job executing and playing the way we should."
On the switch to Mitch Tribusky
Fedora: I wasn't happy with the way we were executing and so we put Mitch in and Mitch ran the offense well and did a nice job. So I decided to leave him in.
On was any Injury to Marquise
Fedora: I don't know. I have no idea, plus I don't talk about em anyway.
Bruce Young, THI
On if you did know, would you tell us
Fedora: Only if it was a season ending injury.
On could have Marquise have played in the second half
Fedora: I don't know.
On Quarterback reps in practice
Fedora: We're a little different because we're probably about 55-45 practice wise, maybe a little bit more than that. But it's not uncommon for him to go in with the ones. And that's been all year and if you think about it, from last year too. Our guys don't ever know who's going to be in there in practice, they really don't, so, they don't even think anything about it. And that's really a good situation because if something happens to one, you want the other one to go in there and guys not to even think about it.
On the one play where Mitch went in and then came back out
Fedora: The quarterback's helmet came off.
On the couple of deep passes to Mack Hollins, is that something Mitch brings to the table more so than Marquise
Fedora: No, not at all. I think both of em can throw it. He just had the opportunity. He was making plays and those plays were called while he was out there and he made em. He took advantage of his opportunities. That's what you want a guy to do, when he gets an opportunity, you want him to take advantage of it and he did.
On the linebacker play, why this rotation and not Andre Smith
Fedora: You'd have to talk to J.P. about that. I don't he wanted to play because of what they were doing on offense. I don't think he wanted to play Shott at the SAM and so he wanted to play Shaq at the SAM and that brought Bonilla in at the WILL.
On you being definitive after the A&T game that Marquise was the Number one guy, is he still the number one guy
Fedora: As of right now, there is no changes.
On if the weather affected play
Fedora: I hope not, because we don't talk about the weather. It's not an issue for us. There's nothing we can do about it. No matter where we play, what time we play, what the conditions are. So I hope that's not an issue.
On the fumbling issues you had today
Fedora: It's not good when the ball goes on the ground. It's not good at all. I'm not gonna blame that on the weather. It doesn't matter what the weather is, we gotta handle it. We gotta concentrate better. We gotta take care of the football.
On his comfort level with the team moving forward
Fedora: I'm never comfortable. I wouldn't be comfortable no matter what happened in this game. We're fixing to go to Atlanta and play Georgia Tech and play the triple option and get ready for it in about three days. So there's never a level of comfort for me since I've been coaching. But we've got to get our team ready. I think our guys will respond. I think they'll practice hard and we can't waste a rep in practice. So we've all got to be locked in, ready to go tomorrow, when we hit the practice field.
On how Delaware's rushing attack compares to Georgia Tech
Fedora: There's really not any comparisons as far as what Delaware did and what Georgia Tech does. Georgia Tech, you have to understand your option responsibilities, you've got to defeat blocks and then you've got to make tackles. If you want to make that comparison, you've got to defeat blocks and make tackles. Those two things compare on any run.
On you having three teams already rush for over 200 yards, what have been some of the issues
Fedora: We're still getting too much push up front. So we gotta do a better job with those front four guys.
On what about the offensive execution in the first half that you didn't like.
Fedora: I didn't like some of the decisions that were made. I didn't like, and that was probably the majority of it, it was more decision making in what we were doing. We gotta finish things off. I don't know if we finished off blocks in the first half. There were a lot of things that kept us from clicking. I would say most of all it was decision making.
On was it the decisions by Marquise
Fedora: Yes! By the Quarterback.
On what were the other things besides Marquise that you didn't like
Fedora: We didn't finish the blocks. We didn't finish blocks. We had a couple dropped balls in that first half. When you have a couple things go bad, I didn't like the way we responded. There was no spark! We've got enough guys in that offense, enough leaders up there to create that spark and say let's get going and we didn't get that done.
On Mack Hollins getting going today after a drop early
Fedora: Mack had a great week of practice I'll tell ya that. He practiced really hard. He did the things you need to have a good game like that. I'll have to go back and see why that ball was dropped, I don't know, but, usually that's a concentration deal.
On how to create that spark earlier in the game instead of waiting until the 3rd and 4th quarter
Fedora: We pride ourselves on our tempo and effort, hopefully wearing teams down. We believe in that. We believe that's gonna happen and we always wanna be better in the 4th quarter than any other time in the game. That's were you gotta win football games. I will say that our guys are in great physical condition, they are in great shape, they are prepared, I am pleased with that.
On Rashad having 10 tackles today in his new position
Fedora: No one even considers it a new position for him, because he's so comfortable and he's making plays all the time and he's doing a great job of leading. It's like he's been playing there the whole time. That's a tribute to him and J.P. and the job he's done getting him ready.
On your message at halftime
Fedora: It wasn't a lot of yelling and screaming. We've got 30 minutes to play, we're in this position right now, let's find out who we really are as a football team. Are we gonna continue to mess around out here or are we gonna get after it and play the type of football we can play. I thought the guys responded well, I really do.
