University of North Carolina Athletics
Larry Fedora Wednesday Quotes
September 4, 2013 | Football
Larry Fedora answered questions on this morning's ACC teleconference.
On his team's tempo against South Carolina
It was the tempo I want to see. There were numerous times during the game that we had a really good tempo going. We just weren't consistent enough. You have to move the chains or it doesn't matter what you do tempo-wise.
On what the defense needs to work on
The biggest thing for me is tackling. Two of the big plays we gave up were because of tackling. The third play of the game, we just got beat on a stick post with the corner and outside leverage. But if we tackle better as a football team, we don't give up those other two big plays.
On alerting his team to MTSU's history against the ACC
It's not a tactic to try and convince them this team can play. The main thing was giving them a little bit of history. Middle Tennessee has beaten some ACC teams and I want our team to understand that. They're not going to come in here big-eyed about the situation. I wanted to set the record straight for our guys right off the bat so they understand the mentality this team will come in with.
On grading his offensive line's performance in Columbia
Above average, especially with two freshmen in there. I really thought, as a unit, those kids performed fairly well. We're not saying it's great and they dominated by any means, but I did feel those guys played well. I didn't know if they would do as well as they did, so I was pleased with their effort. We still have to get better, but to walk in and play your first game on that stage against that kind of defensive front, I was pleased with how they reacted.
On how his MTSU years helped develop his philosophy
As you look back on it, it was critical to the success I've had. None of us had coached together. We put together this offense and evolved with it. Back then, in 1999, nobody was talking about tempo, and we were doing it and it was causing problems for people. It was something that was a great advantage or equalizer for us as we played teams that had more talent than we did. Nowadays it's the norm. Back then it was important and we really coached those kids extremely hard. They responded very well and because of that, they had success.
On defenses trying to slow offensive tempo by faking injuries
Who am I to say they're faking an injury? I don't know if anyone can make that call, especially with the attention given to concussions. I don't know what they're being coached to do. I can't say if they're faking an injury and I'm not going to call out a kid. You have kids in normal games that go down and they're back in two or three plays. I don't think you can put that judgment on an official or anyone else. The worst thing we can do for player safety is to come up with a way to say that someone isn't injured when he really might be injured. If there are people out there taking advantage of the rule, good for them.
