University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Seek Third Straight Win
October 30, 2014 | Football
By Emily Fedewa, GoHeels.com
Head coach Larry Fedora wants to see more consistency and tempo from the North Carolina football team this week as it tries to secure its third straight win on Saturday.
There are plenty of things to build on from UNC's victory over Virginia last weekend, especially for the defense, which gave up just three points in the second half and had two interceptions. But there's still room for improvement.
"There were plenty of things to build on (from last week)," Fedora said after Wednesday's practice. "Now this week has been about let's start from the beginning of the game, let's not wait until things happen before we get going. We've got to wake up and play at 12:30."
Just like the Carolina offense has started to be more aggressive earlier in games, Fedora knows the defense needs to match that. That will be even more important on Saturday against the speed and efficiency of Miami's offense.
The Hurricanes are also riding a two-game winning streak coming into Saturday's game, and they've scored a combined 85 points in those games on the efforts of electric players like junior running back Duke Johnson, who leads the team in rushing by a wide margin.
Fedora knows stopping the run and managing players like Johnson and freshman quarterback Brad Kaaya are going to be key on Saturday.
"I think (Kaaya's) doing a really good job managing their offense...(Johnson) has great speed, he's very elusive, he can run through you, and he's having a tremendous year," Fedora said. "We know going into this game, you've got to stop the run...we've got to be very effective against it. We've got to get them into some long yardage situations."
Junior defensive end Jessie Rogers agreed. He said that Miami's offense is very fast, which can be tough on a defense, but there are things UNC can do to try and offset that.
"(Miami's) got a lot of speed," Rogers said. "They've got a lot of speed but the way that you beat speed is with effort, pursuit angles, and just little things that you can catch the other team slipping on."
As one of the defensive veterans, Rogers has those skills and plenty of experience with UNC's own quick offense. Plus, he's got a knack for getting to the quarterback.
The Texas native leads the Tar Heels in sacks and he knows those little techniques will be important against a team like Miami.
"Getting sacks is all about effort and the little things," Rogers said. "It's the mindset of I'll do anything to get to the quarterback."
Carolina will need both the defense and the offense - which has played well recently with the return of veterans on the offensive line - to step up, run the tempo and get the little things done against the Hurricanes on Saturday.
The biggest thing, though, will be making sure the Tar Heels are able to do all of those things consistently.
"We've got to take care of our business," Fedora said. "We have to just get some consistency and get our tempo going so that we can continue to move the chains."
