After each ACC team’s bowl game, I’m going to write a brutally honest (good or bad) assessment of where I think that ACC football program is at.
The first ACC bowl team to finish their season was North Carolina. North Carolina suffered an embarrassing 40-21 loss to Rutgers in the Quick Lane Bowl to finish the year 6-7. Larry Fedora has been at UNC 3 years. In his defense he inherited a team that was on probation, and has had to deal with an academic scandal surrounding the UNC athletics department. Additional NCAA sanctions may still be in store. Fedora has had plenty to deal with…
That said there were some things that were under his control.
UNC was very good on offense on offense for most of the year. The defense was horrendous all season, but they beat bowl teams San Diego St., Duke, Pitt and a very good Georgia Tech squad. There were decent moments, and then something went completely wrong late in the year. UNC lost at home to NC State 35-7, and then there was the bowl game debacle to Rutgers.
What happened? Did Fedora lose his team to end the season?
I think these are questions you have to ask. NC State and Rutgers don’t have elite talent, they should not have beat UNC by a combined score of 75-28. This is a matter of motivation and game preparation and Fedora didn’t have his team ready in a rivalry game and a bowl game. That is the most discouraging part if you are a UNC fan. Last year’s 1-5 start, then 6-1 finish. This year’s late season collapse. The only consistency to UNC, is their wild inconsistency. Pick by many to win the Coastal, they ended the season as one of the worst teams in the ACC.
Other coaches in the ACC have taken more heat, but with Fedora I’m not seeing any real progress at North Carolina. It was a dreadful finish to a disappointing season. Fedora will remain UNC coach for at least 1 more year, but I don’t think he can turn it around in Chapel Hill. The defense was national laughingstock. This is a program mired in mediocrity.
If somebody picks UNC to win the Coastal next year, they obviously didn’t follow the Tar Heel football team in 2014.
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