Larry Fedora started his tenure as North Carolina’s head coach in spectacular fashion as the Tar Heels absolutely manhandled Elon on Saturday. The final score was 62-0. Elon is a decent FCS team, but they weren’t good enough to put up a single point in Chapel Hill. Fedora’s first win was a complete effort from UNC.
The offense couldn’t have performed much better. Starting quarterback Bryn Renner completed 14 of 21 pass attempts for 236 yards and three touchdowns before being pulled from the game in the middle of the third quarter.
Fedora’s offense was rushing by committee in this one as a total of seven players recorded rushing attempts. Star tail back Giovani Bernard carried the ball nine times for 93 yards and a touchdown. The running game was on fire in this one: the Tar Heels as a team ran the ball 46 times for 243 yards.
The entire receiving corps got into the action as well. 14 different Tar Heels caught a pass, but no player caught more than three of them.
The defense played spectacular football as well. They were able to hold Elon to 170 total yards for the game, 128 in the passing game. Carolina’s defense was also able to force four turnovers.
There wasn’t much for the Tar Heels to complain about in this one. The offense, defense and special teams all played well. The only real drawback in this game was that UNC turned the ball over twice. Renner threw an interception and they lost a fumble in the red zone during the second half.
Overall, this has to be a confidence booster for Carolina and Fedora. North Carolina is serving a bowl ban in 2012, but they should be able to make some noise in the ACC. The conference has been put on notice.
