Tar Heels fall to Wake Forest without Bernard

WINSTON-SALEM — One absence in North Carolina’s pregame warm-up echoed louder throughout Groves Stadium than the thunder of impending storms.

In the team’s 28-27 ACC season-opening loss to Wake Forest, UNC tailback Giovani Bernard was sidelined with a knee injury he sustained in the second quarter of last week’s 62-0 lambasting of Elon.

But fellow tailbacks A.J. Blue and Romar Morris weren’t rattled by Bernard’s absence.

“At first we didn’t exactly know if (Bernard) was going to play or not,” Morris said. “Everyday we practice to be ready, the three-headed monster, we just practice to be ready everyday — me, Gio and A.J. — everyday. We go hard, we compete in practice.

“It wasn’t really a big shock, we were just going to play as hard anyway.”

Even after coach Larry Fedora assured the public that Bernard would be ready to go by game time, Bernard didn’t fully feel ready to go.

“As a running back, if you don’t have your wheels, and things don’t feel right, especially when you’re his style of runner, you can’t do much,” Fedora said.

With Bernard out of the lineup, Blue and Morris both took snaps.

Blue, a junior, got his first career start and finished with a career-best 106 yards on 19 carries.

Redshirt freshman Morris also had a career day with 70 yards on 14 carries.

Though they couldn’t quite reproduce Bernard’s offensive fireworks, both tailbacks contributed on the scoreboard with a touchdown apiece.

“I would say the two running backs ran the ball very well tonight,” Fedora said. “They did a heck of a job, so I won’t take anything away from them. They certainly played well enough for us to win.”

Quarterback Bryn Renner went 23-of-39 for 271 yards and one touchdown. He had one interception and was sacked twice.

The inefficiency of UNC’s passing game put a spotlight on Blue and Morris to carry the offense.

“It’s big, they put a lot more on our shoulders,” Morris said. “We’ve just gotta do what we’ve gotta do to get the yardage.

And according to Fedora, Renner played well enough to win .

But he wasn’t the problem. It all boiled down to one thing: Wake Forest was better.

Demon Deacons quarterback Tanner Price racked up career highs — two rushing touchdowns in the same game and 27-of-38 for 327 yards.

And wide receiver Michael Campanaro caught a career-high 13 passes for a career-best 164 yards.

But Bernard’s absence and Wake Forest’s cutthroat play forced UNC to twice settle for field goals after being close in the red zone.

After intercepting a pass late in the third quarter — seconds after scoring a touchdown to take the lead — momentum appeared to be swinging in the Tar Heels’ favor.

But just as quickly as it swung toward UNC, it reversed directions, and UNC had to settle for a 25-yard field goal.

“We just need to be more physical when we get into the red zone,” Blue said. “You always have to capitalize off of turnovers, and we didn’t. We got three instead of seven, and that hurt us in the long run.”

But in the end, maybe three heads are better than two.

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.