In a situation designed for a short-yardage play, the Virginia Tech defense crashed to the middle of the field at Kenan Stadium Saturday, desperate to stop North Carolina quarterback Bryn Renner from using a keeper to convert on fourth-and-inches.
But instead of a sneak, the Hokies got a show.
With all eyes on a play up the middle, tailback Giovani Bernard took advantage of a wide-open hole on the left side of the field, gaining not just inches, but a 62-yard touchdown as he left the last Virginia Tech defender in the dust 15 yards behind him.
The second-quarter play might have left Hokie defenders bewildered, but not North Carolina coach Larry Fedora.
“That’s Gio,” he simply stated after the Tar Heels’ 48-34 win against Virginia Tech.
In North Carolina’s first home victory against Virginia Tech since 1938, Bernard rushed for a career-high 262 yards, the first Tar Heel to rush for more than 200 yards in almost a decade. Bernard’s average of 11.4 yards per carry is the highest in school history, breaking Kelvin Bryant’s 11.1 mark set in 1981.
But even as he stood at the podium in the Kenan Football Center after the game to talk about his career day, an unassuming Bernard bashfully attempted to divert the attention to his teammates.
“I didn’t even know until someone told me after the game that I had that (many yards),” Bernard said. “Honestly, we had 300-plus rushing yards. That by itself showed that the offensive line did a great job today. They’re the ones out there struggling. They’re in the trenches.”
The North Carolina offensive line — which, in addition to providing solid blocking all game long, helped protect Renner against a blitz-heavy Virginia Tech defense — was just as much responsible for his individual success during the game as he was, Bernard conceded.
