WINSTON-SALEM— It’s important to remember that, while fans may be ready to hop off the North Carolina and Larry Fedora football bandwagon after the first loss of the season, extenuating factors and circumstances played a major part in the 28-27 loss to Wake Forest.
Before kickoff, phenom running back Giovani Bernard’s absence echoed loudly throughout BB&T Field. The sophomore only appeared dressed on the field after the one hour and seven minute weather delay. Though he was dressed with pads, and all but promised the public that his knee injury wouldn’t keep him out of the game, Bernard was reduced to a spectator for the entire game.
Fedora’s thoughts on Bernard: “He went out before the pre game, and we were going to work him out and see how he felt and it just didn’t feel right for him. At that point, we realized that there was no reason we were going to take a chance there. He felt like he was close. He thought he was going to be able to go going into it, and when he got out there, he just didn’t feel right. That’s when we made the decision.”
A.J. Blue and Romar Morris took turns filling in for Bernard at running back. Blue finished with 106 yards, good for his first game with more than 100 yards rushing. Morris had 70 yards. Both finished with a touchdown.
But Blue and Morris weren’t the only Tar Heels faced with filling big shoes. In the second quarter Bryn Renner was knocked down by a hard hit near the goal line. The redshirt senior took a minute to get up and was replaced in the game by Marquise Williams. Though Renner reentered the game after talking with medical staff and coaches, his passes weren’t on target, and he appeared rattled.
Renner hit hard
Renner’s thoughts on the hit: “It was more of just my ribs. I had the wind knocked out of me when I kind of fell on the ball sideways … I don’t think it had any effect. I just didn’t make enough plays to move the offense.”
Fedora’s thoughts on putting him back in and losing the ball on the next series: “We put the ball on the ground in that series. That’s one that I’ve got to go back and look at myself because I’m the one that made that call at the end to put him back out there. He felt like he was ready to go, and the medical staff felt like he was ready to go. And to all indications, he was. The ball came out on that series, so that’s something that I’m going to question myself.”
Renner was 23-39 on the day but was sacked twice and intercepted once.
Barth sets a record
There was a silver lining in the Tar Heel loss: Casey Barth eclipsed his brother Conner Barth’s previous school record for most made field goals. He kicked the record-breaker in from 30-yards out with 13 minutes left in the game.
Barth’s thoughts on being part of the Barth brother legacy: “I think we’ve just been lucky enough to play for four years straight, and that’s just the main thing. We’ve both been lucky enough to come in as freshmen and play and just continue to play until our senior year.”
The older Barth was watching from Florida and congratulated his brother via Twitter:
So proud of my little bro Casey Barth today for breaking the UNC school record for most field goals in UNC history! Smiling from Tampa Bay!
— Connor Barth (@connorbarth) September 8, 2012
Wake Forest career highs
While UNC fans could point to Renner’s miscues and Bernard’s absence as the reason for the loss, the Demon Deacons did their fair share to take control of the game. Three Wake Forest players had career highs, including junior wide receiver Michael Companaro’s 13 receptions for another career high of 164 yards.
Redshirt freshman Brandon Terry also had a career night with four receptions for 87 yards.
Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe’s thoughts on Companaro and Terry: “The guy is amazing. He’s got a knack for getting in the creases and getting open. The thing that Tanner (Price) did tonight was try to distribute the ball a little bit. I think Brandon Terry came up big tonight.”
Price also set a career high with 27-of-38 for 327 yards and scored two rushing touchdowns in a game for the first time in his career.
Working out the kinks
And finally, Fedora said that even though UNC opened the season with a 62-0 win over Elon, the team is still obviously a work in progress.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt. There was never that doubt in my mind the whole time. I think there were a lot of people out there ready to crown us as champs, after beating Elon 62 to nothing, and I said to them, we’ve got a long way to go, a long way to go. And we’ll be a better football team because of it. This is the first form of adversity that we’ve had as a football team now in 2012. Now we get to find out a little bit about who the Tar Heels are going to be.”
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