by Lee Pace
Carolina’s football team continues an extraordinary season Saturday night in Charlotte when the Tar Heels collide with Clemson with the ACC championship at stake. Just one year ago, Coach Larry Fedora and his staff were reeling from a pride-smashing loss to N.C. State and were waiting to learn their bowl destination, which would turn out to be the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit and a 40-21 demolition at the hand of Rutgers.
Twelve months—from six wins to 11, from a tie for third in the ACC Coastal Division to first, from whispers in the locker room about commitment and trust to a giddy love-fest punctuated by senior guard Landon Turner’s “Got Your Back” campaign, from a defense made of Swiss cheese a year ago to one that at times has been sculpted of granite and guts.