CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina caught a break Monday when Stanford star Christian McCaffrey decided to sit out his team’s Sun Bowl showdown with the Tar Heels to concentrate on preparing for the NFL draft.His absence is by no means a guarantee of success for coach Larry Fedora’s often beleaguered defense.UNC need only look back 12 months to its Russell Athletic Bowl matchup against Baylor to understand how little impact even such a key personnel loss can have if the other team doesn’t show up ready to play with its “A” game.Baylor was down to its third-string quarterback because of injuries and lost its Biletnikoff Award-winning wide receiver in the days leading up to the game last December. And yet, the Bears still piled up an FBS bowl record 645 yards in a 49-38 beating of the Tar Heels.With a talented replacement set to step in at running back in Wake Forest High graduate Bryce Love, the Tar Heels will have their work cut out for them against Stanford in El Paso on Dec. 29 with or without McCaffrey in the lineup.”It’s going to be important that we focus on limiting the running game or we won’t get off the field,” Fedora said. “We’ve got to do a good job against Stanford because they do a super job with it.”Running behind a big, physical offensive line, McCaffery churned out 1,603 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground this season. He also had 37 receptions for 310 yards and three touchdowns and is one of the nation’s top punt and kick returners. He leads all FBS players with an average of 211.5 all-purpose yards per game.While that’s a lot of production to do without, the dropoff from McCaffrey to Love shouldn’t be as drastic some might think.The 5-foot-10, 187-pound sophomore actually averaged more yards per carry than McCaffrey at 7.4 while rushing for 664 yards and three touchdowns. He should also be plenty motivated going up against an opponent from his home state that was in his final two schools before choosing to join the Cardinal.”I’m sure he’ll be hyped to play us,” UNC defensive tackle Nazair Jones said. “I know we will be as well.”Jones will have plenty to be hyped about himself, having already announced his intention to declare for the NFL draft as soon as the Sun Bowl is over. He also missed last year’s Russell Athletic Bowl debacle with an injury.Among those Tar Heel defenders that did play in the game, the upcoming test against Stanford (9-3) is an opportunity at redemption — not only for their performance in Orlando, but also for a season in which they ranked dead last in the ACC and 113th out of 128 teams nationally with an average of 235.5 rushing yards allowed per game.”Last year they came out and killed us with the Wildcat,” senior cornerback Des Lawrence said. “We prepared, but we weren’t really ready for a heavy dose of Wildcat the whole game. This year they don’t have any reason to change who they are, especially with us stopping the run. We just have to put our big boy pads on, go out there and play football.”The Tar Heels (8-4) have spent most of the past week installing its Sun Bowl game plan before going their separate ways to spend the Christmas weekend with their families. They’ll return to Chapel Hill on Sunday for the flight to El Paso, where they’ll finish a preparation that won’t be much different than if McCaffrey was playing.”They’re going to do what they do. They’re not going to change what they do,” Fedora said of Stanford. “They’re going to run the ball, pound it at you, play-action pass you. I don’t anticipate them changing their game plans. We probably won’t change ours.”It’s unfortunate for us and the game and the bowl itself (that the 2015 Heisman Trophy finalist won’t be in uniform), because he obviously is a great player. I would have loved to have lined up against him, but that’s not going to happen.”
