By Will Vandervort.

Earlier this week, North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora, said his defense was going to simplify things and be as basic as possible, when his Tar Heels face Clemson Saturday at 7 p.m. in Death Valley.

Defensive coordinator Vic Koenning, on the other hand, has a reputation of wanting to shut down the opposition’s best player.

So what will UNC do?

They will probably do both.

Fedora wants to simplify things because his defense was embarrassed by No. 23 East Carolina last week. The Tar Heels had no answer for a Pirates’ offense that scored nine touchdowns and racked up 789 total yards in a 70-41 win. The points and yards were the most ever allowed by a North Carolina team.

But Fedora believes the Tigers will not attack them in the same way ECU did.

“It’s a different team that you’re preparing for. You’re preparing for Clemson,” Fedora said. “They are a totally different offense. So the scheme will be different, there’s no doubt.”

But it’s not that different. Clemson (1-2, 0-1 ACC) will do a lot of things similar to East Carolina especially in how it uses the running game. Last week, ECU gashed the Tar Heels for 343 yards on the ground, primarily because they got basic on defense.

After allowing 35 points in the first half, including four touchdown passes, Koenning went as basic as he could as he deployed a Cover 3 scheme in hopes of preventing the big plays the Pirates got in the opening 30 minutes.

In the second half, East Carolina exploited that, running for the majority of its 343 yards in the third and fourth quarters, including three rushing touchdowns. Running back Breon Allen ran for 211 yards and scored two touchdowns on 18 carries – 11.7 yards per carry.

“I mean, there were some things fundamentally that you have to continue to work on to get better at,” Fedora said. “Just tackling alone, running to the football, get more hats to the ball, things like that.”

That might be true, but sitting in a basic Cover 3 zone might be the worst thing a defensive coordinator can call against an offense ran by Chad Morris. The Tigers’ offensive coordinator is known for finding the soft spot of a defense and attacking it over and over, forcing the defense to change its strategy.

In a 4-2-5 Cover 3, the free safety plays the deep middle of the field, with each cornerback having deep responsibilities. The strong and weak safeties have responsibility for the flat areas. The linebackers will drop back to protect the middle of the field.

Using this scheme, however, can open up the running game for an offense. And with a quarterback like Deshaun Watson, Morris can and will attack this area with the running back and the quarterback in his zone-read scheme.

Look for Morris to call a lot of quarterback powers and draws out of pistol and shotgun sets.

And if that all works, it will open up the play action which can cause the safeties and linebackers to suck in, leaving crossing patterns and plays to the tight ends in the flats open.

And this is where Koenning comes in. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney says Koenning is as good as anyone when it comes to disguising his coverages. But remember, Fedora wants things to stay simple.

Koenning isn’t going to want Watson to feel comfortable, though, because he knows the freshman is too smart and can manipulate his defense. He is going to bank Watson has some nerves being it is his first start, and maybe he will misread his coverages, especially early.

Koenning might show a Cover 3, but he could be sitting in “Cloud” coverage—cornerbacks occupy the flat areas, while the strong and weak safeties play over the top of them—or in “Sky” which is a variation of the Cover 3, but uses some zone blitz tendencies.

The veteran coach could also come out showing those looks, but fall back into a basic Cover 3, in hopes of confusing Watson, while also pleasing his boss at the same time by keeping things simple and keeping Clemson’s explosive playmakers in front of them.

It’s going to be up to Watson to recognize these different coverages and attack the defense appropriately. If he does, it could be a big day for him and the Tigers.