DURHAM, N.C. --- In a cramped room, North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora walked in to face a large collection of reporters late Saturday afternoon. UNC had just lost 42-35 to Duke. It was Carolina's sixth straight loss of the season, dropping the Tar Heels to 1-8 on the year. This followed a disastrous 3-9 season in 2017.

Three straight losses to East Carolina. Three straight losses to Duke. Two straight losses to N.C. State -- and potentially a third in two weeks.

Since Nov. 10, 2016, North Carolina is 5-20 overall and 2-15 in the ACC. In a game that throughout the 1990s and 2000s was an assumed victory on the schedule for UNC, the Tar Heel defense gave up 629 yards of total offense to the Blue Devils and allowed quarterback Daniel Jones to throw for 361 yards and run for 207, including two runs of 61 and 68 yards.

Saturday, Nov. 10 seemed as close to rock bottom for the North Carolina football program as it has been under head coach Larry Fedora.

UNC head coach Larry Fedora on Saturday vs. Duke.

As the postgame press conference neared its end, big-picture questions were asked. It wasn't just about this season, it was about the future, the fan base, and the health of the UNC program.

'When you take a step back and look at it from a program-level, how do you turn things around?'

The seventh-year Tar Heel head coach hesitated and then took a dramatic pause before answering. "You keep doing the things you are doing," Fedora said. "You keep putting the kids in the best positions you think you can put them in. You sleep at night because you know you are not going to get outworked. And you are going to work as hard as anybody there is and these kids are going to continue to work hard and it'll happen. I truly believe that."

What UNC and Fedora have been doing of late has not worked. Over the course of the last two grueling and disappointing seasons, it seems everything that could go wrong for Carolina football has gone wrong. It's not just the injuries and the last-minute losses in games the Tar Heels should have won, but the disappointment has extended off the field, such as with 13 players suspended for selling team-issued shoes.

There is nothing left to play for this season but pride and each other. Western Carolina and N.C. State remain on the schedule, but the fan turnout for those two final home contests is sure to be lackluster. Losing leads first to fan frustration, and then fan apathy. And there has been a lot of losing the last two seasons in Chapel Hill.

Fedora was then asked, at 1-8 after a 3-9 season, what he tells the fans and supporters of this North Carolina program.

"If they are fans and supporters then they know to stick with them," Fedora said." I shouldn't have to talk you into it. It's the Tar Heels and if you are a fan of the Tar Heels and you are a supporter of the Tar Heels and your blood is blue there is no question about what you do --- you keep supporting. These guys haven't given up. So I don't expect anybody to give up on them."

Indeed, the team hasn't given up. The Tar Heels have been competitive in almost every game. The broken-record line of being 'one play away' was applicable after the Virginia Tech and Syracuse losses, but doesn't work for the whole season. Yet UNC continues to practice and play hard, which is a credit to the coaching staff and the players leading in the locker room.

"I am not worried about their morale," Fedora said. "I am not worried about what they are made up of. They have already shown that for us through this entire year. They could have shut it down a long time ago. They could have shut it down when y'all started talking about 'They don't have a bowl game, so why are they playing.' They are not going to. That is not who they are. They take great pride in who they are and they are going to play hard."

Still, the outlook for UNC football right now appears bleak. It is hard to rebound from a 5-20 overall stretch and a 2-15 run in the ACC.

To make matters worse, North Carolina has the No. 60-ranked recruiting class in the nation (No. 12 in the ACC) right now and the December signing day is just over a month away. UNC's 2019 class trails such programs as Duke, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, SMU, Memphis, East Carolina, North Texas, and Western Michigan in the 247 Sports rankings.

The 2018 season falls in line with what happened in 2017 --- a team that plays hard but compiles a disastrous season. This team hasn't given up, yet it's fair to consider how many more losses it can endure before it reaches an unhealthy breaking point.