CHAPEL HILL — The idea was clear to N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien: punt the ball and get the game to overtime.

Gio Bernard had other plans.

Bernard's 74-yard punt return with 13 seconds left clinched UNC's 43-35 win over the Wolfpack on Saturday at Kenan Stadium. O'Brien said punter Wil Baumann did what he wanted with the game tied at 35 and 30 seconds left on the clock.

"I think at that point, you just want to kick it and get it out of there," O'Brien said. "I think we might have over-kicked it."

UNC running back Gio Bernard says he's good to go after leaving the Elon game with an injury. PHOTO: Robert Willett

CHAPEL HILL — So much for the Giovani Bernard injury watch. Bernard, the North Carolina sophomore running back, amassed 203 all-purpose yards during the Tar Heels’ 62-0 victory against Elon on Saturday but left the game not long before halftime with an apparent knee injury.

At least, that’s how it was described on the Tar Heels’ radio broadcast. Bernard wouldn’t elaborate on the nature of his injury on Monday, but assured reporters that he feels fine and that he’s over whatever it is that forced him out of the game on Saturday.

“I feel good, I feel great,” he said. “[It was] just a little precautionary kind of thing – I feel good.”

UNC running back Giovani Bernard is likely to enter the season as the Tar Heels' punt returner. PHOTO: Robert Willett

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina coach Larry Fedora created a stir earlier this week when he told reporters after a practice that Giovani Bernard, the Tar Heels sophomore running back, had emerged as the most likely candidate to handle the team’s punt return duties.

Bernard last season set a UNC freshman record with 1,253 rushing yards, and he’s without question one of the most valuable players on the team entering Fedora’s first season. Typically, a coach might hesitate to put such a player at risk on special teams.

CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina quarterback Bryn Renner referred to tailbacks Ryan Houston and Gio Bernard as “Thunder and Lightning” earlier this week for their bruising and quick styles, respectively.

But the duo came up with their own tongue-in-cheek nickname over the last couple of weeks, as they stood on the sidelines in non-contact orange jerseys: “We’ve called ourselves the ‘Orange Crush team,” Bernard said, laughing.

The moniker officially went away Tuesday, as both were expected to resume contact drills in preparation for Saturday’s season opener against James Madsion. Houston, a redshirt senior who was named the starter on Monday, has been limited all training camp because of offseason shoulder surgery. Bernard, a redshirt freshman, suffered a non-displaced fracture of his left hand on August 13, and was held out of contact drills after that.

Gio Bernard's freshman season at North Carolina is over before it started.

Bernard, a highly-touted running back from Davie, Fla., tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in practice on Sunday. He will redshirt the 2010 season, the school announced today.

Running back Gio Bernard had committed to Notre Dame, but plans to sign with UNC.

Gio Bernard drops Irish for the Tar Heels