UNC football head coach Mack Brown has been around nearly every type of football game imaginable. It’s also a well-known fact that he has a story or a connection for everything.
So when he’s lost for words, as he was after Carolina gave up 22 fourth-quarter points in a 46-42 loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday night, that’s usually not a good sign.
“I’ve never seen anyone just take it, hand it off and run for 10 yards a crack,” Brown told reporters after the game. “And I told the guys, ‘I can’t answer what happened right now.’ I’ll watch it on the plane going home, and we’ll adjust and see what part of that is coaching, what part of that is their responsibility and not point fingers. Everybody else will. But we didn’t do well, so you’ve gotta take responsibility for it. We’ve gotta grow up, man up and get ready to play next week.”
With Georgia Tech clobbering the Tar Heels on the ground to the tune of 7.3 yards per carry and 361 total rushing yards, there’s plenty of blame to go around.
Now, Carolina stands at a crossroads. Its plan to go back to the ACC title game is likely completely gone. “Playing for pride” is an over-used turn of phrase no fanbase ever wants to hear, but it seems to be what’s left for UNC at this point. Four games remain on the schedule, and three of them are against in-state opponents. The fourth is against Clemson, who embarrassed the Tar Heels on the national stage last December.
“You never know what can happen,” quarterback Drake Maye said. “We’ve got four games to end the season to finish on a good note. That’s the main thing I’m gonna preach to the guys: finish on a good note. Last year, we left off on a bad foot. In these four, you’ve got three big ones that are huge, and we can’t rule out Campbell. It’s gonna be a tough road.”
It would’ve been hard to envision the Tar Heels in this uncomfortable reality just two weeks ago, when the team was in the Top 10. But today, visions of 2022 are coming back, and not the ones involving the 9-1 start. The four-game losing streak to end last season looms larger now than ever before, with Carolina seemingly caught in the middle of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
For those on the team who experienced that collapse, like linebacker Cedric Gray, there’s a desperation to avoid history repeating itself.
“We’re gonna go back, we’re gonna look at film, and we’re gonna figure this out,” Gray said Saturday night. “We’re gonna get this together. We are not gonna end this season like we did last year. We are not doing that. I can promise that.”
As they did after the Virginia game, the Tar Heels said all the right things following the loss against the Yellow Jackets. Gray’s promises, Maye’s lessons learned and Brown’s “mea culpa” attitude “check all the boxes,” to borrow a term from the Hall of Fame head coach.
But football games aren’t won in press conferences. If they were, Carolina would have a much larger trophy case. Now it’s on to Campbell, and an uncertain future in Chapel Hill.
Featured image via Associated Press/John Bzemore
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