UNC football head coach Mack Brown joined Aaron Keck Monday morning for “Mondays with Mack,” presented by Chapel Hill Tire.
The Tar Heels snapped their four-game losing streak to Virginia with a 59-39 win Saturday night. Brown and the Tar Heels are riding high after the big win, and are eagerly anticipating their next matchup with an improved Georgia Tech team, to be played in Atlanta’s state-of-the-art Mercedes Benz Stadium. Here are a few of Brown’s answers on various topics:
On what pleased him most about the win: We’re obviously really excited about the game. The first part of the excitement comes for Chapel Hill. It was so fun to see a full house again. I know the businesses, the restaurants, the hotels have to have flourished this weekend. And after all the things our community’s been through, and our country’s been through with COVID and the pandemic, and we’re still going through, it was so much fun to the the pageantry back, the traditions back, the people back and the economy back. So, that was the first part of it. And I thought our crowds did a really good job, and the students were unbelievable. Came early, stayed late, they were loud, they were fun, so our student section’s sure making a difference. And our crowd made a difference. And then, a team that has had our number since we’ve been here the last two years, really nobody on our team had beaten Virginia. Not only was it a great win for us, but a win that was a dominating win.
On Josh Downs’ performance: Josh is tough, he’s smart, he competes. And he blocked well on Saturday, he returned punts well, he handled the onside kick well. And that catch he made down near the Blue Zone in the corner was one of the best catches I’ve ever seen, and obviously excited our team and crowd.
On Georgia Tech: Georgia Tech’s very much improved. It’s interesting, they had their upset with Northern Illinois at home in the last seconds where Northern Illinois went for two. And it just shows you how crazy college football is, then they had a chance to beat Clemson. Last year I think Clemson scored 70-something against them, and then the other day Clemson had trouble moving the ball. Georgia Tech outgained them. The rushing yards [were] about the same, Georgia Tech won the turnover ratio, and had a legitimate chance to beat a great Clemson team on the road. Fourteen guys are back on their defense that have played a lot. Jordan Yates is their quarterback, and he’s actually the nephew of T.J. Yates that we had here. And he’s just doing a tremendous job leading their team right now, after Jeff Sims got hurt. And they’ve got Jahmyr Gibbs, who we tried to recruit as a running back. He’s one of the best running backs in the country. So, this’ll be fun.
On his message to the fans: Every Saturday, we need to be wearing our Carolina blue. Get your kids in Carolina blue, and get ready for that 7:30 game, and start screaming and shouting. And if you can’t make it to the game, pull us through from home. That’s what we need. And it’s funny Aaron, everybody was griping about too many noon games when we got here, and now everybody wants a noon game because all these late night games make it tough.
Listen below for the full conversation between Mack Brown and Aaron Keck, and tune in to hear the segment live on Monday mornings each game week!
