UNC football head coach Mack Brown joined Aaron Keck this morning for “Mondays with Mack,” presented by Chapel Hill Tire.
Brown and the Tar Heels got a feel-good win Saturday afternoon, defeating Virginia Tech 41-10 in a soggy Kenan Stadium. It avenged a tough loss to the Hokies in 2021’s season opener, and moved Carolina to 1-0 in the ACC. UNC won’t be back at home for almost a month, with two road games and a bye week up next.
Here are a few of Brown’s answers on various topics:
On the support during the Virginia Tech game: I appreciate the fans. Our fans came out on Saturday and they were loud and really worked to help our team win the game. It was an awful weather situation, south of us especially and west of us. A lot of people just stepped up and came in to help us win, and we appreciate that very much on what could’ve been a day when the stadium could’ve looked like a COVID crowd, because nobody could’ve showed up. I told our players they probably had to make their own energy on Saturday, and that was not the case.
On what pleased him most during the game: No. 1 for me would be the defense, because that’s where we’ve struggled so much in the early part of the season. They started over, and they had an opportunity to be 1-0 in the Coastal Division, and they were. You go back and look at what they accomplished, they only gave up 273 total yards. They shut Virginia Tech out in the second half. And 10 points was the fewest we’ve allowed since Duke last year. Very effective on defense. I thought they did a great job. Still gave up a couple of long plays, but they work so hard, they chase the ball so hard that they were able to make up for a mistake a teammate might have made.
On his message to the players for the next two road games: More than anything else, be accountable for what you did wrong on Saturday, and work hard to improve it. Let’s keep improving as a team. We’ve said that we’re working to practice and play to a standard of excellence. It’s about us, it’s not about the opponent. And we’ve got a lot of work to do. As fun as winning is, and as proud as we are of the guys and how hard they’re trying, let’s be accountable and fix the things that we aren’t doing well.
On playing a Miami team coming off a bye week: Any time you can get a week to back away from as much hitting, it’s good. And for them, they’ve got a new staff. They can go back and reflect on their first few games see exactly what they did well and what they wish they had back and start over. It’ll be like an opening game for us, because they’ll have time to tweak a lot of the things they haven’t liked and build off the things they’ve done well in their first four games.
On his message to the fans: Keep being positive about your team. I want our fans to just be positive. These kids are really, really trying. Our coaches are trying. We’re not good at everything now, we understand that. But we have a chance. We’re really, really young in so many areas. We have a chance to get better each week. If you can get to Miami, fans, get down there this weekend. If you can’t, find a TV at 4 p.m. on ESPN2 and be all over it. Sit there and help us win and fight for us, and then buy a ticket to the Duke game next week. That’s close enough that it can be like a home game for us. We need to have great representation at Wallace Wade Stadium in two weeks.
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!
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
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