UNC football head coach Mack Brown joined 97.9 The Hill this morning for “Mondays with Mack,” presented by Chapel Hill Tire.
Brown and the Tar Heels are recovering from their first loss of the season Saturday afternoon against Notre Dame. While the 45-32 result was a humbling one, Carolina’s goals within the ACC are well within reach. Saturday’s loss does not count against UNC’s conference record, and the ACC opener comes this weekend against 2-2 Virginia Tech.
Here are a few of Brown’s answers on various topics:
On the loss to Notre Dame: You’ve got to give them credit. They’ve got a great team. They played against us like they did for three quarters against Ohio State, and that’s what we were afraid of. I thought we would get the best version of them, and we did. They’re big, they’re talented, they’re fast. They played very efficiently. They were just better than us on Saturday. We’ve got to improve on defense. We see quarters that we’re playing well, but we’re not playing games well. It’s really frustrating for us and the players. We’ve got better players and better coaches than the results, so we’ve got to get that straightened out. We had some big plays on offense Saturday, but we didn’t run the ball consistently well and they did. I thought that was the biggest difference in the game.
On his impressions of the team through four games: They’re great young people that are really giving us everything they’ve got. When they’re not being successful, it hurts them. They’re trying really hard to take the next step. They’re trying hard to lead within. We’ve had some talk about people getting after each other on the sideline; that’s what we want. We want passion. We want guys that want to win. I was thrilled with our crowd Saturday. Our crowd came. They were loud. They hung in there with us, even though at times things weren’t good. And very honestly, the team never quit. They kept fighting until the end.
On what specific improvements need to be made: When you stop the run better on early downs, you have a better chance to get sacks and turnovers. We’re not getting either. And we have to quit giving up so many explosive plays. And on offense, we’ve got to be more efficient in the running game. We’re not consistently running the ball, so we’re not able to stay on the field and help our defense.
On his message to the fans: Our fans are great. This is college football. It’s high level. These are wonderful young people that are working year-round to try to please our fans. And somebody asked me, ‘What would you tell the fans about the defense?’ And I said, ‘Tell them to help them. Tell them to pick them up.’ They’re struggling. So let’s be different than most of society and most of college football. Let’s take something that’s not doing as well and let’s pick them up and see if they can continue to get better. We have a chance to be really good. We have a chance to score points every week. If we can just get our defense to step up and be better, we have a chance to get on a roll here.
Listen below for the full conversation with Mack Brown, 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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God!!! Here we go again! Mack saying, “We must improve.” Four years and still singing the same old tune! He has dozens of top recruits and can’t win against above average teams. Let’s schedule FAMU 10 times a year. We should win at least 7.
It is one thing to identify the problem, the real challenge is to solve/correct the situation
Coach identifies the problem but doesn’t seem to have the answer. Still a fan because of his ability to bring talent to UNC. However it is time to see improvement.
God!!! Here we go again! Mack saying, “We must improve.” Four years and still singing the same old tune! He has dozens of top recruits and can’t win against above average teams. Let’s schedule FAMU 10 times a year. We should win at least 7.
It is one thing to identify the problem, the real challenge is to solve/correct the situation
Coach identifies the problem but doesn’t seem to have the answer. Still a fan because of his ability to bring talent to UNC. However it is time to see improvement.