Since August, UNC head coach Mack Brown has told anyone who will listen how he believes his Tar Heels would get better as the season progresses. Early on, it was an easy claim to discredit: Brown’s teams had collapsed in spectacular fashion the previous two seasons, and this year’s team appeared on track for a bottom-of-the-barrel finish in early October.
But now, after a much-needed bye week and two dominant wins – albeit against two struggling foes – Brown seems to have been made a prophet.
“This team is learning how to win, and that’s what I’m so excited about,” Brown told reporters after Carolina’s 35-11 romp at Florida State on Saturday afternoon. “I said to them: Winning is euphoric. It’s a celebration for everybody. Losing stinks. You play hard, you play good in some losing efforts, but you still have to win games.”
The Tar Heels had played well in parts of losses to Duke, Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech, with those three games decided by a combined 18 points. And yet the results stayed the same each time. Now, with UNC’s last two wins decided by a combined 51 points, Carolina looks like a completely different team.
But don’t tell that to Brown or anyone else. The head coach and his players are adamant that this has been Carolina’s identity all along. It just took a little longer for it to show up.
“This is how it’s felt all year during practice for us,” said defensive lineman Beau Atkinson, who accounted for half of the team’s seven sacks. “But actually coming out here in a game and seeing it work out has been pretty cool. I feel like we’re playing as a full team right now, offensively and defensively.”
UNC’s defensive dominance against the Cavaliers and Seminoles could’ve fooled any Tar Heel fan who saw that same unit allow James Madison to score 53 points in 30 minutes of football, or even the one which allowed a long touchdown run in the final minute against Georgia Tech less than a month ago. Brown credited the focus on that side of the ball with the difference in play.
“Our kids have bought in with total confidence – maybe for the first time since I’ve been here – on defense for the last two weeks,” he said. “And they totally believe in what we’re doing, and they’re doing it with confidence.”
On the offensive side of the ball, the development of one-time third-string quarterback Jacolby Criswell has been the barometer by which to measure Carolina’s growth as a unit. Criswell hasn’t thrown an interception since the Duke game on September 28, and his completion percentage has crept above 60 percent. With Omarion Hampton dominating on the ground, Criswell didn’t need to conduct an air raid on Saturday, but the grad student from Arkansas said he’s still been pleased with his development since assuming the starting role.
“In the beginning of the season, I had some rocks to kick,” Criswell said. “But at the end of the day, I knew what type of football player I was and what type of football player God made me out to be. I knew it was gonna click. And when everything clicks with me, then we can win football games.”
That attitude starts in practice, which Criswell said gave him an idea that the Tar Heels were ready to put together another complete performance.
“This week was probably our best week of practice,” he said. “We executed as an offense and knew the gameplan thick and thin. We knew coming in here, it was gonna be a dogfight. We had to make sure we had all cleats in the ground and keep moving forward. We knew it was gonna take a team effort, and it did. As we progress, the offense is gonna get better and better… then we can literally do anything we want.”
As Carolina enters its second open date in the span of four weeks, confidence is perhaps as high as it’s been all season long. The Tar Heels have gone on the road and slain two historical boogeymen in Virginia and Florida State, climbing out of what Brown described as the “rut” of the four-game losing streak. When UNC takes the field in Kenan Stadium against Wake Forest, it will do so with a winning record, a chance to get back to .500 in ACC play and an opportunity to win its third straight game. Precedent tells us Carolina football loves nothing more than letting its fans down, but after a uniquely trying first half of the season, the Tar Heels could be forgiven for resting on their laurels for just a few moments.
Let the good times roll.
Featured image via Associated Press/Colin Hackley
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