Road Test at Wake Forest Turns Focus Toward State Championship for UNC Football

Having captured plenty of attention with a pair of upset wins to begin the season, the UNC football team turns its focus this week to another of head coach Mack Brown’s top priorities—winning the state championship.

The Tar Heels take a trip to Winston-Salem on Friday night for a matchup with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. What makes this in-state showdown unique is that it was scheduled as a non-conference game in an attempt to keep the rivalry a bit more active.

Because the two teams are in separate divisions within the ACC—and NC State is already UNC’s designated rival from the Atlantic Division—the conference schedule dictates that they only play once every six years.

Although the decision to schedule the non-conference series happened before Brown returned as head coach, the idea behind it supports one of the ideas he has preached all along.

If the Tar Heels can “build a wall” around the state of North Carolina, both on the field and in recruiting, the program will have a much better chance of competing at an elite level. With games against Wake Forest, Appalachian State, Duke and NC State this season, there will be plenty of opportunity for UNC to stake its claim as the best team in North Carolina.

“My philosophy my whole coaching career is if you can’t win at home, you can’t win on the road,” Brown told reporters at his press conference on Monday. “If you can’t recruit at home, you can’t recruit out of state. So, everything starts with your home state. People used to laugh at the state championship, but all of our boosters liked it when we won it. Now they’re asking me to get it back.”

UNC has proven already this year that it has enough talent to beat high-level competition, but Wake Forest should not be taken lightly.

The Demon Deacons are also 2-0 with a pair of wins over Utah State and Rice, and possess one of the more talented rosters they’ve had in a long time.

Receivers Sage Surratt—the brother of Tar Heel linebacker Chazz Surratt—and Scotty Washington give Wake Forest a pair of pass-catching options each at least 6-foot-3.

Running an up-tempo system similar to UNC’s, quarterback Jamie Newman has taken full advantage of his talented weapons. The junior has completed 74 percent of his passes while averaging over 350 yards per game to go along with six touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Brown also highlighted the fact that Wake Forest has committed only one turnover and six penalties in both of its games combined, characteristics usually displayed by successful, well-disciplined teams.

“I think it’s great that we’re playing an undefeated team, that our guys have respect for,” Brown said. “So, even though it’s not a conference game, it is a game that, historically, North Carolina has played. And it’s one of the things I don’t like about the expanded conference is that Wake Forest used to be a real fun game for us every year.”

Beating South Carolina and Miami helped accomplish one of Brown’s most important goals when he arrived back in Chapel Hill, by renewing interest in the program and getting a sell-out crowd back in Kenan Stadium.

This week’s game gives the Tar Heels a chance to move on to the next step in their coach’s master plan to bring UNC football back into prominence. Like it or not, the mythical state title is a thing that matters—for reasons big and small.

“It’s really important to me–for our fans–because when they get up on Monday morning and go to work, they do not want their counterpart at Wake Forest laughing at them about their football team,” Brown said. “And I learned that long ago.”

Cover photo via Dakota Moyer