The first loss of a season is always a tough one to swallow.

Because he loves this community, Mack Brown has graciously agreed to an exclusive morning segment with WCHL each week called Mondays with Mack, during which he and Ron Stutts discuss the prior game and the next opponent for his Tar Heels.

Always super positive, Brown sounded a little down during this week’s Monday with Mack because his team played one quarter in the 24-18 loss at Wake Forest Friday night. It wasn’t quite good enough though the officials erred by leaving the field when one second remained for UNC to try a Hail Mary pass to the end zone.

Brown was disappointed in how his team came out with less fire than needed in its first true road game, when thousands of Carolina fans helped fill BB&T Field to capacity on a great night for college football. The more-experienced Deacons had a lot to do with it, but the Tar Heels failed to block and protect Sam Howell well enough on offense and gave up too many big plays on defense.

While injuries were a part of it, Brown wants to hear none of that. Although his team lacks depth, it still needs to play with the next-man-up mentality. He has rejuvenated the fan base from the depths of apathy after the 5-18 record of the last two years. And those who shouted “Mack is Back” on the way into the stadium were shocked by their team’s lackluster play for almost three quarters.

But, remember, in two nearly remarkable wins, the Heels did not play complete games either. They were down 20-9 against South Carolina before coming alive to dominate the fourth quarter and had gone almost 50 minutes without reaching the end zone against Miami before converting a fourth-and-17 and then scoring with one minute to play to stun the Hurricanes.

Just like Carolina owns those two wins, this first loss is also on the record. Now it has to serve as a learning experience in order to get ready for an Appalachian team that has won 41 games over the last four years. Kenan Stadium is sold out and needs to be rocking and rolling like against Miami from the time the team enters the field. UNC will win or lose Saturday, but if it’s the latter it cannot be from a lingering hangover at Wake Forest.

The Tar Heels have to play all four quarters to get their third victory of the season. Hopefully, they’ve learned that the hard way.

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