News & Notes From Mack Brown’s Press Conference to Begin Virginia Tech Week – 247Sports
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina coach Mack Brown met with reporters Monday for his first media availability of the week that leads to Saturday’s game against visiting Virginia Tech, the ACC opener for the Tar Heels.
UNC (3-1) is coming off its first defeat of the season, a 45-32 loss to Notre Dame that dropped the Tar Heels near the bottom of the FBS in total defense and run defense (No. 123 out of 131 teams nationally). The Fighting Irish passed for 289 yards and ran for 287 yards on North Carolina during the weekend, pounding UNC with 35 first downs and nearly 16½ more minutes in time of possession.
Virginia Tech (2-2) fell to West Virginia 33-10 last week in a Thursday night game. The Hokies, under new coach Brent Pry, beat Boston College 27-10 in their second game of the season to move to 1-0 in the ACC.
Here are our running notes from what Brown said Monday at Kenan Football Center …
— UNC doesn’t name players of the game after losses. Brown says offensive linemen Corey Gaynor and Asim Richards “played the best on offense.” Brown recognizes defensive lineman Ray Vohasek and the cornerbacks on defense. He says the cornerbacks played the best they have all season. Brown recognizes Drew Little on special teams.
— Brown says kickoff specialist Jonathan Kim will transfer out of the UNC program. “He will not be part of our team anymore.” Brown says Kim came in and said he wanted to be the kicker for the Tar Heels on field goals and point-after attempts, but Noah Burnette has won that job. So Kim will transfer.
— Brown said in the trenches Notre Dame “has the two best lines of scrimmages, I think, we’ll play.” He said offensively the Irish was able to control so much for the game during the weekend by the running the ball with authority. “We want to be like Notre Dame. We want to be able to line up and run the ball when we want to.” Brown said that allowed Irish quarterback Drew Pyne to utilize play-action passing and connect for 24 of 34 throws and three touchdowns.
— Brown said the UNC defense was “unlucky” to face Pyne in his second career start, rather than the first start he made the week before, when Notre Dame rallied in the second half to clip California.
— Brown said on offense the Tar Heels haven’t been consistently good enough with their running game. UNC ran for just 66 yards on 28 carries against Notre Dame, a paltry average of 2.4 yards per carry. Quarterback Drake Maye topped the team with 36 rushing yards, while Omarion Hampton ran for 28 yards. “We’ve got to run the ball better offensively to try to stay on the field more.”
— Brown said he’s pleased with the competitive spirit UNC maintained against Notre Dame, despite falling behind by deficits of 38-14 and 45-20 during the second half. “I was very proud of our guys that they kept fighting. They didn’t quit. I’m really really proud of that, it does matter.” Brown said the Tar Heels got “beaten down and didn’t give in.”
— “We’re excited we’re 3-1 headed into conference play,” Brown said. “That’s better than we were this time last year.”
— Brown said UNC’s offense has given up nine sacks through four games this season, and compared that to last season at this time when the Tar Heels had allowed 17 sacks after their first four games. “The offensive line did an amazing job considering how poorly we ran the ball,” Brown said, referring to the Notre Dame loss.
— Brown said UNC and offensive coordinator Phil Longo will be aiming to shorten the rotation at running back that has included Hampton, D.J. Jones, Caleb Hood and George Pettaway. The Tar Heels would prefer for two running backs to emerge in practice this week and then receive most of the backfield work during Saturday’s game against Virginia Tech. “We have entirely too many 1-yard gains and 1-yard losses on first downs,” Brown said. “We’ve got to change it. We’ve got to fix it. We’ve got to be better on first downs. Some of that’s inconsistency with the running backs.”
— Brown said he has told the UNC team “you’re never out of a game with Drake Maye” at quarterback. Maye’s 16 touchdown passes on the season are tied for first place nationally with Mississippi State’s Will Rogers and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud. “He always gives us a chance,” Brown said, adding Maye’s only interception this season (at Georgia State) should’ve been a pass interference penalty that negated the interception. Brown said Maye needs to do a better job of tucking and securing the ball when he’s scrambling. Maye lost a fumble during a sack by the Notre Dame defense on the Tar Heels’ first play of the second half during the weekend.
— “Defensively, we’re very disappointed,” Brown said. “We have good players, we have good coaches. I’m not sure what the disconnect is, but it’s there. It’s real.” Brown said UNC gave up 24 points to Notre Dame across the last five minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half that changed the complexion of what had been a 14-14 game.
— Brown said he became heated about the pass interference penalty in the end zone against UNC linebacker Cedric Gray on fourth-and-goal for Notre Dame because it could’ve provided a tremendous lift for the UNC defense and perhaps reversed the momentum working against the Tar Heels. “That was a key play in this ball game,” Brown said, alluding to the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty he received for arguing the call. “I’m not out of control. I’m fighting for my team. I’m fully in control.” Brown said UNC strength and conditioning coach Brian Hess tried to de-escalate the situation and retrain him. “Hess came over and grabbed me, I said, ‘don’t touch me, I’m fighting for my team.’ ”
— “Until we stop the run, we’re not going to win games at the highest level,” Brown said of UNC’s deficiencies on defense. “You can’t outscore people all the time. .. The defensive coaches are beaten down, because they’re frustrated.”
— Brown alluded to the dustup between Tony Grimes and Noah Taylor, with the cornerback Grimes taking a swipe at the linebacker after Taylor confronted him for a late hit that was flagged for a penalty. “Good for them. What if they quit? What if they laid down and quit? … I don’t mind if one pushes another one. … I’d rather have them have spirit. … We’re pushing these guys to have a player-led team.”
— Brown said it’s probably a reality that UNC will finish the season as one of the worst defenses statistically in college football. “We’re going to be one of the worst teams on defense because we’re already there,” he said of the defensive stats through four games. Only eight defenses on the FBS level — the classification consists of 10 conferences and 131 teams — rank lower than UNC in total defense. And just one Power Five team, Nebraska, checks in below the Tar Heels.
— Brown recognized UNC true freshman defensive back Will Hardy, who has gained increasing playing time. Hardy forced a fumble by Notre Dame running back Audric Estime at the goal line in the fourth quarter, and Tar Heels teammate Don Chapman recovered. “Will Hardy reaches out and slaps the ball out of his hand at the 6-inch line,” Brown said. “He’s fighting his guts out to try to knock that ball out. So I’m proud of Will Hardy. I’m proud of those guys for fighting. They didn’t quit.”
— On special teams, Brown said “we’re playing hard, we’re doing OK. (But) we’re not changing games.” He said UNC will look at re-inserting star receiver Josh Downs on punt returns, one of his duties before he missed two games due to a knee injury.
— On Georgia Tech firing Geoff Collins four games into his fourth season on the job. “I think we’re firing people too quickly. If that had been the deal when I was here (at UNC the first time), I wouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame.”
— Brown said he could list a number of reasons why UNC is performing poorly on defenses and they would all come across as excuses. “Obviously things aren’t working well. … We are not playing consistently well across the board on defense, we’re just not.” Brown said despite the tackles produced against Notre Dame by Gray (13 tackles) and Power Echols (11 tackles) “the linebackers had trouble on Saturday, too. They really struggled.”
— Brown called out the negative voices among UNC fans. “We should take a defense that’s really struggling and have a fan base that picks them up,” he said. “What a concept.” He noted that Clemson allowed 45 points (at Wake Forest), Miami gave up 44 points (to Middle Tennessee), and Wisconsin got hit by a 52-point barrage from Ohio State in games during the weekend. “Playing defense is harder than it used to be,” Brown said, adding the Tar Heels have experienced a variety of problems. “There’s an issue on every defensive play. … If it was as easy as you want it to be as an answer, it would already be fixed.”
— Brown said Notre Dame is the best team the Tar Heels will play this season. He said he’s somewhere on the scale between passionate and frustrated with UNC’s defensive performances. “I don’t get angry, I really don’t,” he said. “I get passionate. … I get driven, anger doesn’t do any good, that’s just a waste of energy. … I think we can be good, and we’re not. So I want them to understand that. And Saturday, we played a team that was better than we were, and we fought.”
— How much has Brown’s confidence been shaken in coordinator Gene Chizik as the head of the UNC defense? “None. He’s one of the best in the country at doing what he does.”
— “We blitzed so much on Saturday and didn’t get there,” Brown said. “Blitzing is very irrelevant if you don’t get there.”
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