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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media Monday morning for his weekly press conference to further discuss the Tar Heels’ 44-34 loss at Notre Dame, elements of his team on both sides of the ball, and to look ahead to No. 10 Wake Forest visiting Kenan Stadium this coming Saturday.
Above is video of Brown’s press conference and below are some notes and pulled quotes form what he had to say:
*The Tar Heels fell to 4-4 with the loss to the Fighting Irish, and plenty certainly went wrong on defense as well as some key penalties that proved costly, but the Carolina coach said there were positives, too. And given how the season has gone, he’s going to focus on them as much as he can.
“We did come out of South Bend with some small victories,” Brown said. “I thought we played them better on offense, by far, than we did last year. (We) didn’t play them as well defensively, but you’ve got to give them a lot of credit, they lose a lot of players last year and they rebuild them with older guys; that’s what you want in your program…
“We did take the No. 11 team to fourth quarter again with chances to win.”
*The biggest sequence in the game, however, is where Brown wanted to begin when citing why the Tar Heels lost.
“We were going in to score down by four in the fourth quarter, and we don’t connect on a screen pass (to Josh Downs), and then we kick the ball down to the nine and they get the 91-yard run,” Brown said. “There have been some videos surfacing that we’ll send to the conference office, but that was a 14-point swing. And a 14-point swing in the fourth quarter when we’ve got momentum and going down to score.
“So, that really, really hurt us.”
*Sam Howell was sensational Saturday night throwing for 341 yards and running for 101 more. He became UNC’s all-time leader in passing yards while also being a part of two more touchdowns, giving him 101 for his career. Brown was highly complimentary of his junior quarterback’s performance.
“It was one of the best performances he’s ever had,” Brown said. “He had the one bad play. So he’s the all-time passing leader now in North Carolina history, he’s the all-time leader in touchdowns responsible for, and he only needs 239 yards the rest of the season to surpass Marquise Williams as the all-time leader in total yards. So that’s quite an accomplishment in less than three years for Sam Howell.”
*Amidst UNC going from the top 10 to fighting for bowl eligibility, and all the criticism that has come with it, Josh Downs has out together an incredible season. Downs has caught at least eight passes in every game and five times has netted 100 or more receiving yards. He had 10 receptions for 142 yards versus the Irish. He is one of the true major positives from this season thus far.
“You look at what Josh Downs has done: eight catches in eight straight games,” Brown said. “It’s the longest streak since Devonte Adams since back in 2013, he had nine (at Fresno State). Josh has also had five 100-yard games already. So, he (again) did a very, very good job with that.”
*Freshman tight end Bryson Nesbit caught three passes while playing 22 snaps. Nesbit is athletic, has shown he can run routes almost like a wide receiver, and he has improved tremendously even though he didn’t arrive until the summer.
“(I’m) really excited about Bryson Nesbit for the future,” Brown said. “He’s big, he can run, he can catch, and will really help us going forward at tight end.”
Staying on the receiving element of the offense, Brown was pleased that the outside receivers caught eight passes in the game, noting at times they had been “playing with nine,” meaning nine on 11 because the outside guys weren’t getting open, and when open weren’t getting targeted enough.
*The defense, however, continues to be a problem for the Heels, and while Brown tried to put a positive spin on things, it was certainly a challenge. He did address a few of the things that went wrong Saturday, when the Irish blitzed past their season averages in points (by 13), total yards (by 153), and rushing yards (by 186). UNC registered one sack against an offense that went into the game having allowed 26 on the season, and the Tar Heels did not force a turnover, and have forced just 11 on the season, more than only 17 of the 65 Power 5 programs.
“We played hard,” Brown said. “We missed, I think, nine tackles (and) 10 is usually the
*Wake Forest comes in ranked No. 10 in the nation and owning an 8-0 record. The Demon Deacons are No. 9 in the nation in total offense averaging 495.4 yards per game and No. 5 in scoring averaging 43.4 points per contest. A year ago, the Deacs scored 53 points in a six-point loss to the Tar Heels at Kenan Stadium amassing 606 total yards. This is a significant test for the Heels.
“Number 10 for the first time in school history is quite an accomplishment for (Wake Coach) Dave Clawson,” Brown said. “They’re 8-0, which modern-day and this year, when everybody’s talking about all the transfer portal and COVID, and all these things, it hasn’t affected them. They’ve got basically the same team back they had last year.
“(Quarterback) Sam Hartman and Sam Howell are two of the best to ever play the game and two of the best in the country when you look at what they’ve done. I think Wake’s scored 155 points the last three weeks, and they’re forcing turnovers on their defense, and they’re playing really, really good in red zone defense. And those are the two things we’re not doing as well defensively as they are.
“They beat Virginia at Virginia, which we know is hard to do. They beat Florida State soundly at home, who we didn’t. Last year’s game was 59-53, we got our hands full. But ABC obviously wants to see these two quarterbacks play on a national stage, so that’s why they have scheduled the game for noon on Saturday. It should be a great one.”
