CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina is coming off an open date, so it’s been more than a week since Mack Brown has fielded questions from the media.

The last time he did, the Tar Heels were moments removed from a solid victory at Georgia Tech on Oct. 5. In the week off, they practiced three times before resuming game-week preparation Sunday with a trip to Virginia Tech coming up this weekend. So, the players had four days off in a seven-day span.

With the Heels back in their regular game-week routine, Brown held his weekly press conference Monday. Here are some excerpts from what Brown had to say at the Kenan Football Center:

*Two of UNC’s victims had huge wins over the weekend, with Miami beating Np. 19 Virginia and South Carolina winning at No. 3 Georgia, so does Brown take much stock in those performances with respect to his own team?

“You look at South Carolina beating Georgia and that has to give our guys confidence,” he said. “You look at Clemson just dominating Florida State and, once again, it has to give our guys confidence. Their assignments on Thursday night, Friday and Saturday were to watch N.C. State against Syracuse and go through a game plan in their mind and try to pit us against them.

“And watch Virginia against Miami, watch Georgia Tech against Duke because you’ve played Georgia Tech and then watch Clemson against Florida State, see where that is. There was a little buzz in the room yesterday about those upsets. It’s interesting to me after I go back and have my five years in TV, and I’ll try to say this where it makes some sense, I’ve always thought golf was so different because there’s a different winner every Sunday and sometimes we’ve never heard of the guy.

“College football, other than golf to me, has the biggest change in a teams personality from week to week on a Saturday. You can see a team one week and they look absolutely great, you can see them the next week and they’re awful. And it’s the same people. It’s really hard to understand but I think, other than maybe golf, there’s the biggest differential in teams in college football week to week. And I’ve learned that game doesn’t lead to another. So, about the time you think somebody’s there, they stink.”

*With the Tar Heels racking up a lot of injuries, the new NCAA rule that began last year allowing players to participate in up to four games while still maintaining redshirt status might help over the next few weeks as some notable players get healthy.

“The rule was put into place, in my opinion, we talked a lot about it at the American Football Coaches Association, the rule was put in place by and large at the end of the year when you had injuries to allow freshmen to play and not cost their redshirt year on kick teams or if you were to have a blowout.

“It also was put into place, like if offensive linemen, at the end of the year and you’re blowing somebody out instead of them not even getting into a game, put them in the game for 10 plays and let them experience that. And I think that was a great rule.

“Now, after Kelly Bryant (Clemson last year) transfers after four games last year. it’s opened up a brand new can of worms be cause guys across the country, I’m reading, are going to their fifth game but the night before are deciding they don’t want to play anymore and taking their shoulder pads off in the locker room and saying ‘Eh, I’m not going to play.’ And that was not the purpose of the rule.

“So I think it’s something the NCAA needs to look at and we in college football need to look at to make sure the rule does what it was put in place to do.

“My philosophy is you play to win, so you put the guys in. Nobody redshirts that can help you win.”

*Brown has been very proactive in trying to generate enthusiasm among the dans to where they show up for games at a much greater rate than they have in recent years. So, he proudly noted a success at the turnstile through UNC’s first three games.

“Our fans also deserve credit,” Brown said. “We’re only one of nine schools in the country that have had 100 percent capacity for our home games. And that’s really cool for the criticism that we’ve taken in the past. I applaud our fans and thank our fans and our students for coming and coming early and making a difference in our games because that’s something that we really, really need.”