CHAPEL HILL – Mack Brown is no fool. He hears the chatter. He knows a segment of North Carolina football fans are not happy.
But he also believes showing unhappiness toward him by not showing up to games hurts the players much more than himself. The games are about them.
That is why he pushed hard in his weekly press conference Monday to encourage fans to show up Saturday night when the Tar Heels host Wake Forest. And it’s also why the program is trying basically a blue out, asking all fans to wear Carolina blue to the game.
“It should be a fun game,” Brown said Monday during his weekly press conference. “It’s a game that going to be a blue-out, so we’re asking everybody to wear Carolina blue. It will be a night game, which will be fun on ACC Network.”
The Tar Heels opened the season 3-0 with an impressive win at Minnesota, which is currently 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten, and then with a pair of unimpressive wins over Charlotte and NC Central at home.
Then came the floodgates, a 70-50 loss to James Madison that rocked the foundation of his program and the faith of many fans in his ability to deliver on returning UNC Football to national prominence.
A blown 20-point lead at Duke followed, and then home losses to Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech capped a four-game losing streak. Swaths of empty seats inside Kenan Stadium spoke volumes.
In addition, the death of Tylee Craft, horrific season-ending injury to Max Johnson, and the serious illness offensive line coach Randy Clements has battled made for a unique season, even for the Hall of Famer who has spent a life in the sport.
“I don’t ever remember a season that’s even near like this with all the stuff we’ve had thrown at us,” Brown said. “At the same time, my job as their leader is to handle it all. We didn’t even play great against Charlotte and (NC) Central.
“Very honestly, we blew both of them out late, but we didn’t play great. And we stunk against James Madison on defense – we scored 50 points.”
Yet, the Tar Heels are coming off consecutive road wins at Virginia and Florida State by a combined score of 76-25 and have a chance to win out ending up 8-4. They are currently 5-4 overall and 2-3 in the ACC.
However, by the time the Tar Heels take the field Saturday night, it will have been 63 days since they won at home. The fans haven’t seen the team play well yet. So, the chatter is there, though a bit dimmed in recent weeks.
“If we don’t play good and win Saturday night, there’ll be bad chatter,” Brown said. “That’s the way college football is. But I don’t worry about that, I worry about winning. And my total focus is on winning the last three games, starting with this weekend.”
But Brown wants the fans to focus on the moment and what can still play out. He wants them to be there for the players, some of whom have just two home games remaining in their careers starting against Wake Forest this weekend.
“That’s why I want the fans to (be there),” he said. “We’re supposed to be in the present and we’re supposed to always be forward thinking; let’s be in the present for this team and let’s reward them for their last two (home games), and the staff, let’s have a great environment Saturday night, let’s go play three great games and end up with a real positive season.”
A final wave of the season is here, and how it turns out nobody knows. But Carolina’s coach wants the fans to invest in the players, and perhaps they will be rewarded.
