CHAPEL HILL – Good practices usually portend to positive results on the football field for North Carolina, so if Tuesday and Wednesday is any indication, the Tar Heels will give Virginia everything they have Saturday night at Kenan Stadium.
That is one of many lessons the Tar Heels have learned this season as they continue to grow and find their identity. It was also one of the topics Mack Brown discussed following Wednesday morning’s practice at the indoor facility.
Among the others: Injuries; the players trusting Jay Bateman; home crowds, Noah Ruggles; the new NCAA rule allowing players to make money from their likeness and more.
Here is the full interview falong with Brown plus a few excerpts of what he had to say:
*Guarding against being too excited about this game is the newest challenge facing Brown and his staff. Kickoff Saturday night is a few days away, so there’s no point in rushing into the game mentally and especially emotionally.
“This is a team that hasn’t won for two years and all of a sudden they’re playing for a game that really matters late in the year so we’ve got to manage this. We haven’t been here before.
“This is new ground for us, and I’ve told them ‘Don’t try to do too much, don’t play the game on Tuesday and Wednesday, you still got to play the game on Saturday. So you’ve got to be excite but don’t get so excited and giddy that you don’t prepare.’”
Brown is pleased his team hasn’t jumped ahead emotionally and done a good job of preparing.
“I’ve been impressed,” he said. “I think this has been our two best practices of the year back-to-back. And that’s good.”
*Noah Ruggles made two field goals in the second half of Saturday’s win over Duke and has continued to kick the ball well in practice this week.
“It’s really interesting, since he made the two Saturday night he hasn’t missed a kick,” Brown said. “And we’ve gone down to the last kick of the game every day. In fact, he did it twice today. We had a one-minute drill at the end and he kicked a long field goal to win the game. So, confidence is such a powerful thing, and right now he’s very confident.”
*Brown spoke quite a bit Wednesday about the fans having fun, being loud inside Kenan and the excitement around the program. Among the things he’s probably most proud of this season is the program is very close to selling out every game. Virginia is sold out and around 1,500 tickets remain for the Mercer game.
And as for Kenan and how loud it’s been, Brown says it’s exceeding what he experienced during his first time at UNC.
“I just don’t remember it being a factor,” he said, referring to the 1990s. “I don’t. I’m sure it was. I remember all the buzz for the Florida State game (in 1997) when they were (ranked No. 3 and UNC was No. 4), and I remember the students were there early.
“Our students are coming early, they’re loud, they’re making a difference, the crowd is into it on third down, they’re helping us. There’s been a whole lot of false starts here because people can’t hear… So the noise that our fans in the stadium have made a difference in the energy for our team, but they’re making a difference in critical situations for the other team.”
Brown also said that Kenan being more enclosed on both ends now makes a difference, too. The side where the football center sits wasn’t entirely complete when he left for Texas in late 1997 and the blue zone didn’t exist for more than another decade later.
