Note: Mack Brown's full press conference is posted below this report.

CHAPEL HILL – Slow starts have certainly hampered North Carolina in its last two games, both losses at Wake Forest and home versus Appalachian State. But it’s been the second quarters that have been particularly damaging to the Tar Heels.

In the four second quarters combined this season, UNC has been outscored 41-13 by its opponents, including 14-0 at Wake and 14-10 by App State. Carolina Coach Mack Brown has tried putting a finger on it, and the conclusion at this point is the Heels need guys to simply step up when things aren’t going well.

“We’ve been atrocious in second quarters,” Brown said during Monday’s weekly press conference at the Kenan Football Center. “We’ve scored 13 points and we’ve given up 41 and that makes no sense to me. I thought it was even more first quarter but it’s not, it’s the second quarter. We’ve come out and been pretty even after we make adjustments at halftime and then the fourth quarter we’ve scored 45 points to nine. We seem to always be in a hole and we’re digging ourselves out….

“Our theme is ‘be the one,’ well be the one to make that stop. Be the one to excite them in the second quarter. But we’ve got so much stuff on us right now it’s hard to pull out the second quarter and say, ‘ok, where does this fit in priorities?’ because we’ve got a big list of stuff we’ve got to get fixed.”

*One absolute is coaches don’t put kickers in games to try a long field goal at a distance they hadn’t previously made at some point in practice. So, when Brown sent Noah Ruggles onto the field to try and tie the game with just seconds remaining Saturday, it’s because Brown had seen Ruggles make that kick before. It was blocked by App State, but if not, it could have gone through and sent the game into overtime.

“Ruggles can make a 56-yard field goal, he makes them in practice,” Brown said. “But we don’t protect on the right side and get it blocked.”

*Injuries were a major problem the last two seasons and are getting that way again this time around. Players listed as questionable right now for the Clemson game are Charlie Heck, Myles Wolfolk and Jace Ruder along with the other players that have been out, including Nick Polino, Patrice Rene and so on. So, does Brown have an answer here?

“There’s still too many injuries, we continue to look at why,” he said. “I think it’s because we don’t have enough depth and guys are playing too long and these four teams have been very physical. All four games, they’ve spent a lot of energy, they’ve all come down to the end.

“We’ll keep looking at that. It hurts us short term and I hate it for the players that can’t play, long term it helps you because you’re forcing young guys to go out there and play. They’re probably not ready but it doesn’t matter, that’s why recruiting is so important to us.

“Freshmen come in next year (and) they’re going to have to play, that’s just what it is in our program right now. So if you want to play, guys, c’mon, we’ve got plenty of room.”

*So how does North Carolina get up for the top-ranked team in the nation which is also the defending national champion and loaded with future NFL players all over the roster? Just be themselves, Brown said, worry about them and not the opponent. UNC isn’t about getting sky high for this or that, it’s about UNC and always should be, the coach made clear.

“What I do is I focus more on us,” Brown said. “To me, if you focus on Clemson and you focus on App and you focus on Wake every week you’re trying to get a chip on the shoulder deal, this is not a chip-on-the-shoulder school. We need to be a great program, we don’t need to be a chip-on-the-shoulder program. That’s hard to sell here.

“I didn’t come here because we haven’t ever been any good, this place should be great.”

*Jacob Turner contributed to this report