Nevermind That It's Mercer, Game Week Is About UNC

Note: Mack Brown's full Wednesday post-practice interview is posted below.

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina plays FCS member Mercer on Saturday, but the Tar Heels’ main focus this week is themselves.

And, as UNC Coach Mack Brown put it following practice Wednesday morning, it’s not a disrespect for Mercer, it’s something that must become foundational within the program. Carolina needs to worry about Carolina before thinking a whole lot about an opponent other than prepping for its schemes and tendencies.

So, Brown showed the team a familiar example of what not being ready or prepared looks like versus an FCS team. Most of the players in the room remember it well.

“We took some of last year’s Western Carolina video and showed it to them this morning, and we (last year’s UNC team) weren’t very focused, we made a lot of mistakes,” he said. “And what we’ve got to do right now is continue to be a better football team.”

To some on the outside looking in, a game versus a 4-7 FCS team five days before Thanksgiving might not be all that appealing, but if you peel away the layers and understand the process the Tar Heels ventured into when Brown was hired and how this game is a vehicle to remain on that course, it’s extremely important.

Then add that the Heels need to win their final two games to reach a bowl game and this is essentially the biggest contest of the season. It’s carries must-win status and is essentially a playoff game.

And, it’s about sending the seniors off properly, which is important to the program’s fiber. Some new staffs toss aside seniors and dive into full rebuilds, but Brown chose to embrace his oldest guys and try to complete their UNC experiences in positive fashion. In turn, they welcomed him, the culture change that came with it and have worked to show the younger Heels the way.

“It’s about seniors this week, without question,” Brown said. “It’s about playing to a standard this week because we’ve got to take the next step and get better and finish and close on these games.”

The game last year versus Western Carolina that Brown referenced was not a pretty performance in Larry Fedora’s next-to-last game as UNC’s coach. The Tar Heels won, 49-26, but it was 21-13 late in the first half and the Heels gave up 433 yards and 24 first downs and were flagged for 85 yards in penalties against a team that was 3-7 entering the contest.

Carolina just wasn’t very good a year ago, but it also wasn’t all that ready to try and notch its second, and last, victory of the campaign.

So with that in mind, among the lessons learned during the course of this season came in weeks three and four when the Tar Heels were simply not ready to play at Wake Forest or at home the following week versus Appalachian State. Some Heels admitted they didn’t respect the Demon Deacons or Mountaineers enough, and they lost.

Since then, however, readiness and respect have not been an issue. Brown, in fact, noted Wednesday how he’s marveled at his team’s ability to be ready by kickoff each week even with how nine of their 10 games have gone down to the wire.

“I think that’s it, those two (they) didn’t seem to be passionate,” Brown said, when trying to put his team’s readiness the last three months into perspective. “(Former Texas) Coach (Frank) Broyles told me one time when we were playing 11 games that ‘you’re going to only be really excited and have full energy and play at your best in four of them, the other seven you’re going to have to be better than the other teams you’re playing.’

“This team, to me, has played hard with passion every week except Wake and App. And they played hard in those games, they just didn’t have the same passion.”

Now, with Mercer up next and human nature very much a fixture in sports, how challenging is the sales pitch for this week, or has the program gotten to where it’s beyond that?

“It’s not about Mercer, it’s really about them (players),” Brown replied. “It’s about us. I’ve said from the beginning, football is very simple, people are very complicated. And what we’ve got to do is learn to play football at the highest level every time we walk out here.”

That’s growth, and while the Heels have lost six of their 10 games and have turned in their worst defensive performances of the season in recent weeks, the longer-lasting stuff that’s moved forward is in the developing foundation.

Beating Mercer is a big game for obvious reasons, but how the Heels approach the game and perform for 60 minutes within it are maybe more important.