CHAPEL HILL – Dare to bring up penalties around Mack Brown and be prepared for a mouthful.

The North Carolina football coach has some ideas that might serve his sport well with respect to accountability for officials as well as how games are called. That actually goes hand in hand.

But he also has a football team that too often has stymied its own possessions and helped sustain opponents’ drives with a bevy of penalties that have been problematic since the Tar Heels were flagged three times in the first quarter in the opener versus Syracuse.

To be fair, as Brown was quick to point out earlier this week, the volume of flags against the Tar Heels has cooled some, but the egregiousness of those mistakes hasn’t, at least in the eyes of the ACC’s zebras.

“We’ve cut them in half, so we’re obviously better now than we were earlier in the year,” Brown said, following Wednesday’s practice. “We were horrible, we’re just bad now.”

Carolina has been flagged 57 times for 543 yards this season, per-game averages of 8.1 penalties for 77.6 yards. However, 45 infractions occurred over the first five games, so the Heels have been flagged just 12 total times over the last two outings, backing up Brown’s point.

The problem, however, is those 12 penalties have been for 149 yards, an average of 12.4 per infraction.

Some, though, aren’t born of ill intent, sloppy play or even mistakes that can be avoided. Football is football, and sometimes things just happen.

For example, in last Saturday’s win at Duke, linebacker Tomon Fox rushed the passer forcing him to move but fell to the ground, rolled over and into the Blue Devils’ quarterback whom Fox wasn’t sure still had the ball or not.

On another play, defensive tackle Ray Vohasek was flagged for a personal foul by simply hitting the quarterback just under the knees, though UNC believes it was more on Chase Brice’s thighs.

“Some of that stuff, you’ve got to be really, really careful…,” Brown said. “You’ve got to be smart, and when you’re touching a quarterback some of it’s judgment.”

Coaches also must be careful.

Legendary former Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden once told Brown to be mindful about pulling back guys who sometimes get flagged for jumping offsides getting into their pass rush, warning it could make them “non-aggressive.” There’s a fine line coaching that and understanding the occasional five-yard penalty for being overly ambitious must be acceptable given the reward for having inflamed pass rushers.

Some penalties, however, UNC’s coaches grind away trying to fully minimize, aided by having officials at every practice. No mistake is disregarded.

“We bring (the players) in, we show it to them on video, we go over it with the coaches every day and just try to correct it that way,” Brown said.

Evidence this is working: After 10 false starts over the first four contests, the Tar Heels have been guilty going before the ball is snapped just twice in the last three games. Also, 11 of Carolina’s 12 holding penalties came in its first five outings, so it’s been nailed for that just once over the last two weeks and not at all in 75 offensive plays at Duke. In addition, UNC has not been flagged for an illegal block in its last three contests.

Those are the types of penalties the staff can fix, but some remain open-ended because Brown and his assistants might see differently in the film room from what’s called on the field.

Each week, they send the league office disputed calls, though it obviously never changes what transpired during the game. Furthermore, the coaches can’t even publicly identify the mistakes afterward or they’ll face fines and repercussion from the conference. Former Florida State Coach Jimbo Fisher got hit with a $20,000 fine in 2016 for voicing his displeasure over officiating in a particular game, as a high-end example.

Brown probably doesn’t want to embarrass the officials, but he would like to stand up for his players. The same goes for when penalties are not called but perhaps a flag should have been thrown.

“I think that should change in college football,” Brown said. “Everybody’s accountable, and I think officials should be accountable, too. They do a great job, but if they mess up, I really feel like the league offices across the country should say that they messed up.

“Each week, you all (media) report on what was called and that doesn’t mean they were all penalties, and that’s a difficult thing, and then I can’t defend our team if they weren’t penalties.”

And if a player gets away with something on the field, he likely won’t in the film room. The staff also corrects the uncalled penalties.

“We bring those in, too, and show the players, ‘This should have been called,’” Brown said.

There’s no denial inside the Kenan Football Center that penalties have been and remain a problem for the Tar Heels. Among the many things on the program’s weekly check list, it’s near the top.

But things aren’t always as they appear, either. So yes, UNC is working diligently to fix the flag problem, but it’s also not going to completely pull back. It can’t, it’s football.

Brown has plenty to say about it, but he’s also comfortable living with it to a degree, too.

*On the season, UNC has been flagged 57 times for 543 yards, an average of 8.1 penalties for 77.6 yards per contest.

*The infraction the Tar Heels have been most guilty of are 12 false starts and 12 offensive and special teams holding calls. Eight personal fouls, through five came in the win over Duke, and eight pass interference calls have also hit the Heels.

12 – False start

12 – Holding

9 – Personal fouls

8 – Pass interference

3 – Offsides

3 – Defensive holding

3 – Unsportsmanlike conduct

3 – Illegal block

2 – Substitution infraction

2 – Ineligible receiver

Note: Some personal fouls were roughing the passer and one was roughing the kicker.

*Penalties by quarter: First 10; Second 19; Third 16; Fourth 12.

*UNC has scored a touchdown on six of its seven opening drives of games, with just one of those scoring drives including a penalty on the Tar Heels. Overall, UNC has run 60 plays on opening drives gaining 441 yards and scoring six touchdowns while being flagged just twice.