CHAPEL HILL – The elephant in North Carolina’s room right now isn’t its on-again, off-again defense, it’s the Tar Heels’ continuing issues on special teams.

And it’s all encompassing.

Costly mistakes have afflicted nearly each unit at some point through the Tar Heels’ six contests, and it’s not a stretch suggesting it could have cost them in both of their defeats at Florida State and Virginia, games UNC dropped by three points apiece.

Muffs, blocked punts, kickoff and return problems, and missed field goals mark the growing list of what’s gone wrong. UNC Coach Mack Brown, however, says one element of special teams stands out as most crucial in determining outcomes of games, and it's bitten the Heels.

“I think the punt team is the quickest way to get you beat,” he said during his weekly press conference Monday. “Most of the time, if you get a punt blocked you lose the game or punt return (for a score). So, that is such a critical part of it.”

UNC had two punts blocked in its loss at FSU, one led to a touchdown a play later and was essentially the difference in that 31-28 defeat.

Brown says special teams around the country have been “more sporadic” this year, and there have been numerous game-altering plays across the landscape. But UNC has had more issues than most teams, and it has been wide-ranging, as evidenced by Carolina’s No. 92 national ranking (out of 100 FBS teams) in composite special teams efficiency, according to PFF.

Some of Carolina's issues:

*Two muffed punts: One gave Syracuse the ball at UNC’s 21-yard-line and led to an Orange field goal, and the other gave Virginia the ball at the UNC 20 and led to a Cavaliers’ touchdown.

*Virginia Tech converted an onside kick with 5:56 left in the third quarter of a game that was 42-24 at the time. The Hokies then moved 54 yards in three plays for a touchdown.

*A fair catch on a kickoff forced UNC to start at its own 4-yard-line in the second quarter at Boston College. Two plays later, Sam Howell was hit while throwing and his pass was intercepted giving BC the ball at the five. It scored a touchdown three plays later.

*UNC had two punts blocked in the first 4:46 of the game at Florida State. The first came after Carolina’s opening possession. FSU scored a touchdown on a 23-yard run on the next snap. The Seminoles blocked a punt on the Tar Heels’ third possession, too.

*Also at FSU, with UNC trying to make a comeback, the Tar Heels scored a touchdown to cut the deficit to 31-21 right before the end of the third quarter. Carolina converted a two-point conversion following its previous touchdown in the period, but attemtping to do so again, a false start pushed the ball back to the seven, increasing the degree of difficulty on the play, and Howell’s pass fell incomplete.

*With UNC scoring to make it 44-41 with 2:51 remaining last Saturday night in Charlottesville, Carolina’s kickoff squibbed a bit to the left and went out of bounds giving UVA the ball at its 35-yard-line. UNC was trying to get the ball further downfield so it would bounce some and perhaps cause some issues for the Cavaliers. But that didn’t happen.

*Then, a few plays later, on fourth-and-3 from its 42 and 2:02 left on the clock, UVA faked a punt snapping to one of the personal protectors, Keytaon Thompson, who ran five yards for the first down. UNC’s defense was replaced by its punt safe team, which included a running back at essentially middle linebacker and a true freshman wide receiver basically playing outside linebacker/end. Thompson, UVA's backup quarterback, actually ran the ball on the Wahoos' previous two plays. He never ran off the field even though he was not a personal protector on UVA's prior punts. After converting, UVA ran out the clock and won the game.

Brown said the punt safe unit was on the field because he didn’t want to get backed up well into their own territory and preferred his team’s chances more if it made a stop and got the ball on UVA’s side of midfield.

“We thought we did exactly what we should have done,” Brown said. “We were prepared for it. I loved the preparation, I love that our kids knew it was going to be a fake, I love the fact they called it out. We have to do a better job teaching a freshman to contain the backside. And, if they had punted it with nobody back there and they down it at the one, then it puts you in a difficult spot too.

“But we also felt like they might even pooch it if they had come out and then that would have been a very difficult situation, too.”

Brown defended special teams coach Jovan Dewitt on Monday, though Dewitt has been the target of criticism from many corners. Ratcheting up some of the judgment is that Brown made a change in that position after last season, which is when and why Dewitt came on board.

“Without spring practice, it’s tougher on Jovan Dewitt, who came in and didn’t have a spring practice and had to learn the kids after getting here,” Brown said. “And then we’ve had so many injuries, he’s just having to run guys in and out and trying to teach everybody to do it…

“Everybody wants to jump on the special teams coach when something goes wrong, all the coaches work on special teams, primarily.”

For exmple, on Virginia’s fake field goal situation, Dewitt, Brown and defensive coordinator Jay Bateman were part of the decision making that went into the punt safe call.

“Up to three other coaches work with Dewitt on punt team teaching, planning and execution, as example,” Brown said. “So, when we have a mistake on special teams, it is all of us on the staff that are coaching it that made the mistakes, it’s not just a guy.”

So where do the Tar Heels go from here?

They can’t change the reality of lost time for Dewitt with the players, whom he didn’t technically coach on the field until just before fall camp started. Nor can he help the fact that injuries have caused a trickle-down effect with the personnel at his disposal. UNC has become increasingly young on certain special teams units during the course of the season.

With five games remaining, has UNC reached a point where it’s just working to get by on special teams given the circumstances or is there any hope the units can improve over the second half of the campaign?

“I think it’s both,” Brown said. “I love what Jovan and our coaches are doing in practice. They’re so prepared, their drills are right on target. I see a lot of really good things in special teams. We all talk about the one bad thing every week, we don’t talk about all the good things that are happening.

“And just like with our secondary, the more these young guys play the better they’re going to get. And then we’ll probably get some of these guys that have been out back and that will help us as well.”

As it stands, that’s obviously a work-in-progress, and it’s one that has rendered some damaging results so far.