CHAPEL HILL – As each game passes, new additions to North Carolina’s laundry list of must-dos arise, and this week’s entry is for the Tar Heels to connect well-played performances.

They’ve shown an ability to follow up bad losses at Florida State and Virginia with their best games of the year in routs of NC State and Duke, respectively. Now, after a 56-24 win over the Blue Devils this past Saturday, Mack Brown’s team is looking to take care of business again with Wake Forest in town Saturday.

That would be two high-level games in a row, something these 2020 Tar Heels haven’t yet achieved. They poured 56 points on the board in finally beating Virginia Tech a week before falling flat on their faces in Tallahassee, and the loss at UVA came a week after UNC’s most thorough performance of the season in a 48-21 waxing of NC State.

Now, Brown wants to see his guys string something together.

“We need to make sure we grow from a win and improve from a win instead of have a setback,” he said during Monday’s weekly press conference.

The task is considerable understanding that Wake Forest visits Kenan Stadium having won four consecutive contests, and by the time it runs out of the tunnel Saturday, it will have been 55 days since the Demon Deacons lost a game. It’s also a Wake team that defeated UNC a year ago in Winston-Salem and simply doesn’t beat itself.

The Deacons lead the nation in turnover ratio at 15-1, with the lone giveaway a fumble. Thus, their quarterbacks, mainly starter Sam Hartman, have not yet thrown an interception in 172 pass attempts. Wake is strong on certain special teams ranked No. 28 in punt returns and No. 2 in kickoff returns, have scored two defensive touchdowns and it averages fewer than six penalties (second in the ACC) a game.

This is another fairly typical Wake Forest team under Dave Clawson, who has led the Deacs to four consecutive winning seasons and a 4-2 mark this fall.

“They’re always well coached, and I’ve thought he never gets the credit for the way his teams play,” Brown said. “They always have really good players and they’re never ranked really high in recruiting, so they do a fantastic job in evaluating and developing players and they always play hard.”

That’s why UNC’s mission this week of playing well for a second consecutive outing is so crucial, because if the Tar Heels don’t, they very well could lose.

Wake’s unique RPO scheme, in which the quarterback sometimes holds the ball for an extra split second before handing it off, keeping it or throwing it, has confused many opponents, including the Tar Heels last season. UNC trailed 21-0 at one point and allowed 222 rushing yards that night. The Deacons are at it again this fall, averaging 175 yards on the ground per game.

“What they do well is what we haven’t done as well,” Brown said. “We haven’t done well controlling penalties and we haven’t stopped the run.”

But this is the challenge programs and teams on the uptick face and conquer if that climb is to continue. Learning to win a week after a lopsided victory isn’t easy, especially for a program that is just 20 games into Brown’s tenure after going 6-21 over the 27 games it played before his hiring nearly two years ago.

So, the next step for UNC (5-2) is quite clear, and it's a considerable enough task. And much of it, Brown says, is on the players.

“I’m not sure how much of anything we control, really,” he said. “You’re talking about 120 guys and you’re talking about their emotional levels going up and down and you can’t control what they read and they hear.

“What we can control is a consistent message… My message to them (Sunday) is what I’m telling you (media) today. The message tomorrow at that 6:30 (am) meeting will be the same. These are facts, this is what it is. If you’re ready to take the next step, here’s what we haven’t done well, (and) if you want to take the next step, here’s how you have to do it.”

The long view is Brown wants his program to field teams each season that play exactly the same every week.

A Hall of Famer who has been around the block many times, Brown understands that’s not entirely possible, but developing a culture in which that’s expected and the quest is pursued will get the Tar Heels closer to achieving that mission.

So, they know what Wake’s all about and will scheme accordingly, but Brown also knows this is about getting better in so many ways, including connecting last week to this week.

And if the Tar Heels do that, there’s a good chance they’ll emerge with a victory.