CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media Monday for his weekly press conference in advance of the No. 22 Tar Heels’ game at Clemson on Saturday.
Brown discussed the 47-45 double-overtime win over Duke this past Saturday night, the play and toughness of Drake Maye, fourth-quarter defensive issues, red zone offense, special teams positives and negatives, plus he discusses Dabo Swinney and the Tigers.
As for UNC’s defense of late, in just the fourth quarter of the last four ACC games (versus Miami, Virginia, Georgia Tech, and Duke), the Tar Heels have allowed a combined 65 points, 767 yards, and 39 first downs. Carolina lost two of those games, went into overtime and won in one, and held off a late charge in the other.
Offensively, the Tar Heels settled for field goals on four consecutive trips to the red zone against the Blue Devils, going one 17-snap stretch in which sophomore Omarion Hampton, the ACC’s leading rusher, touched the ball just four times.
UNC and Clemson kick off at 3:30 on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Death Valley and will air on ESPN.
Above is video of Brown’s presser, and below are some notes from what he had to say:
*Brown would rather have nine or ten wins, but he’s fairly pleased to be 8-2 at this time. He said the Heels are one of 16 Power 5 teams with at least eight wins. Two of UNC’s wins have come at home in double-overtime, and its two losses have come down to the last drive.
“Could we have won two more, yeah.”
*Players of the Game:
-Offense: Bryson Nesbit (Also a nod to the OL – JJJ and Tez as well, and “I don’t know that I’ve seen Drake be better)
-Defense: Myles Murphy (TFLs… “I’m really proud of him: - Rucker, Ritzie, Chapman, Lane, Echols, Huzzie, Gray noted)
-Special Teams: Noah Burnette (6-6 FGs, scored 27 of their 46 points)
*On the red zone failures, Brown said two were affected by penalties, and two were hurt because a play that didn’t work set them back. Regardless, the Heels have to get this fixed. M
“We will go back and look closely why we didn’t score more in the red zone.”
*The problems defensively in the fourth quarter of the last four ACC games have produced alarming stats. Duke managed 142 total yards over the first three quarters, but then had 209 in the fourth period.
“We’ve got to figure out why” they are having issues in the fourth quarter, “and we’ve got to figure out why.”
Brown wondered if they aren’t subbing enough, especially at inside linebacker. Both Cedric Gray and Power Echols played 77 snaps Saturday night.
*On special teams, the Heels had: A dropped fair catch on a kickoff that resulted in starting a possession at their own 1-yard-line; allowed a fake punt conversion on a fourth-and-8; and failed to recover an onside kick.
“We were screaming fake punt, had it covered but missed a tackle,” as we as on the onside kick, Brown said. “If we think there’s a probability they are going to onside it we should put the onside (unit) out there.”
UNC has had two punts blocked this season, allowed two onside kicks to be recovered, allowed a kickoff return for a TD, failed to recover two muffed kickoffs, multiple long returns, and the muff.
Brown later noted, “Punts were earlier in the year and with a different punter, so we think we’ve got that fixed”
*In response to a series of questions about Drake Maye, Brown noted Maye has played a good part of the season with a bum ankle. He hurt it in the win at Pitt, and the following week, which was an open date on the schedule, Brown told Maye to sit out practice that Tuesday. But Maye didn’t take it, he practiced as he normally would when healthy.
Then, Brown said Maye “could barely walk” in practice the week of the Virginia game, but there was never a chance he would not play or even practice. He was going, period.
“He’s just wired that way.”
Mack said Drake played on a bad ankle in September, and he told him to take practice off on Tuesday during the open date but Drake refused to. He told Mack he had to get better.
Mack said the week of the Virginia game Drake could barely walk at practice, but it never affected him. “He’s just wired that way.”
Brown later added, “He had trouble pushing off it and throwing. He is tough as nails. He will awe shucks you, but he will fight and compete. And there is no ‘awe shucks’ in the huddle.”
*Nate McCollum has not been very productive of late, and Brown said Monday the junior receiver is still working toward getting back to full health after an injury in late August. He has missed two of UNC’s ten games.
In the win over Minnesota, McCollum grabbed 15 passes for 165 yards, and in a three-game spanning following wins over Pitt and Syracuse, he caught 27 passes for 347 yards and a score. Since, however, spanning Carolina’s last five games, McCollum has eight catches for 41 yards.
“Nate hasn’t been able to practice. He’s practiced so very little” and that has been part of the problem.
Brown said the Georgia Tech transfer’s confidence is down, and the drop the other night doesn’t help. Said he is feeling better and might be able to practice normally this week. “He’s a real good player” but needs to be healthier so he can prepare better.
*Brown spoke some about placekicker Noah Burnette, who was 6-for-6 on field goals and converted all three of his PATs scoring 27 of UNC’s points on the night. He struggled late last season prompting UNC to bring in Ryan Coe from Cincinnati. But it didn’t bother Burnette.
“We bring in another kicker and he’s not fazed.”
Burnette is 18-for-19 on field goals this season, and 33-for-33 on PATs.
*In addition, Brown spoke a lot about Clemson, which has won two in a row over Notre Dame and Georgia Tech.
“It’s old Clemson again. They’re playing like a playoff team.”
