CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media Monday at the Kenan Football Center for his weekly press conference in advance of the No. 17 Tar Heels’ game Saturday at Pittsburgh.

Brown went over the Tar Heels’ 31-13 win over Minnesota this past Saturday, aspects from how the offense, defense, and special teams performed, and was asked numerous questions about all three phases.

UNC is 3-0 while the Panthers are 1-2 with a win over Wofford and losses the last two weeks at home to Cincinnati and at West Virginia.

Above is video of Brown’s presser, and below are some notes from what he had to say:

*Injury update: WR Gavin Blackwell will be checked out during the week to see how he progresses from getting banged up versus the Gophers; Willie Lampkin was injured during practice last week and could not play Saturday, so he will also be monitored; and Lejond Covazos is getting closer to returning. He has been out since early August.

*The 17th-ranked Tar Heels are 3-0 for the second consecutive season and look to do something this weekend the program has not done in 26 years.

“We have not been 4-0 since 1997, so this is a huge week for us,” Brown said.

*Brown also said this was the first time UNC has beaten an SEC and Big Ten team in the same season since 1976. That year, the Tar Heels won at Florida, 24-21, and beat Northwestern at home 12-0.

Interestingly, UNC has played both a Big Ten and SEC team in the same season just five times since then: 1977; 1987; 2015; 2016; and this season. The Heels went 1-1 in each of the previous four times they’ve played a team from both leagues in the same season.

*Players of the Game from the win over Minnesota:

-Offense - Nate McCollum – Brown said he was one catch shy of the school record and had he known he would have thrown him another pass.

-Defense - Power Echols – He “played his best game,” Brown said. He also said Echols’ interception was a “game-changing play.”

-Special teams: Liam Boyd, walk on kicker who was at Clemson last year, four touchbacks with his kickoffs. Brown also noted PK Noah Burnette who hit his only field goal attempt and had four PATs.

*Brown liked some of what he saw from the offense that accumulated 519 yards, bettering 500-plus yards for the second consecutive week. But there was plenty left on the table.

“Offensively, we were good overall but have room for improvement.”

*Brown wants to have a powerful running game, but he also says if it’s not working and they are finding openings in the passing game, stick to it.

“We want to be balanced by we don’t want to be stubborn.”

*Minnesota’s two QBs were a combined 10-for-30 passing for 133 yards, no TDs, and two INTs. UNC had just one sack, but had nine QB hurries and did some other things to throw off the Gophers’ attack.

“I thought the fact that we were more aggressive with our disguises, we were more aggressive with our defensive backs, we were in people’s face more… We had two interceptions, but we had eight pass breakups. And in the past two years, we haven’t done a good job of being there.

“We were around the ball a lot, and when you do, that’s when you start getting more turnovers and gives you a chance to win more ballgames.”

Minny was 10-for-30 passing and Mack says the D did a better job disguising and was more aggressive with secondary – 8 PBUs

*As for Carolina’s run defense, it held South Carolina to minus-2 yards, but allowed App State 219 yards (5.0 average), and Minnesota 170 yards (5.5 average). Brown says it’s way too much over the last two games.

“Three of those runs for the 170 yards (by the Gophers) were 80 yards… We had three explosive plays that we were in position to stop and didn’t, so we can’t give up explosive runs like that. So, outside of those three, we held them to 3.2 yards per carry on the other 28 rushes.

“But that doesn’t matter. We gave up 80 yards (on the three noted carries) and just didn’t get where we were supposed to get.”

The Gamecocks, by the way, averaged 3.3 yards on 16 attempts in a loss at No. 1 Georgia this past weekend.

*There is more depth on defense now than any time previously since Brown returned nearly five year ago. In all, 21 Tar Heels got defensive snaps versus Minnesota, with 19 of them playing 13 or more snaps. Of those 19, 15 had grades of 60.0 or higher.

Brown said keeping guys fresh is an obvious key, but so is having them push each other for time on the field.

“If you have good players and you put them on the bench when they don’t play well, they tend to want to play well…” He also later said, “Defensively, other than linebacker, we’re pretty good.”

He said they are two deep everywhere but inside linebacker, but noted true freshman Amare Campbell for five snaps in the second quarter there. So the staff is trying to build some depth in the middle of the defense, as well.

*The ACC has seven teams that are 3-0 right now, and the league has put together a 4-2 mark against the SEC and 4-3 versus the Big Ten this season. Two of the losses are by Virginia, which may not win a game this season.

Six of the seven unbeaten teams have at least one nonconference win over a Power 5 opponent.

“I’m really proud of our league, we’ve got a lot of good teams,” Brown said.