CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media following practice Wednesday morning to discuss his team’s preparation for Saturday’s game at Virginia, the Tar Heels’ College Football Playoff ranking, and to field questions about his club.

UNC came in at No. 17 in the initial CFP ranking of the season Tuesday night, and Brown had some interesting things to say about it that we chronicled in a piece earlier Tuesday. He discussed dealing with losing two defensive starters and one offensive starter for the season this week, UVA’s defense that hasn’t given up a touchdown in its last two games, and so much more.

Above is video of Brown’s Q&A session, and below are a few notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:

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*The Tar Heels are in their 11th week of the season already, and Brown says this is the month when teams determine who they truly are.

“It’s the 11th week of the season for us, so it’s hard and grueling and grinding, and teams make a difference in who they are in November,” Brown said. “The old adage is, ‘You remember November.’

“You try to figure out who you are by November, and in November we know who you are. And then you’ve got to either rise up or step down. The pretenders until November, and the contenders in November have been talked about for many, many years.”

*Carolina has lost four starters for the season in the last two weeks, so depth is being tested especially along the defensive line and at running back. Brown said now if when the recruiting and player development should show up.

“When you get a program, you want to recruit well enough to have depth, and then you’ve got to develop guys,” Brown said. “That’s something we all talk about all the time.”

Brown listed all of the guys that are out that the program expected or hopes to have. It includes defensive lineman Tomari Fox, receiver Tylee Craft, running back British Brooks, and recently out for the season are defensive lineman Ray Vohasek, defensive end Des Evans, jack Noah Taylor, and running back Caleb Hood. In addition, freshman linebacker Sebastian Cheeks got early reps before going down for the season as well.

“It’s about recruiting and development, and that’s what I told our coaches,” Brown said. “This time of year, a lot of people have injuries, there’s nothing you can do about it, but you’ve got to be able to have somebody step up. And that’s what we’ve told the guys.

“It is truly the next man up.”

*Brown said Hood will have surgery but it’s uncertain still of Evans will have surgery.

“I think Caleb will for sure, and Des they’re trying to wait and see…,” Brown said. “That’s what I’ve been told. Des is a wait-and-see situation, and Caleb is an absolute.”

*With just four running backs available, it appears the rotation will be Elijah Green, Omarion Hampton, D.J. Jones, and George Pettaway, in that order. Brown addressed the RB room.

“D.J. Jones is healthy now, so he can play…,” Brown said. “Elijah Green’s playing at a very high level at everything. We’ve got to be smart with him. He played on all special teams the other day and played a lot at running back and he got cramps. That’s the first time that we’ve had a guy get cramps all year, and he’s in tremendous shape. So, we’ve got to be careful that we don’t over-use him.

“Omarion just keeps getting better, and we still have very high hopes for George Pettaway, and we’d love to get him in the game more. That’s why we’ve got him back there returning kickoffs now. We’d like to get the ball in his hands some.

“It’s kind of been at running back whoever’s hot, whoever’s healthy, whoever fits the type of ball we need to play… We’re really trying to do a great job of managing those backs and getting the right one on the field.”

*Virginia has not allowed an offensive touchdown in its last two games, plus it surrendered only 474 yards on 143 offensive plays in the two games; a win at Georgia Tech and loss at home to Miami. In addition, the Wahoos held the Yellow Jackets and Hurricanes to a combined 11-for-37 on third downs, which is 29.7 percent.

Overall, UVA is ranked No. 31 in total defense allowing 340 yards per game, and are also 31st in scoring defense allowing an average of 21.5 points per contest.

Brown has a ton of respect for UVA’s defense.

“Man are they play hard and they’re playing with a whole lot of confidence,’ Brown said. “And I think that’s what you see the most.”