CHAPEL HILL – This week is a test for North Carolina’s football team.
Georgia Tech, which has been solid on its good days, is a challenging road game for a UNC club that has been inside an opponent’s stadium just once so far this season. It is game number eight for the Tar Heels, so the bumps and bruises of the last few months are accumulating, thus making each day in pads a bit of a task.
And with the 17th-ranked Tar Heels coming off a shocking loss at home to Virginia delivering Mack Brown’s team its first defeat and dropping it out of the top 10, everything that has hoisted this group is on notice.
Going back to the spring, Brown and others inside the program have lauded its chemistry, leadership, culture, and that those things have helped elevate the standard of Carolina football. All of that, however, will be closely watched this weekend. It is a true test for where UNC football is at this stage of Brown part two.
“I definitely think it’s a test,” senior linebacker and team leader Cedric Gray said earlier this week. “How are we going to respond to what happened last week to having our first loss of the season. But not only that, going on the road will be tested, playing a team, Georgia Tech, who’s had our number in the past few years.
“Our culture will definitely be tested this week on how we play. But we’re going to come out there, we’re going to show up, we’re going to be flying on all cylinders and are going to be just fine.”
Part of the program’s enhanced culture this season, and really something that took a sizeable step forward last fall, is the accountability everywhere inside the Kenan Football Center. From the fifth floor on down, it has proven a part of the program’s DNA. But it must surface carrying a banner of sorts this week.
So far, all indications are that it has.
Brown opened his press conference Monday accepting full blame for the snafus that made UVA’s job easier last weekend. Coordinators Gene Chizik and Chip Lindsey did the same. So did the players on Tuesday.
And, as should always be the case, lessons were learned. Or, at the very least, strong reminders were thrust in front of the Tar Heels.
“It was like their bowl game and their dream to come beat a top 10 team and we allowed it, and you can’t do that,” Brown said, referring to the Cavaliers that entered the contest with only one win on the year. “You just can’t do that and be a top-10 team.”
The thing is, the Heels didn’t look at film and practice Sunday, cleanly putting the loss behind them. It took a little longer than usual. The loss stung, and like when a bee plants its stinger, a welt surfaces, to which only time can heal.
The challenge for Brown was to corral the horses, get them steered in the right direction, and make sure nobody strays. For the leaders on the club, their job is to reinforce that.
Each, however, has their own method. Gray has chosen the power of positivity.
“I think this is a type of week where I just bring light to everybody,” he said. “The way I’m talking this week is very, very encouraging picking everybody up. I think everybody knows what happened. I don’t want to beat anybody down anymore. I just want to encourage everybody and lift them up so they can play their best on Saturday.”
Instead of a slow burn, consider this week a slow build toward the task Saturday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium against the 3-4 Yellow Jackets.
Doing so collectively and with a purpose is fueling this mission, Carolina’s quarterback says.
“Yeah,” Drake Maye replied when asked if this week is when the culture, chemistry, leadership and standard rise to the surface. “Just the locker room morale getting back and put smiles on people’s faces and having serious talks and getting back to relationships kind of diving deep.
“It’s one of those weeks where you dig deeper and find more true meaning (that) we’re blessed to play this game; what God’s created the human beings to put around in this locker room. We have such a great group of guys, coaches that love one another and care for each other and want to see each other succeed.”
At the risk of coming off as overanalytical, Maye and Gray are correct. Football isn’t about just blocking, tackling, and touchdowns. It’s as much mental as it can be physical, and it very much is about having a greater collective purpose.
That is the test this week. The program has steadfastly said those attributes are embedded within. If so, Saturday night will reflect it.
