CHAPEL HILL – Mack Brown doesn’t deliver sermons Sunday mornings at a local church nearby, but he does preach to his football team all week about myriad things.

And one of those consistent messages has focused on a need for his football team to force turnovers. Be patient and they will eventually come, he says, and when that happens it could be in abundance.

Of course, that requires his North Carolina defense is married to its responsibilities: Be true to the game and it will eventually reap rewards.

So, when the Tar Heels forced four turnovers in their 48-21 victory over NC State on Saturday at Kenan Stadium, the narrative afterward among the players was pretty much the same, and looking back was quite predictable, too.

“Like Coach Brown always says, they come in bunches, so we just had to get our hands on one and go out and play,” said sophomore safety Don Chapman, who snared one of UNC’s three interceptions on the day. “The pass rush was really good, they got pressure and guys just made plays on the ball when they were in the air.”

Chapman laid it all out right there. The guys up front did their part, the guys in the middle and back did theirs, and the turnovers finally came. They heeded their coaches’ words.

“It’s obviously the way you win football games and I kept telling them, ‘They’re gonna come in bunches when they come,’” Brown said. “And when we got ahead of them enough and they had to start throwing the ball every time, that’s when you get your turnovers, you get tipped balls, you get sacked quarterbacks that the ball comes out.”

Two of Carolina’s three picks were tipped balls. One came off the hands of a wide-open intended Wolfpack receiver in the end zone, and the other was deflected by hard-charging pass rusher Tyrone Hopper before falling into Chazz Surratt’s hands.

The fumble was on a sack by Surratt, knocking the ball out of NC State quarterback Bailey Hockman’s hands before true freshman Des Evans grabbed it at State’s nine-yard-line.

“Coach Brown has been talking a lot about trying to get the ball back to our offense, getting turnovers is a big swing in the game…,” Surratt said. “Getting points (after) turnovers is big, it’s a big momentum shift in the game.”

The Heels did just that, scoring two touchdowns after getting turnovers. They moved 60 yards for a score giving them a 24-7 lead following Surratt’s pick and nine yards on three plays for a touchdown and 38-7 advantage after Evans’ fumble recovery.

That’s 14 points during a decisive third quarter that set the teams apart.

“Those are huge momentum plays,” UNC quarterback Sam Howell said. “When they get the ball, we definitely try to capitalize off those. I think that’s how you win football games, creating turnovers capitalizing off those big plays.”

The one turnover that may have opened the floodgates was Chapman’s. The Heels ended up marching 75 yards before missing a field goal, so they didn’t get points from it. But they kept State from scoring, as it should have been a touchdown pass for the Wolfpack. The play preservied a 14-0 UNC lead.

It was also the manner Chapman came up with the interception. It was an effort play that cleaned up a snafu in the secondary.

“It was a mistake on both sides of the ball,” Chapman explained. “We kind of blew a coverage and the (State player) dropped the ball. Just hustle, just hustle to the ball and when I saw it, I just went for it.”

And the Heels went for it all afternoon, finally seeing those bunches of turnovers in their favor.