UNC Football: Mack Brown admits Tar Heels weren’t ready for the moment

This 2021 season began as one of the most anticipated seasons in UNC Football history as they debuted the preseason polls at No. 10 overall. The team was coming off a 2020 campaign in which they reached the Orange Bowl despite some struggles they faced earlier in the year.

But on Friday night, the Tar Heels were hit in the mouth early at Virginia Tech and never really regrouped leading to a disappointing 17-10 loss.

Following the game, head coach Mack Brown was brutally honest with how his team played saying they were even “overrated” going into the season.

“Obviously the shine’s off and the rating sure doesn’t matter tonight, we were overrated with the way we played,” Brown said via Inside Carolina. “Most people had a scrimmage this weekend and we had a very difficult team on the road in a tough environment. It showed us some concerns that we’ve got to go back in and fix.”

That’s a head coach that is brutally honest with how his team played and handled the expectations. He’s right too. This team wasn’t ready for these expectations and Friday night showed that.

Now, it’s not UNC’s fault they had the hype that they did going into this game and realistically, it’s VERY tough to replace the losses of four draft picks on offense in Javonte Williams, Michael Carter, Dazz Newsome and Dyami Brown even with Sam Howell at quarterback. And the struggles on offense ranged from the offensive line to tight end and even the receivers struggling to catch passes.

Heck, Howell didn’t have a great game throwing for just 208 yards, 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions. While not all of those were his fault, Howell just didn’t get into a rhythm, nor did this offense.

It was truly a slim chance that the Tar Heels were going to reach the College Football Playoff anyway and Friday’s loss pretty much ended it.  But there is still a successful season to be had for the Tar Heels.

Getting to the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game by winning the Coastal should be the big goal now. The Tar Heels are back in action next week against a Georgia State team they should beat. And the next few weeks will be crucial in terms of “getting things” right with games they will be favorable in.

“Now we should know more about who our backs are, we should know who the receivers are that can step up and play, that’s been a concern,” Brown said.  “We’ve got to figure out why we did not play well, the first half on defense as well.”

If UNC can get right and start to build up the momentum, they could find themselves back in the Top 10 before the season is over. But right now, that’s a big if.

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