Mack Brown explains how Florida A&M uncertainty was an important 'mental test'

For those unaware, the North Carolina vs. Florida A&M game nearly didn’t happen this past Saturday. Florida A&M dealt with severe eligibility issues in the days leading up to the game and there was doubt the game would even happen due to FAMU not even having enough players. Alas, they resolved the conflict well enough to jump on a plane and play the game. Which they lost to the home field Tar Heels 56-24.

After the game, head coach Mack Brown was asked about the Florida A&M snafu and its effect on the team. To which Brown answered that he coaches his team to be ready to adjust for circumstances such as this.

Here was Mack Brown explaining why he thought the ordeal was actually a good experience for his players, teaching them to be ready for anything:

“It wasn’t fun. We’re sitting there yesterday. I’m actually with the TV people waiting on a text from to see if we’re going to have a game or not. And I’m in the interview with them and I’d get a text and I’d say…excuse me, let’s wait a minute and see if we’re going to keep doing this, because we might have a game and they said, well they’re in a team meeting and I said…well just let us know. And then they said they’re playing. We got one this afternoon for the first time there were only three guys missing out of the two-deep. I said…I think they’re good, man. You better get ready to play.”

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“But I thought it was a really good mind game for our players. They were calling me because they have buddies on the team saying…coach, I don’t think we’re gonna play. And I said, well, we are so you you need to get ready to play. So we talked today about — you’ve got to be able to maintain that edge regardless of all the distractions that are around you.

“So I thought it was a great mental test for our team. I even talked to them about Florida State’s hour-and-a-half delay. You get ready to play at 4:00 and then you’re not playing until 5:30 or 6:30. So you got to be able to do that. There’s no excuses. You’ve got to handle your mind. And the minds are crazy and they drift and young guys can be all over the place. So I was really really proud that they were able toto handle that distraction of not playing.”