Mack Brown previews the potential for a high-scoring Holiday Bowl

When North Carolina and Oregon square off Wednesday in the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl, it will be Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown’s sixth time coaching in the Holiday Bowl. The Holiday Bowl has historically been one of the more high-scoring bowl games year in and year out, as Brown spoke on the offensive potential in this year’s edition.

“I think it’s unbelievable. Both defenses hear how great the offenses are going to be, so they’re both mad coming into the game. They think nobody gives them a chance, so that means those defenses will fight hard,” Brown said.

Both teams boast two of the nation’s top 15 offenses in terms of total yards and passing yards per game, so much so that each other their offensive coordinators have moved on and taken promotions elsewhere.

“Both of us lost our offensive coordinators, so that’s unique,” Brown said. “We’ll have Lonnie Galloway calling our plays, who has never called a play in a ball game, so it will be interesting as we look at it, but both have really good skill, and both can run.”

Both quarterbacks in this matchup have had fantastic seasons, with North Carolina’s Drake Maye and Oregon’s Bo Nix establishing themselves as two of the nation’s elite dual-threat quarterbacks. All season the two proved they can get it done with their arm and their legs, but according to Brown, Oregon may have the upper hand in the running game as a whole.

“So they run the ball much better than we do, which is something. I’ve used them to our staff and team all month is look how they’re running the ball, man. We have to get back to running the ball better so we can protect our quarterback better,” Brown said. “In modern-day college football when you have a quarterback, you have a chance, and these are two of the best quarterbacks in the country.”

The Tar Heels rushed for just 156.4 yards per game this season, with Maye featured as the teams leading rusher. Oregon on the other hand is averaging 216.3 yards per game on the ground, seeing a lot more production out of their running backs this season.

Despite this, Nix leads not only the Ducks, but all quarterbacks in the country in rushing touchdowns this season with 14. And with Maye currently ranking fourth in the nation in passing touchdowns, this year’s Holiday Bowl has all of the makings of another classic shootout.

“Holiday Bowl has been so blessed to have great quarterbacks through the years, and you go back and look at some of the games. And Major Applewhite’s 27-point comeback in the fourth quarter here. Just so many times where quarterbacks have made play after play, and defenses have their hands full tomorrow with those two quarterbacks,” Brown said.