UNC head Mack Brown credits NC State football for not quitting
North Carolina head coach Mack Brown fell to 7-8 all-time against NC State football, but he cannot recall ever experiencing a defeat quite like the one he had Friday night at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.
His team blew a 30-21 advantage with 2;12 left and NC State down to one timeout and fell 34-30 to its archrival in football.
“What a great game, if you didn’t care who won,” Brown said afterward. “It was an even game throughout most of the night, a real battle.”
Ultimately, Brown noted that NC State did what UNC could not: finish.
“Credit NC State, they didn’t give up,” Brown noted. “They didn’t quit.”
An onside kick recovery and two touchdown passes separated by 26 seconds left Brown and his squad stunned.
It also left the 33-year head coach veteran experiencing a first.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Brown admitted. “I’ve got to do a better job. I’m really disappointed in me that our team doesn’t win that game.”
Brown noted that the result felt similar to when UNC lost in overtime, 30-23, at Coastal Division winner Pittsburgh on Nov. 11.
“We had an opportunity to beat a really good team on the road at Pittsburgh, one of the best in our league, and we didn’t finish it,” Brown noted. “We had a better opportunity tonight, we still didn’t finish it.
“We’ve still got work to do, that comes back to me.”
Brown also noted it came down to one play: NC State football junior kicker Christopher Dunn recovering an onside kick. Brown said that they were not caught off-guard by Dunn kicking it up the middle.
It just came down to execution, Brown explained.
“Our guy was getting ready to field it, their kicker did an unbelievable job of being right there at the 10-yard mark and falling on it,” Brown said.
Brown added he doesn’t know if the team was shell-shocked following the recovery. On the ensuing NC State drive, his defense committed two 15-yard penalties before giving up the game-winning score.
“How do you know?” Brown asked. “You’ve got to play the next play, and you’ve got to be the one … to make the play to win the game. If we get the onside kick, the game’s over because there’s 1:35 left, and they only have one timeout.
“We’ve got to get the onside kick. We got the onside kick against Wake and win by three. We don’t get the onside kick tonight. You’ve got to get onside kicks. That’s part of being a good team.”
The lack of end-game execution against NC State, Brown noted, falls on him. His team finished the regular season 6-6 overall and 3-5 in the ACC, far short of the preseason expectations that had the Heels rated in the top 10 and winning the conference’s Coastal Division.
“Those kids played really hard,” Brown added. “I feel bad for them. They played their absolute guys out like they did at Pittsburgh, and somebody’s going to get a good bowl team.”
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