Mack Brown claims lack of student turnout hurt North Carolina against Virginia

The North Carolina Tar Heels fell to the Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday, stunning the college football world. It was a defeat that very few saw coming, including Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown.

While there were several things that did not go right for North Carolina that were out of their control, there was one thing that was that their headman took exception to. As the Tar Heels prepare for their Week 9 matchup against Georgia Tech, Brown took a moment to call on the support of the program’s fans in Atlanta, GA.

“If you’re a fan that’s frustrated because we lost the game, go help. Get to Atlanta this weekend and help us if you really care. There’s a difference in yelling and carrying,” said Brown.

But the North Carolina headman was not finished there as he called out the institution students who did not attend Saturday’s defeat to Virginia, highlighting how essential their presence, or lack thereof, was to the Tar Heel’s loss.

“So, with fall break, if you couldn’t make it to the game Saturday, maybe you should have. Maybe you could have helped us a little bit. Think about how important it really is to you, not just how much you yell after a win or how much you stick your chest out. You can help, and you have helped us. It hurt us that our students were not there Saturday.”

Brown explains how fall break and crowd aided in Virginia loss

Brown knew North Carolina could lose to Virginia, as upsets are a part of every college football season. The Tar Heels headman did everything in his power to ensure that complacency and hype did not affect his team, something that Alabama head coach Nick Saban coined “rat poison.” In the end, the Tar Heels could not match the intensity that the Cavaliers brought into Week 8 and Brown with a sense of disappointment. But his feeling of disappointment is not for the reason most would think it is.

“There’s upsets every week. I walked in and told our team that Oklahoma was down early, and they were at home and supposed to kill somebody. So be careful, be smart. But that is still brains, still human beings, and some listen, some don’t. That’s the disappointing thing.”

“They will be more disappointed than any of our fans, or anybody could be. I’m disappointed, but I’m disappointed for them that they’ll be crushed. That’s part of this business, part of what you have to learn from. And you gotta learn from losing. We walk in here and handle it after we’ve won every week, and we can walk around and cut up. If you lose, you gotta handle it, you gotta own it; that’s what you do,” said Brown.

North Carolina’s conference championship hopes remain alive as they are tied for second in the conference with the Louisville Cardinals at 3-1 in the ACC. Brown and the Tar Heels can ill afford another loss if they want to keep their championship hopes alive.