Mack Brown fires back after question about how fans should feel about UNC defense

It’s hard to win football games when you’re giving up more than five touchdowns per game. In that regard, you could argue the job coach Mack Brown has done coaching around a very porous UNC defense is impressive.

The Tar Heels are 3-1 despite ranking 123rd out of 131 FBS teams in total defense, giving up 39.5 points per game. Understandably, Tar Heels fans want to know when they can expect things to improve on that side of the ball and reporters are questioning how fans are supposed to feel given the results they’ve seen.

Brown had a pretty pointed answer to the latter.

“You asked me what the fans should feel about our defense?” Brown said. “We should be very unique here, and we’ve got a really powerful offense and a chance to be really good. We should take a defense that’s really struggling and have a fanbase that picks them up. What a concept that would be. Oh my gosh.

“Why don’t we be positive as a fanbase to help somebody that’s struggling? Instead of our society being just, ‘they’re bad. They should all be fired,’ that’s the new term.”

Here are the facts.

Every team the UNC defense has faced has scored at least 24 points. Three out of four opponents have topped 420 yards of offense, with Appalachian State racking up 649 and Notre Dame reaching 576.

Still, Brown is hoping his fanbase can take a less critical approach.

“I can say five different things and you’re going to say they’re all an excuse so it doesn’t matter,” Brown said. “It is what it is. We’ve got to fix it. We’re looking hard to fix it. Am I consistent in everything in my life — and I’m 71 — no. Are you? No. And these are young guys, but they’ve got a lot of pride and the coaches are, I’m having to; I’ve beat them down so much I’ve got to pick them up.”

Modern offenses are hard to stop

One of the things Brown pointed to in defense of his, well, defense is simply how hard it is to slow down modern offenses.

“It’s complicated enough. If it was easy as you want it to be in the answer it would already be fixed,” Brown pointed out. “And I don’t have a video to sit here and say, ‘He’s too wide. Yeah, he came underneath that time, he’s got to keep the edge.’ Because we lost our edge on defense. Everybody played great but we didn’t have an edge. They bounced outside. You’ve got to get an edge, you’ve got to be outside.”

With the evolution of modern spread concepts and the widespread adoption of run-pass options (RPOs), defensive coaches have so much more to worry about now. Offenses have adjustments for seemingly every defensive check or coverage call.

Moreover, often one thing not done properly can ruin an entire play on defense.

“That’s what I mean it’s complicated enough, because there’s an issue on every defensive play and because we have given up…” Brown said, “Clemson gave up 45, Miami gave up 44, Wisconsin was one of the best defenses in the country, they gave up 52. Playing defense is harder than it used to be. Offenses are scoring more points.”

Brown refuses to excuse UNC defense’s play

It’s not that Brown is excusing the UNC defense’s results. He’d admit being 126th nationally in total defense (allowing 495.3 yards per game) is not acceptable.

He just differs on the approach going forward, at least when it comes to the fanbase.

“Is that an excuse for us?” Brown said. “No, we’ve got to be better than we are. So that’s the thing. I wish I could have a simple answer for you. It would sound like an excuse and I’m not going to do that anymore.”

Rather, Brown wants to use the defensive struggles to teach larger life lessons. Namely, that you’re going to have things that go against you — sometimes significantly more than you expect — that need to be dealt with.

For college football players, experiences like the UNC defense is going through so far in 2022 can be a learning experience.

“It needs to be fixed this week. It’s better than it was in the opener already,” Brown said. “People wouldn’t think so. We just played the best team we’re going to play and there were some good moments. We hung in there and fought them at times. Not enough.

“So yeah, it’s getting better and it’s getting better every day and I’m going to keep pulling for these kids and I’m going to keep encouraging them, keep their heads up. What a great teachable moment for these kids in their life. Things aren’t good, got to fix it. You can’t lay down and quit, you can’t put it off and you can’t make excuses. It is what it is.”