Brett Davis | USA TODAY Sports
Mack Brown's practice comments draw beefed up effort, passion for UNC in win over Georgia Tech
ATLANTA — No hamburgers were consumed during the production of this victory.
Mack Brown warned his team on Wednesday that he wasn’t going to allow what he called “Hamburger-eaters” to ruin North Carolina’s weekend, and given what was at stake, it was clear the Tar Heels were focused on beefing up their effort in a 38-22 victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday.
“Basically, this was a test for us to see if, after we spent so much energy against Clemson, we could come back and do it again,” Brown said. “I thought they played hard tonight, they played with passion tonight and did a lot of good things.
“You combine the amount of times we’ve struggled here with the fact that we didn’t respond with passion as well, I’m really, really pleased with the way the guys played tonight, as hard as they played.”
Saturday’s game was perhaps the least exciting on Carolina’s schedule, but definitely the most telling.
It hasn’t been South Carolina, Miami or Clemson that have caused the biggest problems for the Tar Heels, but instead Appalachian State and Wake Forest, as they failed to prepare like they were playing big games.
Before the Clemson game, the Tar Heels set a new standard with their practices, but failed to live up to it on Wednesday, leading to Brown telling his assistants not to bring players who practiced poorly to Atlanta, calling them “Hamburger-eaters,” who were just around for the pregame meal.
His players heard the comments loud and clear.
“I think collectively, we knew the type of practices we needed to be having and stuff, and just him being there to reinforce that, it’s obviously a wake-up call,” receiver Beau Corrales said. “We know the level we want to be at and it’s his job making sure we get to that level, and he does a good job of making sure we’re getting where we need to be.”
The thing was, Wednesday’s practice wasn’t even bad.
“It wasn’t a bad practice, but it wasn’t up to the standard that we need to practice at and he emphasized that,” quarterback Sam Howell said.
By no means were the Tar Heels perfect on Saturday, but they were better than they’ve been in this scenario all season, jumping out to a 17-0 lead before halftime and never looking back as they set a season-high with 587 yards on offense, and save for three drives, shut down the Georgia Tech offense.
With the victory, Carolina matched the number of victories it had over FBS opponents in the past two seasons combined and head into an open week at 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the ACC’s Coastal Division.
It would figure the Tar Heels feel great about the direction of things at the moment, but that’s not entirely the case as it’s more of a cautious optimism. Such is life when you’re chasing a standard rather than a result.
Just as much as players talked about offensive success and holding the Yellow Jackets below 100 yards in the first half, they pointed out the dropped balls and missed assignments that allowed Georgia Tech to score late in the game.
“It was a good game, but it wasn’t a great game and that’s the point that we need to get to,” Corrales said. “We need to be able to be playing great football for all four quarters, and we definitely did a good job of playing good football through all four quarters, but it’s not our expectation. We’re not satisfied with it, but we’re definitely going to enjoy this win.”
Perhaps most enjoyable for Brown, now six games into his return to Chapel Hill, is that his team saw proof of what he’s been preaching.
“What I like is the fact that they want to be good,” he said. “They’re talking about improving after this and they knew they did some things wrong tonight. So, instead of walking out of here tonight just thinking they’re great, they actually feel like now that we understand the difference in when we played against Clemson, South Carolina and Miami and the difference in the Wake game and the App game where they thought they were there, but they weren’t.”
