by Lee Powell
College football made its annual return this last week, with the NC State Wolfpack kicking off the first game against the University of South Florida. Expectations were not high for USF, and the Wolfpack shut them out 45-0 on Thursday night. This was one of the only games played before the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill travelled to Virginia Polytechnic Institute on Friday night.
Since the return of UNC head coach Mac Brown, Tar Heel fans have been saying phrases like “Sam Howell for Heisman," “We got the playoffs this year,” and “ACC champs.” This year is the year that these dreams are supposed to come true. UNC expects to win the ACC, and perhaps shimmy their way into the playoffs.
As an NC State fan, I am tired of hearing radical ideas such as these, so one can imagine the joy I felt when supposed Heisman candidate Sam Howell relinquished the last little bit of hope the Tar Heels had by throwing an interception in the final seconds of the game.
Virginia Tech, an unranked, second-tier ACC Coastal team, came out with a surprising win against the Tar Heels on Friday night, beating them 17-10 in Blacksburg, VA.
In a post-game interview, Mac Brown said these words about the loss: “Tonight, we were overrated with the way we played. Most people had a scrimmage this week and we had a difficult team on the road in a tough environment.”
This rubbed me the wrong way. The phrase “most people had a scrimmage this week” is obviously directed at NC State, for it is the only relevant team to UNC that had played when he said this. Maybe South Florida is not a good team, but regardless, a defensive shut out with our offense putting up 45 points to a Division 1 team is quality football.
If Brown expects to make a run at the playoffs for the first time ever, he should stop making excuses about how tough of a first game his team had. If he thinks that his team is top five in the nation, it is his job to go out and win so called “difficult” games.
Mac Brown, along with the rest of UNC football management, were the ones who were building up the hype. Because of this, they shouldn’t be stating that they were overrated and making excuses that they lost to a “difficult team” that hasn’t made it to the ACC Championship in 13 years.
If UNC wants to be a contender for the playoffs, games like these are the games that need to be won, so the coaches shouldn’t make excuses when the team loses to second-hand ACC teams.
Note: Nicholas Wester provided feedback and consultation during the writing of this article.
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