GoHeels Exclusive: Tuesday Notebook

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

Eleven games into Mack Brown's second stint as North Carolina's head football coach, the Tar Heels' season comes down to Saturday's game at NC State.

With a win, UNC (5-6, 3-4 ACC) will qualify for a bowl game for the first time since 2016. Lose, and the season is over.

"It's been such an up-and-down year," Brown told reporters on Monday. "It's a great feeling that we're in this position with a chance to go to a bowl. It's also been disappointing that we've had so many opportunities. … The next step is we have to win these games that are close. We've won some, but we've lost more than we've won and that's the disappointing thing.

"But we really need to finish well, and I think the guys, just watching them yesterday and watching them practice yesterday afternoon, I think they're ready for this challenge."

Ahead of Saturday's 7 p.m. game in Raleigh, Brown, Phil Longo and Jay Bateman met with reporters on Monday. Here are five notes from what they had to say:

Gaining game experience

Perhaps the biggest positive from Saturday's 56-7 win over Mercer, 34 players – including several freshmen – set season highs in snaps, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).

With nine of 11 games being decided by seven points or fewer, it's been difficult for the coaches to give backups and younger players snaps. The chance to do so Saturday will allow the coaches to make a better evaluation of some players heading into the offseason.

"The last two weeks, especially on defense, we've played more people, and I think that will really help us next year," Brown said. "It'll help us with injuries, it will help us with not being tired. You take guys like Jason Strowbridge and Aaron Crawford, they're playing 90-something plays in games and 80 or 90 every week, and that takes a toll on you as the season goes on and beats you down.

"So, one of the next pieces of this process is, I'd love to play two-deep next year if possible and not see any drop-off. When you do that, you're starting to be a good team and that's why we don't talk about starters a lot; we talk about players and guys who are in the game. But that's a huge step for us."

Bateman shared his thoughts on how a few backups played.

"I was proud of our guys. Khadry Jackson and Eugene Asante went in in the second quarter and part of it was we've wanted to play those guys," Bateman said. "We just haven't had much of an opportunity. I felt like every play we've played other than the end of the Georgia Tech game has been life or death. So, it was good to see them. I was proud of those guys going in.

"We call them 'one and a halves.' They're not starters, but they should play. They're good enough to play. I thought they went in and did a good job. So, for them to get live work, to get live tackling, it was good. It was really good."

Vohasek stands out

One newcomer who stood out while playing a season-high 35 snaps, according to PFF, was Raymond Vohasek. The junior college transfer was named the team's defensive player of the game after finishing with five tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.

Vohasek made PFF's ACC Team of the Week after posting a season-best 77.2 defensive grade and 76.6 pass-rush grade.

"The thing that Ray does so well is he's got a high motor," Brown said. "He plays as hard as anybody on our team every play. Now, he didn't always go to the right place, so I told Tim Cross, 'That's your job. You can get him in the right place.' But I'd rather have a guy who is going really fast in the wrong place than a guy who is doing everything perfect and not making any plays. Because we can slow down a guy who is going too fast and get him in the right gaps. If a guy's lazy, or not trying all the time, that doesn't work.

"So, he will get stronger, he'll learn more about what to do with our scheme and I think there's a real high upside for him."

Bateman agrees.

"I think he's physically a little better, and he's healthier," Bateman said. "He hasn't played much, so I think now you're seeing a kid who's got ability, who we always thought had ability, who's now as improved and we're more comfortable with him playing. Now, he goes in and you see he plays really well. So, Ray's going to be a very good player for us. I'm glad he's here."

Howell's growth

With three touchdown passes Saturday, Sam Howell increased his season total to 32, breaking Mitch Trubisky's single-season school record and establishing a new mark for FBS true freshmen. Howell completed all five of his passes of 10 yards or longer, finishing at 4-of-4 for 115 yards and three touchdowns on those attempts, according to PFF.

"I think he thinks he should be in this position," Brown said. "His whole life, he's prepared for this. His mom and dad were athletes at Appalachian State. His dad's a coach. He's a gym rat. He's either in class or he's in our office watching video. He just loves the game. I think he feels like his whole life, this is what he was supposed to do is be the quarterback at North Carolina.

"So he's very, very comfortable in this position. And he's also becoming a better leader. After he came out of the game, he was all over the sideline with defense and picking kids up and smiling. And that's the next step for him is not only to play good, but lead the rest of them."

Longo said Howell's biggest area of growth since the season opener against South Carolina has been handling the speed of the game.

"You got a corner blitz, he handles it," Longo said. "They bring a safety pressure and a backer, he knows how to handle it. He runs the RPOs, really without issue. He gets through progressions fast in the passing game. We have our handful of plays each game that I know he'd like to have back or I'd like him to execute better, but mentally I think he's on. He's where you want your starting quarterback to be, and the challenge now will be to just try and be as efficient as we possibly can. …

"With where Sam is right now, we just have to keep improving the all-around package that he is right now. For a freshman going into the last game of the regular season, I don't know if you could ask more than what he's doing right now."

Embracing rivalries

Some head coaches try to treat rivalry games the same as others. But Brown has made it clear he isn't one of them.

"I think they're fun," he said. "They're what you play for. And when it's that much fun for your fanbase, it's that much fun for you. I had a friend at Texas that we lost a game to one of our rivals that he didn't like and he had to work with those people on Monday. He got on a plane and went to Cabo for a week so he wouldn't have to see them. I said, 'They're still going to be here when you get back.'

"When you lose to a rival, you lose for the year. Some of the other games, you go to the next game. Rivals last all year. So, you've got to live with it. You've got to live with your friends and your neighbors. You need to need be the one walking into work on Monday with a smile, not your opponent."

At the same time, Brown said it's important to treat your rivals with respect.

"I've never sat around and put them down all week," he said. "You can have cute things to say. 'The school over there.' And Roy (Williams), he calls them State College because he's beating them so much. We haven't beaten them. It's hard for me to do anything but have respect because they've beaten us.

"So, what I've always felt is that these are fun games, that if you have to motivate your team to play, we probably have some problems. You've got to be really, really careful. I would be more worried about our players being so excited about the game, they play the game on Tuesday or Wednesday and that's what you have to be careful of in these games."

Scouting NC State

NC State enters Saturday's game at 4-7 overall and 1-6 in the ACC. The Wolfpack, which has lost five straight games, can't gain bowl eligibility with a win. But Brown knows it will have plenty of motivation to knock off his team.

"Since they're not going to a bowl game, this will be their bowl game," Brown said. "They've dominated this series as of late, Dave (Doeren) has done a tremendous job, they've been to a bunch of bowl games here in a row. Since they're not going this year, this will be it. They would love to finish by not only beating their rival, but keeping us from going to a bowl game. We'll see, by far, their best shot."

Defensively, Longo said NC State uses a 3-3 stack front that's different from what the Tar Heels have seen most of this year.

"The second level is going to be a lot more active to us than what we've seen," Longo said. "Thankfully it's not the same defense, but there's a lot of moving parts in our defense. And our defense is difficult and they're multiple. And so practicing against them in the summer and throughout the season helps you with that, with the activity. But they are going to be a three-down team most of the game.

"They have a good mix of man and zone coverage. So, they are going to make you ID coverage, some pre snap and some post snap. Those two differences, they provide different advantages. And we're going to have to do a good job after we snap the football of IDing whether we're getting manned up or whether we're getting zoned, so we know how to attack when we're throwing the football."

Just as he did with Navy in his previous stop at Army, Bateman said he's watched film of NC State almost every Friday this season to make sure he has a good idea of how the offense has progressed and how to attack it.

"I think the two receivers are really good, big; No. 3 and 88," Bateman said. "I think the two freshmen tailbacks are really talented. They have a very clear plan of what they want to do. I think they do a good job with it. They've played three quarterbacks and all three of them you see strengths with them. I think, obviously, the kid they're playing now, (Devin) Leary, has got a big-time arm. I mean, a big-time arm. He rips it. He made a throw against Georgia Tech, it was like a third-and-17 back shoulder to the field that was in absolute BB. So, you're just like holy moly.

"So, they've got skill. I think they're good up front. We've got to find a way to try to cover them and not sacrifice so much in the run defense covering them that we have a hard time stopping the run. I think that's going to be the challenge for us this week."

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Eugene Asante

Aaron Crawford

Sam Howell

Khadry Jackson

Jason Strowbridge

Raymond Vohasek

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