What Mack Brown said after UNC beat Duke on Saturday
The North Carolina Tar Heels are now 8-2 on the season after winning a thrilling two-overtime game against rival Duke on Saturday night. While the Tar Heels jumped out to a 13-0 lead, they blew three leads in this game and needed a late drive led by Drake Maye to send the game to overtime.
From there, UNC scored on both possessions, matching Duke with a field goal before scoring a touchdown and getting the two-point conversion on the next possession. After UNC held Duke on the two-point stop, the Tar Heels celebrated with the Victory Bell, keeping it for the fifth straight year.
After the game, head coach Mack Brown was emotional in his postgame interview as you could tell this game meant a lot to him.
Before we shift the focus to a tough road game at Clemson, let’s take a look at what Brown had to say to the media.
On his emotions
Emotional Mack Brown postgame: "You want your kids to fight, you want your kids to compete, you want your kids to feel good about themselves — and these kids did all that tonight. This win will mean so much for them."
— InsideCarolina (@InsideCarolina) November 12, 2023
On Drake Maye
#UNC HC Mack Brown says Drake Maye "has to be the best quarterback in the country." Maye finished with 342 yards passing and 3 total TDs tonight (yesterday).
— Michael Koh (@michaelkohwchl) November 12, 2023
On beating Duke
Coach Mack Brown on what it means to beat Duke —
“It’s the most important thing we do.”
“If you’re going to coach here, you’ve got to beat Duke.”
🩵 as a Carolina fan… this is exactly the competitive spirit and outlook on the rivalry that you want your Coach to embody.
— Natalie Bode (@nataliedbode) November 12, 2023
On things they can do to pull ahead more when up two scores
“I don’t have any idea. If I did, we would have done it tonight. We’re up by 13 and then they come and score. And then we have three and out. I told the offense I’d rather you go down and score and answer and they had a three and out. That’s how hard my job is. And they said sorry. I got it. Me too, I’m sorry, too. So I don’t know. I don’t know what you do. You coach your butt off and you try to stay positive and you try to have the kids learn from everything they do. And you sit here and you’ve won eight times you’ve lost two and you kill yourself over the two and don’t take enough credit for the eight.”
On the UNC-Duke rivalry
“Yeah, it’s delivered three of the five years I’ve been back. The first year was 18 seconds when the game was over. Last year it was 13 seconds and then tonight was double overtime. So it’s a great series. These kids are going to play their tail off. And we’ve said you don’t want to lose close to home because it smells and you have to live with it. And that’s why it’s important that you win this game.”
On Noah Burnette
“Sometimes in all of our lives when you mess something up and it doesn’t work out like you want it to, you have to learn from it and improve. And I had him talk to Justin Tucker, for instance. And one of the things the kids asked was, ‘What do you do after you miss a kick?’ And I think Justin said, ‘I’ve never missed one,’ which was probably true. I don’t remember him missing one for me. But then Noah has put himself in this position so many times that he’s kicked it like this all year and was a difference in this game tonight. I didn’t get a chance to see him because it was so crazy out there. But I’m gonna make sure that I find him fast and congratulate him on a great way to finish that game.”
