Behind Enemy Lines: UNC Tar Heels

Mack Brown, who propelled the University of North Carolina's football program to the top 10 and the University of Texas to a national championship, is returning to Chapel Hill with the goal of leading another Tar Heel resurgence.

Mack Brown, who propelled the University of North Carolina's football program to the top 10 and the University of Texas to a national championship, is returning to Chapel Hill with the goal of leading another Tar Heel resurgence.

Brown won more college football games than any coach in the nation during a 24-year period from 1990-2013.

He was previously the head coach of the Tar Heels from 1988-1997. He led Carolina to three 10-win seasons, six consecutive bowl games and two top-10 AP finishes. At Texas, the Longhorns won the 2005 BCS national title, two conference titles and four Big 12 South Division titles.

The Tar Heels went 69-46-1, posted winning records in each of his final eight seasons and finished in the AP top 25 four times. The 1996 team went 10-2, beat West Virginia in the Gator Bowl and finished No. 10 in the AP poll. A year later, UNC was 10-1 in the regular season and was No. 4 in the final coaches' poll and No. 6 in the AP poll.

However, even for one of the most accomplished coaches of all-time, the challenge this week is one of the biggest of his coaching career.

"As far as Clemson, how exciting for our university and our program to have the defending national champ and No. 1 team in the country coming to Kenan on Saturday for an ABC national TV game," Brown said. "They have the best program in the country, they have the best head coach and coaches in the country, they have the most depth in the country. I started looking at our scouting report yesterday and all the people who break them down, ‘First-round draft choice. This one, first-round draft choice. This one, first-round draft choice.’ So, they’re for real. And they’re so good.

"From our standpoint, we want to be the Clemson of the Coastal. They are the best team in the country. They are the best team in the ACC. They are dominating the ACC and all of us are trying to catch them. One of the good things this weekend for our players is when you play the best in the country, it’s a great challenge for you. And with challenge, there’s opportunity to see how we stand up to them. The other thing is, if you’re going to win this league, you’ve got to beat them."

Tar Heels on offense

The job of orchestrating the Tar Heel offense will fall on Phil Longo.

Longo, a 29-year coaching veteran, joined the North Carolina football staff as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Longo joined Mack Brown’s staff following a two-year stint as the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss. During his last 10 seasons as an offensive coordinator, Longo has helped produce an 88-38 (.698) record, won six conference championships and made six playoff appearances.

Longo is seen around the nation as one of the top offensive coaches in college football with 23 years of experience running his offense. Longo engineered two successful seasons at Ole Miss, producing top-20 units both years. In 2018, his offense ranked seventh nationally in yards per play (7.1), ninth in total offense (510.5 yards per game), fifth in passing offense (346.4), 25th in red zone offense (88.9) and 33rd in scoring offense (33.9).

The Tar Heels are led offensively by true freshman quarterback Sam Howell, who was recruited by the Tigers. Behind Howell's arm, Carolina has shown the ability to stretch the field vertically on offense by tying for the ACC lead with 25 plays of 20 or more yards through four games. That figure is tied for 12th nationally with Wake Forest.

But this week will see the Tar Heels face a team that boasts one of, if not, the best defenses in college football.

“I think it’s hard just because of the situation we’re in and two losses, and our guys are really smart," Brown said. "That’s not a good thing this week. They can see how good these guys really are. We always face the best out of every other team. Clemson faces the best, too, because kids get excited about playing someone that good and they want to see how they live up to it." 

The Tar Heels on defense

The task of rebuilding the Tar Heel's defense will fall on a pair of co-coordinators — Jay Bateman and Tommy Thigpen.

Bateman joined the North Carolina football staff as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach following a five-year stint as Army’s defensive coordinator (2014-18).

In 2018, Army finished eighth nationally in total defense (295.5 ypg) and 10th in scoring defense (17.7 points per game), while posting the program’s first 11-win season. The Black Knights finished the season ranked 19th in the AP Poll and 20th in the Coaches Poll. Bateman was named one of five finalists for the 2018 Broyles Award, which goes to the nation's top assistant coach.

Thigpen, a three-time All-ACC linebacker under Brown, served as a graduate assistant in 1998-99 and coached the UNC linebackers for four seasons under John Bunting and Butch Davis before spending four seasons at Auburn, where he helped the Tigers to the BCS National Championship in 2010.

Thigpen will also serve as the Tar Heel safeties coach along with Bateman.

North Carolina's defense ranks 18th best among all Power 5 schools in opponents red zone touchdown percentage (50.0%). That figure ranks tied for third in the ACC with Miami.

This week though, Brown admits that his Tar Heels will be facing a group of NFL-caliber players, the likes of which he has not seen in college football.

"I started looking at our scouting report yesterday and all the people who break them down, ‘First-round draft choice. This one, first-round draft choice. This one, first-round draft choice.’ So, they’re for real," Brown said. "And they’re so good. I don’t think the quarterback [Trevor Lawrence] has ever lost a game in his life, and that’s not good. I didn’t go back and check middle school, but I bet he won then, too, or in elementary school, whenever it was. He’s such a great player. 

The line

The Tar Heels expect to be able to compete with the Tigers, according to Brown.

However, Las Vegas is not quite as bullish on the Tar Heels' chances as they are currently 27-point underdogs—a number that Brown has never had against him in his coaching career.

“I think [Clemson] is real good," Brown said. "I don’t remember ever being that big an underdog, but it is what it is.”