9-1 start. 0-4 finish.

6-0 start. 2-5 finish.

The past two seasons, Mack Brown and the UNC Tar Heel football program has started the year with promising potential but ended both seasons on bad notes. The potential for a top 10 team was there, with UNC being home to potential top-3 NFL Draft pick Drake Maye running the offense.

For some reason, the Tar Heels just couldn’t finish either season strong, and a lot of fingers point towards the defense and inconsistencies on offense.

These struggles were evident in the Tar Heels’ week seven loss to the Virginia Cavaliers during the 2022 season. UNC was playing the 1-5 Cavaliers, with an 0-2 ACC record, with their only win coming against an FCS team. The Heels entered the game as 24-point home favorites, 10th seeded team in the country, and hosting a perfect 6-0 record with a 3-0 ACC record.

It seemed like UNC would run away with this game. It turned out to be a Virginia rushing clinic.

The Cavaliers finished the game with 228 rushing yards, a team which averaged 99.5 yards a game before playing the Tar Heels. UNC’s defense had held opponents to 113.8 rushing yards heading into the UVA game, with was ranked thirtieth in the country. This domination in the run game allowed Virginia to control the time of possession, holding the ball for around 15 minutes more than the Heels.

Outside of the Cavs’ offense, the Tar Heels’ offense did not show up when they needed to. They were able to take a 10-point lead early in the third quarter, but UVA outscored them 17-3 the rest of the way, winning 31-27.

Four of UNC’s last five drives ended with two punts, a turnover on downs, and an interception to put the game to rest.

This propelled UNC to a 2-5 record to end the 2023.

“We’ve been so good on offense, the kicking game and our defense need to get better,” stated UNC Head Coach Mack Brown.

Following last season, Coach Brown decided to move away from Gene Chizik, who served as UNC’s defensive coordinator and assistant head coach for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. When searching for Chizik’s replacement, Coach Brown wanted to find someone who wanted to run the same defensive system he has run over the past few seasons because he believes the scheme has done some great things, and hoped to find a coach who can fix the holes in defense.

Coach Brown pointed out, “In offense, we were in the top four in six categories last year in the league, and defensively, we weren’t in the top 50 in any.”

So, Mack Brown found Geoff Collins, who has 27 years of college coaching experience.

“Coach Collins believed in the four-down philosophy,” stated Coach Brown, “he knew a lot of our players, he had watched all of our games, he knew what we did well, and he knew what we needed to correct, and he knew every coach’s name and had a relationship with just about all the coaches.”

Another reason Coach Brown trusted hiring Collins was because he wants to play more guys on defense to prevent injury and exhaustion.

“I think we should have finished way better. Watching the games back you can tell towards the end of the season we just were fatigued,” said senior wide receiver J.J Jones, “we need to play more players.”

True change in a program doesn’t solely depend on the coaches, it just starts there.

And UNC has a lot of holes to fill on both sides of the ball, losing NFL draft prospects Cedric Gray and Tez Walker along with Maye, a generational quarterback. UNC also hosts a wide receiver room which holds a majority of underclassmen.

The receiver room will look towards J.J Jones to help mature their young guys, the offense will look towards senior Willie Lampkin to run the offensive line, and hopefully will determine their starting Q.B., a competition yet decided between graduate transfer Max Johnson and sophomore Conner Harrel. Not to mention top-10 ranked running back in the country, junior Omarion Hampton leading the backfield.

On defense Power Echols stands as the leader in the middle, returning for his senior year.

“Echols is the man in the linebacker room with a bunch of puppies around him,” shared Coach Brown.

If UNC football wants to take that leap, finish a season strong, and win an ACC Championship, they’ll have to find depth with their newcomers, something that seems uncertain at this time.

Every hope and goal the Tar Heels have for the 2024 season will have to be met for them to have a chance at even reaching an ACC Championship game. An aspiration that seems very out-of-reach for this squad.