Mack Brown says UNC is overrated, NC State underrated. What does Dave Doeren think?
For the first time in 27 years, N.C. State and North Carolina will be ranked when they play against each other this weekend.
At his weekly press conference on Monday, UNC football coach Mack Brown was complimentary of the No. 23 Wolfpack, but tough on his own team, which was No. 5 before losing 31-28 to Florida State this past weekend.
“N.C. State’s doing really well,” Brown said. “I think we’ve been overrated. I think they’ve been underrated.”
Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren believes his team needs to keep working hard, however.
“It’s nice of him to say that,” Doeren said of Brown’s comments. “I don’t really look at it like that. Every week we got to prove ourselves.”
N.C State, ranked for the first time since 2018 is coming of a win over 31-20 win over Duke in their third straight victory this season.
No. 14 North Carolina was a preseason top 25 team and looked like it during its 56-45 home win over Virginia Tech on Oct. 10. After the win, UNC moved into the top five for the first time since Brown’s original coaching stint in Chapel Hill .
After this past weekend, though, UNC dropped and N.C. State rose.
NCSU has something to prove
So far this season, N.C. State has only been favored in two games — its Sept. 19 season opener against Wake Forest and its game on Oct. 17 against Duke. The Wolfpack won both of those games at home.
The Wolfpack was the underdog on the road against Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Virginia and came out of that stretch 2-1.
On Saturday, UNC is a two touchdown favorite over N.C. State. The Wolfpack will be without starting redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary, who broke his fibula in the third quarter against the Blue Devils. Bailey Hockman, who has started four games in his career but is turnover prone, will start in Leary’s place.
Regardless, with Leary or without, ranked or not, Doeren knows his bunch has to earn each win.
“Whether it’s no spread or we’re underdogs,” Doeren said. “We got to show up, and none of these rankings matter until the end of the season. So, it doesn’t matter where we’re at right now, that didn’t matter last week, it didn’t matter the week before, it won’t matter until we play our last game.”
The Wolfpack hasn’t finished a season ranked since 2017, when they finished 9-4 overall and ranked No. 23. That was arguably Doeren’s best N.C. State team. The team spent eight weeks in the top 25 that season and five weeks ranked in 2018. The Wolfpack was never ranked in 2019 and ended the year getting blown out 41-10 to North Carolina at home.
UNC ‘a really good football team’
Even though the Tar Heels enter Saturday’s game coming off a loss at FSU, Doeren knows the UNC team that showed up in the second half of that game — the UNC team that rallied and pulled within three points — is the best version of the Tar Heels.
“I think his team played really bad in the first half and played really really good in the second half,” Doeren said about UNC. “I’m sure he’s saying he wants that team (the second half Tar Heels) to be the team that plays every game. That team is really a good team for UNC, that second half team. They’ve been really good all year. I think he’s poor mouthing that group a little bit right there. I think they’re a really good football team.”
And the feeling is mutual when Brown talks about Doeren’s team, especially the defense.
“They’re really, really aggressive,” Brown said. “They’ve had three of the best goal line stands I’ve ever seen: one at Pitt, one against Virginia and one last week against Duke. So they’re playing really, really aggressive on defense.”
History on the side of the Wolfpack
Despite being 16.5-point underdogs against UNC, N.C. State does have a few things going in its favor. The last time the two teams played against each other as ranked teams was in 2008, when N.C. State won 41-0.
Another positive? Doeren has never lost a game in Chapel Hill in three attempts.
Each of those road wins had a different meaning for Doeren, who didn’t hesitate to let show his emotions every time he won in Kenan Stadium.
“I know how big this game is to N.C. State,” Doeren said. “And former players, boasters, alumni, all those things. I take a lot of pride in being able to deliver that to our fan base.”
In 2013, Doeren’s first year at N.C. State, UNC won 27-19. The following season, Doeren took his 6-5 team to Chapel Hill and won convincingly, 35-7.
Doeren was candid about the win in 2016, when N.C. State arrived in Chapel Hill with a 5-6 record, and needing to win in the final week of the season to be bowl eligible. Doeren said that win “probably saved my job.”
“We finished strong and that one got us in a bowl game,” Doeren recalled. “So that was an emotional win.”
N.C. State’s 34-28 overtime win in 2018 was smeared by a fight in the end zone on the final play of the game. Doeren said he would rather have been celebrating than dealing with “all that crap.” If the Pack comes out on top again on Saturday, he won’t try to hide his feelings.
“It’s about the kids and these guys work so hard,” Doeren said. “When you go into a locker room after an emotional win, you’re going to feel that and you can’t just play it off.”
No. 23 NC State at No. 14 UNC
When: Noon, Saturday
Where: Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill
Watch: ESPN
This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Mack Brown says UNC is overrated, NC State underrated. What does Dave Doeren think?."
