On Saturday night, UNC defeated unranked South Carolina, 31-17, at the Duke’s Mayo Classic in Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium. In doing so, led by Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Drake Maye, the No. 21 ranked Tar Heels, likely to move up several spots in the AP Top 25 due to their all-around performance in Week 1, created another entry for Mack Brown in the college football history books.
Now with a record of 275-144-1 overall (65.5-win percentage) in his legendary career, between his 35 seasons as a head coach, Brown became the first FBS head coach ever to notch at least 100 victories with two different schools (100-68-1 at UNC and 158-48 at Texas).
Judging by the viral video that the official UNC football account posted for win No. 100, it is safe to say he enjoyed the celebration with his team in the locker room afterward. Once again, the youthful 72-year-old, this time proudly donning a No. 100 Tar Heel jersey, showed off his timeless moves.
Gratifyingly, his group snapped the program’s four-game losing streak dating back to last year. That is not to mention that UNC may now say it has won two of its past three meetings with the Gamecocks rather than losses in four of the past five, which was the bad taste in their mouths going into Saturday night’s game.
“They played with a lot of emotion,” UNC coach Brown said about his defense. “They took it as a challenge when it was a sudden change. It was, ‘Gosh, we have to go out there and stop them’ instead of ’Oh my God why didn’t we get the onside kick.”
With infectious energy in abundant supply, Mack Brown looks to make it 101 wins with the Tar Heels when his 15th UNC football squad hosts Appalachian State at 5:15 p.m. ET Saturday in Kenan Memorial Stadium.
Brown’s first handful of wins as a head coach came at Appalachian State, posting a 6-5 record with the 1983 Mountaineers before moving on and becoming the Oklahoma Sooners offensive coordinator for a season and then taking over at Tulane a year later.
North Carolina is now 1-0 on the year and should have a lot of momentum heading into ACC play. The Tar Heels reached the ACC Championship Game last season but fell to Clemson.
