North Carolina secures their first opening season win since 1996 after pulling together to defeat Syracuse, 31-6.
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00:00I told them that if they wanted me to, I would dance in front of the fans.
00:21And since there weren't any there, I thought it was a great opportunity to do that, but
00:25that's a joke.
00:26It wasn't a very good one, but it was a joke.
00:30I thought our two game-like scrimmages really helped us today, and I didn't see much difference.
00:39It seemed like our guys had their mask on when they were supposed to, and the coaches
00:43did a good job keeping their mask on.
00:46We didn't have substitution issues, which I thought we would, and we communicated pretty
00:52well, even better in the second half than we did the first half, but it's just so weird
00:58that there's absolutely no crowd noise.
01:02Even when you have the music or the noise over the loudspeaker, when you're looking
01:06up, it's like a scrimmage, because you look up and there's just nothing, and so the young
01:11people have to create their own energy.
01:16And I said on game day before the show, and I think this is really true for all of us,
01:22we're playing without the traditions that we play with.
01:25It's still football.
01:27It's still against somebody else.
01:28You still want to win.
01:29It's still very competitive, but you don't have the bell tower walk.
01:33You don't have your recruits here.
01:35You don't have fans cheering you when you come in, and you don't have students.
01:38You don't have the band.
01:41So all of the pageantry that we have is just gone right now, and we've got to understand
01:47that, and that's the only way we can play, but we felt like that we would go in at halftime
01:53because it was quite easy, but if you go in after a win and everybody's singing in a smaller
02:00dressing room and they're really excited and some may not have their mask on, that it was
02:05just a safer move for us to do all of our talking outside.
02:08So we've said as long as there's no fans in the stands and there's not weather issues,
02:14then we will meet outside after the game before we go in, and I talked to Dino Babers before
02:20the game last Wednesday, I think, and just said he and I waved after the game was over.
02:27Our players and their players waved because, again, it's just safer if you don't get a
02:31lot of guys together hugging and with their buddies and high-fiving, and I think a few
02:36of the coaches might have had some conversation, but we wanted to be really, really safe after
02:41the game was over.
02:42Thank you, Matt.
02:43Thank you.
02:44Let's move over to Bridget Condon.
02:46Bridget, go ahead.
02:47Hey, Matt.
02:48Going off on that, I know you had a big push this week and the past couple weeks about
02:53having players' parents there.
02:55What was the biggest thing that you didn't notice, and could you kind of feel players
02:59and maybe big moments look up there out of routine looking for their parents?
03:04I couldn't feel the team looking for their parents because I just stayed too busy.
03:09I didn't think about it.
03:10In fact, when I walked out, we ended up giving, we had 25 tickets and we gave them to our
03:15seniors for their families, and that's all we had.
03:18So there were 25 people in the stands, and that was it.
03:25And I let Corey Holliday and the leadership committee decide how the seniors would divide
03:29the tickets.
03:30I think they got two each.
03:32So other than that, there were just absolutely no fans.
03:34In fact, when I looked up and saw a couple sitting in there, I said, who's that?
03:38And then I remembered our seniors did get in, but it is still very disappointing for
03:45me and for our team not to have the families of our players there.
03:49I don't think it's safe for their mental health to watch them play.
03:55Many of these parents have told me this is the first time they've ever missed any sporting
04:00event in their life, in their history.
04:02So I hate that for them.
04:04And then we've told the players, you're going to go out with your parents tonight because
04:08many of them came to town and just couldn't see the game.
04:10So be smart, be careful, and still wear your mask, and we want to play next week.
04:15And don't make decisions tonight while you're really excited that could hurt you next week.
04:21Okay, move over to Greg Barnes.
04:26Greg, go ahead.
04:27Mac, you've talked about how mistakes are going to happen given how things have played
04:32out this offseason.
04:33Obviously, you'll fix the corrections, but is this a game where you focus more on the
04:38positives and don't worry about the negatives so much?
04:41Greg, in your first ballgame, you usually are fixing so many things anyway.
04:47And with us, we felt like it's probably a great opener for us, because there's a lot
04:53of things we've got to fix.
04:55And at the same time, they can see that we have a chance to be really good, because there
04:59were so many positives that we can build off of.
05:02But you can coach them much harder and be a lot more critical of them with the concerns
05:09that you have when you win.
05:11And we played a lot of people, so that's always good for morale as well.
05:16So we'll celebrate tonight, we'll be really excited tonight, and then tomorrow we'll really
05:21get after them.
05:23If you heard our meetings tomorrow, you'd think we would have lost the game.
05:27Thanks.
05:30Next up is Brendan Marks.
05:31Brendan, go ahead.
05:33Hey, Mac.
05:34Sam was sacked twice, took a couple other hits.
05:37I know Josh didn't end up playing today.
05:40Where were the breakdowns coming there for you, and how much is your level of concern
05:44with the offensive line and protecting him?
05:46I will have to wait and see that.
05:48It was hard to see.
05:50They were doing a lot of twisting and bringing an extra player, so I'm sure it was probably
05:56just somebody that missed.
05:58I know, in fact, on a run on third down and four, we got hit in the backfield and we had
06:03an offensive guard just absolutely whiffed because they were trying to move every play
06:08and they were undersized compared to us.
06:11So I thought Sam did a really good job changing up his snap count to keep him off balance,
06:16but they moved and blitzed every play, and earlier in the game we just missed some.
06:22Sam did a good job of getting rid of the ball most of the day, but we don't want to
06:27throw two interceptions and we don't want to have those sacks.
06:30That's just who we are.
06:33What is your level of concern with Josh?
06:37With Josh?
06:39With Joshua?
06:40Is he?
06:41I'm sorry, I can't hear you.
06:43Josh is Zudu, coach.
06:45Oh, I have none.
06:47He will be back soon, so.
06:50Thank you.
06:52Yeah, I'm sorry.
06:53The biggest concern I have with him is that he didn't play, and he's our best offensive
06:57lineman and he can substitute in four spots.
07:00So that really hurt us, and hopefully he might play next week, but if not, the open week
07:07he'll definitely be able to play by Boston College, but that'll be up to the medical
07:11team and Jerem.
07:13Gotcha.
07:14Thank you.
07:15Thank you.
07:16All right, coach.
07:17Thank you so much for your time today.
07:19Thank you all.