Welter: UNC's season could have used some mayo

By Pat Welter

I'm a BBQ guy, but I will say mayonnaise gets a bad rap. It's a versatile condiment that can be mixed with other things. A little sriracha, ketchup and mayo....you've got yourself a secret sauce. Some garlic and truffle oil and it's an aioli. Put that on your restaurant menu and you can instantly up charge $10.  At a minimum mayo can turn one of those soggy free sandwiches us media guys get sometimes into something edible.  Or is it eatable? That one always confuses me, either way UNC's loss to South Carolina in the Duke's Mayo Bowl was neither.

UNC could have used a Mayo Bowl win to make this season easier to swallow. Maybe not 4.5 gallons worth, see South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer and the highly publicized mayo bath below, but there's clearly been a missing ingredient.

Mack Brown has downplayed this team's expectations ever since their season opening loss to Virginia Tech. He knew their No. 10 AP preseason ranking was too high.

"Nobody wants to listen," Brown laughed during his press conference leading up to the Mayo Bowl. "It's good for recruiting. It's good for selling tickets, it's just when the facts get out and you're not as good it's tough, it's tough for everybody."

Brown has had similar quotes all throughout the year. Personally I would have liked a different tact. Challenge the team to live up to those expectations, but he knows this group's personality better than me, or maybe he's just as puzzled as the rest of us watching from the press box and on TV.

"I think they are still a mystery," Brown said before the Mayo Bowl.

Brown was just as lost after a 38-21 loss to South Carolina where they found themselves down 18-0 after the first quarter and surrendered 301 yards rushing.

"We didn't play well today," Brown said after the game. "We've played pretty well every game, we've played hard after the early games. This one was more like one of those early ones, I'm not sure why. We've got to take some time to figure it out, I'm so disappointed."

UNC had all the signs of a motivated team entering the Mayo Bowl. They had only one opt-out. Their potential first round draft pick Sam Howell decided to play when any agent would have advised him to sit. South Carolina on the other side was playing a wide receiver and a graduate assistant at quarterback.  They were missing their leading rusher and lost seven players to the transfer portal.  Vegas opened the spread at -5.5, it closed at -13.  The wise guys and betting public were doomed from the jump.

UNC's problems in the Mayo Bowl were problems they've had all year. They struggled to protect Howell and had drives killed due to third and longs. The pass game is entirely dependent on Josh Downs and big plays. The #1 rushing attack in the ACC was a facade.  Their stats were boosted by Howell's rushing and his biggest plays usually come off script.  South Carolina held him to three yards rushing.  As a result the offense never got into a rhythm.  Defensively they've made average quarterbacks look like Heisman contenders all year (cough, Jordan Travis).

Brown tried to tell us this team wasn't that good, but I just refuse to believe they couldn't have been better. You had the key ingredient. You had Sam Howell. In his three seasons he's set records, boosted recruiting and led UNC to the Orange Bowl. He will go down as the greatest quarterback in Tar Heels history. The guy gave everything he had to this program. Fellow top QB prospect Kenny Pickett is running 40 yard dashes in spandex somewhere preparing for the draft, while Howell is putting his body on the line play after play.

Howell rushed for 35 yards as a freshman, 146 as a sophomore, and 828 as a junior. 828!!! He had more attempts than Ty Chandler! That isn't because Howell suddenly became Vince Young, it's because he was willing to do whatever it took to help this team win.

Maybe those Howell numbers speak to Brown's point. Maybe this team was fatally flawed and they were never going to be better than a .500 team. If there was a formula to win consistently Brown never found it.  UNC didn't have the secret sauce, but some mayo couldn't have hurt.