Mack Brown Says No. 10 UNC 'Overrated' After Loss to Virginia Tech

North Carolina head coach Mack Brown called his team "overrated" after the 10th-ranked Tar Heels suffered a 17-10 road loss to ACC rival Virginia Tech on Friday night.

UNC entered the season as a potential College Football Playoff contender, and quarterback Sam Howell, who threw three interceptions in the loss, was viewed as a Heisman Trophy candidate, but both those candidacies took an immediate hit courtesy of the Hokies.

"Obviously the shine's off," Brown told reporters. "The ratings mean nothing at this point. We were overrated tonight."

The North Carolina offense looked out of sorts for most of the night. Its four first-half drives ended with three punts and the halftime whistle, and things didn't improve coming out of the break with another punt and the first of Howell's interceptions.

Virginia Tech couldn't get much going either, which kept UNC within striking distance for the entire game. The Tar Heels got the ball back on their own 13-yard line with 3:10 left in the fourth quarter and a chance to tie with a touchdown, but Howell tossed his third pick inside the final minute to seal it.

Brown didn't lay the blame for the struggles on his star quarterback's shoulders, though.

"When you don't run the ball well and you have six sacks and you have to run for your life—we have to do a better job of protecting him," Brown said. "You can't expect a guy to have a great game when he's got people around him the whole game. You've got to protect your quarterback."

Howell completed 17 of his 32 passes for 208 yards and one touchdown in addition to the three key turnovers. He also rushed for 35 yards on 13 carries.

"We can't let this game define us," Howell said. "We know what this team is capable of, even if we didn't show it tonight. I think we just got beat [tonight]. I don't think the pressure really bothered anybody in the program, and we had a good week of practice, and we just weren't the better team."

North Carolina went 2-of-10 on third down, lost the turnover battle (3-2) and racked up more penalties (5-2) as it let a winnable game slip away.

That said, the Virginia Tech defense deserves a lot of credit for its relentless work up front, as it was consistently in the UNC backfield to slow the running game and keep Howell under pressure.

Hokies head coach Justin Fuente called it "as impressive a performance" as he's seen from his defense.

The Tar Heels will attempt to bounce back next Saturday when they host Georgia State in their home opener.