The North Carolina Tar Heels went into Minnesota and won a hard-fought game in the season opener on Thursday night, getting a big 19-17 win over the Gophers. And they did it on the leg of Noah Burnette who went 4-for-4 including the game-winner late.

They also did it with a solid performance from their defense that played well against the Minnesota offense despite giving up two touchdowns. While the quarterback play from Max Johnson and Conner Harrell wasn't great, the Tar Heels were able to prevail and get a big win to open up the season.

Before we shift the focus to Charlotte for next weekend's home game in Chapel Hill, Mack Brown met the media to break down his team's performance. Here is what Brown had to say:

On mental toughness to pull out this win?

"We've talked about doing every little thing possible to help with their confidence, to help with their commitment, to help with their discipline since January. And we're looking at so many different things to figure out how to finish the season better. We played with more people tonight. We had fewer penalties tonight. We did a lot of really good things for an opening game. Most opening games are so ugly you lose them more than you win them. And we didn't lose the game tonight. We hung in there and we fought and I'm just proud of the change in all of their confidence and their attitude, especially our defense. They got momentum right before the half. They go down and score, and here we are walking around, we got our heads down a little bit, and we said, 'no, we're not doing that anymore. We're going to pick it back up, and we are going to have confidence in the second half.' And the team had that."

via Inside Carolina

On Jahvaree Ritzie's career night

"I was so proud of him when he ran their quarterback down. I thought that big man ran him down, and that's usually where you get a horse collar. And he didn't. He very carefully grabbed the edge of his jersey and took the other side and tackled him and pulled him down. So very, very proud of Jahvaree. And they're not having to play 70 plays, those guys split reps. And in the end, we had Beau Atkinson and Jacolbe Cowan and Des Evans played so good tonight, and he was back in the backfield all the time. And Kaimon Rucker, and they weren't going to let them get there. They chipped them all night, like we tried to chip their ends. And they got the ball out of their hands fast, but I thought it was a game with two new quarterbacks, really three new quarterbacks that hadn't played a whole lot, and the defense dominated the game and the running game. But both teams have a chance to be good."

via Inside Carolina

On confidence in Noah Burnette

"Yes, at the end, we wanted to kill the clock. We wanted to get rid of their time outs as much as we could, and then make them use them and try to get it down to where we could kick a field goal and kill the clock. Because with the two minute warning, it's harder to kill a clock than it used to be and they had three time outs when we went below the two minute (warning). But we were very confident in him. … I started to go out and talk to Noah tonight, I was kind of gonna say, 'you got this.' And he never looked at me, he looked down. Just really, really proud of him."

via Inside Carolina

On Impact of this win in a Big Ten envirnment

"Yes, you really couldn't have scripted it better. Last year we won the game and people thought, 'eh, Minnesota didn't play good.' Tonight, everybody saw exactly what happened and it was a tough, hard fought game that got down to the end. And in fact, I could tell just looking in P.J.'s face how he felt, and I'd be sitting in here feeling that way if that field goal had gone through, but that's what this game is all about. It comes down to a play or two, and normally we say there are seven to 10 plays in a game that make a difference, and you play for three and a half hours. And tonight, that's what we're going to find when we start grading that thing in about an hour on the way home."

via Inside Carolina

On what he told Conner Harrell before he went into the game

"I told Conner, 'you're really, really good. It came down to the end where we didn't know which one to start. Go win the game.' And you know, some kids would have pouted. They didn't start. Some kids would have had a chip on their shoulder the whole game. I was looking for him fast and he was warming up by himself. And then he came out and said, 'we're good coach.' And again, we've got to figure out exactly what he does best. But that play he made, where he could run and throw, is who he is. And he can do that, and he's so smart and he's so classy, valedictorian of his high school, top student in our business school. One of the best, if not the best, leaders on our team. He's one of the leading guys in the leadership committee. He's going to be fine. I'm not worried about him. We've got to find out, we've got to make sure that we get a package that he can do, and it was hard with he and Max, because they're different. Right now, we'll be able to -- depending on Max's status -- but if Max can't play against Charlotte, Jacolby (Criswell) will now be a factor starting in the morning, too."

via Inside Carolina

This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire : What Mack Brown said after UNC football's win over Minnesota