Three non-competitive losses to Power Four competition this season for Bill Belichick is unfortunately part of the battle when fighting through a rebuild — and UNC’s first-year coach sounds tired of seeing the same issues week after week.
Saturday’s 38-10 drubbing to Clemson was the latest indictment on a roster that isn’t up to par talent-wise at a program with a long way to go in the ACC under its new staff.
“I’ll keep my conversations to the team between myself and the team,” Belichick said when asked his message to the locker room. “But I’ll just say we’re going to work through it and work our way out of it. Keep working every week to prepare for the next team and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Tar Heels quarterback Max Johnson started in place of the injured Gio Lopez, but never got going as the leader of an offense that managed just 270 total yards. UNC went 2-for-11 on third down and dug itself into a hole after Clemson scored 28 points in 16 plays during the first quarter.
The Tar Heels suffered several defensive miscues and coverage breakdowns in the middle of the field, leading to explosive plays for the opposition. Belichick was blunt on personnel-related questions after watching his defense surrender more than 300 total yards in the opening half.
“The guys who deserve to play are going to play. That’s all I can tell you,” he said. “I’m not going to judge it on how old they are or whatever. My expectations are to come in this week, have a good week and get ready for Cal. Those are my expectations.”
Bad to worse for Bill Belichick: Dabo Swinney, reeling Clemson rout UNC as Heels hit new low in 2025 season
Brad Crawford
Belichick preached fundamentals during UNC’s bye week prior to its ACC opener, but the bad tackling and soft angles that have marred this team throughout the season showed up again Saturday.
“We’ll go back and take a closer look at this game, but you know big emphasis last week was fundamentals and better execution,” Belichick said. “I think there was a pretty good amount of that today, but it was overridden by the big plays we gave up on defense and the lack of first down production on offense at times. So, when we’re behind the sticks it puts us in tough situations. When we stop giving those up, we were competitive in the game, but we gave up too many in the first quarter.”
Clemson scored a 75-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, a well-executed double pass from Antonio Williams to T.J. Moore, and continued its assault with several scores from Cade Klubnik.
First-half woes continue to destroy UNC’s hopes of a hot start this season. Against TCU, UCF and now Clemson, the Tar Heels have been outscored, 65-13, by halftime.
“We had two or three missed assignments, missed communications and didn’t make good plays in the deep part of the field. We can’t do that,” Belichick said. “We just can’t do it. Gave up big plays. That piled up a lot of yardage there that we need to prevent.”
