Bill Belichick finally beat a college team on his level.
North Carolina earned its first win against a Power Four team Friday night with a 27-10 road win over Syracuse — albeit, an SU team without its starting quarterback.
The win snapped the Tar Heels’ four-game losing streak, which included recent heartbreaking setbacks against California and Virginia.
“Feels good. It feels great,” Belichick said after picking up his first ACC win and improving to 3-5 overall. “It’s good. We had a couple of opportunities the last couple of weeks that we weren’t capitalize, feels good to get this one. So, we look forward to all the rest of the games we play in the ACC.”
The much-anticipated debut season of Belichick has not gone as expected, with the team seemingly involved in more controversies than actual on-field victories.
It’s one thing for there to be off-the-field stories like the drama involving his commitment to the program or general manager Michael Lombardi’s role or the 73-year-old’s much-scrutinized relationship with 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson if the Tar Heels actually piled up some victories, but those stories take on another life when Belichick’s program is one of the worst major programs in the sport.
North Carolina entered Friday with just wins over 1-7 Charlotte and Patriot League member Richmond, while losing non-conference blowouts to TCU and UCF and dropping its first three ACC games.
The one saving grace seemed to be that Belichick’s team had been performing better, blowing a chance to down California on Oct. 17 with a late fumble at the goal line and losing at home last week to then-No. 16 Virginia when the potential game-winning two-point conversion failed in overtime.
That positive momentum finally translated Friday night against a reeling Orange team that has now lost five straight and started walk-on freshman Joe Filardi, who is also part of the school’s lacrosse team.
Sometimes sports can be predictable and arguably the greatest NFL coach of all-time had plenty of answers for a lacrosse player, with Filardi completing 4-of-18 passes for 39 yards.
Gio Lopez completed 15-of-19 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns, with the Tar Heels rallying from a 10-3 second-quarter deficit to score the game’s final 24 points.
The Tar Heels will look to make it two straight next Saturday at home against Stanford.
“Good team win (Friday). Really have a lot of respect for the way these guys have fought all year long, but especially after a couple tough losses,” Belichick said. “Come up here and things didn’t go great at the beginning of the game, but then they just kept on battling and we had a really good second half. Defensively, we played well, we gave up three points, a good team effort all the way around.”
“Just happy for the team’s success.”
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