Bill Belichick's tone after the game wasn't one of celebration; instead, it felt more satisfied, controlled, and even somewhat nostalgic.
After weeks of near-misses and frustrations, the six-time Super Bowl champion finally exhaled in his first ACC victory as North Carolina’s head coach.
“Good team win tonight,” Belichick said, opening his remarks with a quiet grin. “We’ve had a lot of tough losses, but the guys just kept battling. Things didn’t go great at the beginning, but they stayed with it. Had a really good second half.”
Belichick lingered on the themes that have defined his first season in Chapel Hill, toughness, conditioning, and accountability.
“Our guys have fought all year,” he said. “We ran the ball when everybody knew we were going to run it, and we finished. That’s about effort, that’s about will.”
He spoke like a man whose message had finally sunk in. After the first-half miscues and another slow start, Belichick credited the locker room for never splintering.
“When you put a lot into it, it’s hard to surrender,” he said. “These guys earned it. They emptied the tank tonight.”
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Even in victory, he shifted focus quickly to the next challenge. “They’ll get a little rest,” Belichick said. “Then we’ll fill it back up this week and get ready for Stanford.”
Asked what the win meant personally, the 73-year-old coach gave the briefest of smiles.
“Feels good,” he said. “It feels great.”
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