It was another week that ended the same way for Bill Belichick, with a long walk off the field and a longer list of things to fix. North Carolina fell to Cal 21-18 in Berkeley, dropping to 2-4 in a season that continues to test the patience of its Hall of Fame head coach.
“You know, just keep working on the things that we need to do a better job of,” Belichick said. “Third and long on defense, third-down conversions on offense, ball security, things like that.”
Those words proved prophetic. With 3:48 left and the ball deep in Cal territory, sophomore quarterback Gio Lopez hit Nathan Leacock for a 12-yard completion near the goal line. But as Leacock fought for extra yards near the end zone, Cal’s Brent Austin stripped the ball and recovered it, ending North Carolina’s best chance to take the lead.
“It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t for any of us coaches or players,” Belichick said. “We played competitively and had the ball on the one-inch line with a chance to take the lead.”
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Lopez finished 19-for-35 for 167 yards, while Benjamin Hall and Davion Gause combined for 99 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Kobe Paysour led the receiving corps with six catches for 101 yards. Belichick praised his young runners for their effort. “The backs ran hard. They ran with good ball security,” he said. “Cal blitzes a decent amount. They have some big linebackers. Our backs did a good job of stepping up and handling the blitz.”
When asked about reports involving Michael Lombardi taking a preseason exploratory fundraising trip to Saudi Arabia, Belichick cut off the question immediately. “I’ll just talk about the game here,” he said. “I’m just focused on the game. I’m not going to deal with any of this, whatever else. The university released a statement on that, so that should take care of it.”
Belichick also gave a classic answer when he was randomly asked why he returned to coaching. “Yeah, I mean, I’ve answered that question 75 times,” he said flatly. “I’m sure we got it on the transcript.”
But as he later admitted, improvement without results still stings. “As I said, we’ve been improving every week,” Belichick added. “I’m not going to back off that. But you can’t turn the ball over and win. It’s just too hard.”
For Belichick, another week brought another familiar ending filled with progress, heartbreak, and another one that slipped away near the goal line.
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