North Carolina Tar Heels football coach Bill Belichick may not see his squad win a single ACC game during the 2025 season. That’s what CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah fears for “Chapel Bill” in the first season with Belichick at the helm, anyway.
Jeyarajah gave Belichick unfathomable grace for UNC’s 48-14 loss to the TCU Horned Frogs on Labor Day. That same level of grace was not extended after a 34-9 loss to the UCF Knights at the Bounce House.
“Losing to TCU in Bill Belichick's debut was forgivable. Losing 34-9 to UCF? Indefensible,” Jeyarajah wrote.
“The Tar Heels managed only 217 total yards and 2.5 yards per carry against a Knights squad picked last in the Big 12 preseason poll. First-year coach Scott Frost had his team ready, while UNC looked lifeless.
“At 1-3, North Carolina appears deficient across the board. A winless conference season isn't out of the question.”
Belichick gave pure coach-speak responses during the postgame press conference in Orlando following the 25-point loss.
“Like I said, we'll take a look at not just this game but the first four weeks, address the errors we feel like need to be improved the most and work on those. We'll do what we feel like we need to do to improve the team,” Belichick said.
“It's still a work in progress, and we'll continue to work through. This is a good time to reevaluate and look back on all four games, not just the last one, the first one or some other one and see where we are on everything. Some things that we can do better, some things we probably need to move on from, some things we probably need to add and maybe do in a little different direction. We'll talk about all that, evaluate it this week, and see what lies ahead.”
Based on that response to a lifeless effort in a blowout loss, the second in as many matchups against Power 4 teams, and Jordon Hudson’s continued presence on the sidelines, it’s going to be a long season in Chapel Hill.