CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s high-point second in its first game under coach Bill Belichick got here early.
A festive pregame environment led to a roar from the gang at kickoff. And a season-opening drive moved at a crisp tempo to the top zone.
After that, nicely, Monday night time’s hyped-up debut become a romp by TCU — together with a reminder that even an NFL icon with six Tremendous Bowl titles as a head coach can’t simply magically flip the Tar Heels into winners after many years of also-ran standing.
“We performed competitively however then simply couldn’t maintain it,” Belichick mentioned in a well-known low tone from his NFL information conferences after the 48-14 loss. “Clearly, we have now a number of work to do. We have to do a greater job all the way in which round — teaching, taking part in, all three phases of the sport.”
The blowout put a serious damper on an evening buzzing with optimism for the 73-year-old Belichick’s school debut, solely to see the Horned Frogs dominate so totally they drove UNC followers to the Kenan Stadium exits by halfway by means of the third quarter.
“It was an amazing setting tonight,” Belichick mentioned. “I imply, the followers have been superior. There was nice vitality within the stadium. We simply didn’t do sufficient to maintain it going. We’ve obtained to play higher for the vitality to be sustainable.”
By the top of the sport, Kenan was a ghost city and the Tar Heels had given up extra factors than in any earlier opener of their historical past, in accordance with Sportradar.
It was a jarring end result, even amid uncertainty as to precisely what to anticipate from UNC with roughly 70 new gamers between transfers and incoming recruits. There have been few highlights after that opening drive past Kaleb Price’s athletic reeling in of a deflected ball for an interception, and quarterback Max Johnson returning in relief from a serious leg injury sustained in last year’s opener at Minnesota.
“We’re simply shifting ahead, simply shifting ahead,” mentioned Price, providing an unintentional callback to Belichick’s well-known “We’re on to Cincinnati” response to reporters’ questions after a blowout loss to the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs in 2014.
UNC was picked to finish eighth in the 17-team Atlantic Coast Conference, although that appeared virtually completely predicated on Belichick’s mere presence. This can be a man, in spite of everything, who teamed with legendary quarterback Tom Brady to win six world titles in his 24-year run with the New England Patriots. Somebody who gained extra regular-season and playoff video games within the NFL (333) than anybody apart from Don Shula.
So there was spectacle to Belichick’s debut as he took the sector sporting a well-known look from the professional sideline with a grey hoodie — solely this one bearing the identify “Carolina Soccer” in that particular shade of sunshine blue.
An estimated 5,000 followers packed onto a important campus quad for a pregame live performance and throngs lined the staff’s stroll to Kenan, the place UNC has bought out all its season tickets — at an elevated value with Belichick’s arrival — and single-game seats for the season. The sport attracted ESPN to carry a pregame studio present from the sideline with a crew that included former Alabama coach Nick Saban, with Belichick popping over briefly to say good day.
There have been notable former UNC athletes from years previous, together with NBA legend Michael Jordan — who gained a nationwide championship beneath Dean Smith right here in 1982 — and former UNC star linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who performed beneath Belichick when he was an assistant and finally defensive coordinator with the New York Giants throughout the Nineteen Eighties.
And it wasn’t arduous to identify Jordon Hudson — Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend who has generated her own tabloid-level curiosity — as she walked the pregame sideline sporting Carolina blue pants shimmering with sequins-like additions on the legs.
Belichick roamed the sector throughout pregame warmups for the higher a part of a half-hour. At one level, he stood on the UNC finish of the sector with general manager Michael Lombardi, then shared a fast handshake with ACC commissioner Jim Phillips as he made his method towards midfield.
As soon as there, Belichick shook arms with members of the officiating crew and watched the Horned Frogs heat up.
The Tar Heels obtained off to a dash of a begin with an 83-yard drive that ended with Caleb Hood scoring by means of the fitting aspect from 8 yards out, adopted by forcing a fast punt. However issues quickly began getting away.
TCU — which misplaced in the same situation because the “different” staff in Deion Sanders’ debut at Colorado two years in the past — by no means appeared rattled or thrown. Bud Clark supplied a spotlight by leaping Gio Lopez’s sideline throw for a straightforward 25-yard pick-six as TCU took a 20-7 lead into the break.
It rapidly obtained worse after halftime. Kevorian Barnes sprinted by means of the fitting aspect and down the sideline for a 75-yard landing on the primary snap. Trent Battle added his personal large run, slipping by means of the left aspect untouched and going 28 yards for a TD.
And at last, Devean Deal had a 37-yard scoop-and-score on Lopez’s fumble to make it 41-7 and begin the Kenan exodus.
By the top, UNC had simply 222 whole yards, 320 fewer than TCU, and a brief week to repair issues earlier than visiting Charlotte on Saturday.
“They have been clearly the higher staff tonight,” Belichick mentioned. “They deserved to win they usually did it decisively.”
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