Bill Belichick and the North Carolina Tar Heels simply can’t catch a break in the 2025 NCAA campaign. ‘Chapel Bill’ is off to a turbulent start and the lopsided defeat at home against the Clemson Tigers did the program no favors. Now, the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach is sensing the pressure to right the ship.
It was never going to be a walk in the park for Belichick and the Tar Heels in their first season together in college football. However, the decorated head coach may have never expected such a rocky beginning to his NCAA chapter. The 38-10 loss to the Tigers only added salt into the wounds.
After the loss to Clemson, Belichick addressed the school’s shortcomings with an honest admission. The former New England Patriots mastermind didn’t stutter to take his fair share of blame for UNC’s struggles.
Belichick’s mea culpa
“A disappointing outcome for us today,” Belichick commented, via On3. “I thought we had a good week. I think we were ready to go, and unfortunately we gave some big plays early in the game that really tilted the game, and we’re just never able to recover. So we just got to do a better job of coaching, a better job playing, and just eliminate the mistakes that are fixable.
“We just can’t make those mistake,” Belichick said about illegal formation penalties. “When the players make them, that’s obviously bad. But the fact that they happen is part of that’s coaching too. So I’ll take my share of the responsibility on that.”
What’s next?
Belichick and North Carolina will head into a bye week in the 2025 college football season. To say they will enjoy the off-days would be a massive overstatement. However, it might in come in handy for UNC to get back on track ahead of key matchups in the ACC.
On October 17, the Tar Heels will make a trip to the West Coast to take on the California Golden Bears. As if Belichick and his staff didn’t have enough on their plates, they must game-plan for a menace of a quarterback in true freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.
If North Carolina walks into Berkeley struggling on defense like they have all season long, they could be in for a very long night. Sagapolutele is coming off the worst game of his young career, though. Perhaps Belichick can find a pattern in his three-interception film to exploit when the Tar Heels take on the Golden Bears.