Bill Belichick's struggles with UNC continue, Tar Heels blown out by Clemson
It has been a rough start for former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick at his new home in North Carolina. That continued on Saturday as Belichick's UNC Tar Heels were blown out by Clemsoon.
Dabo Swinney watched his Clemson team start Saturday with a trick play that went for a 75-yard touchdown and never look back.
North Carolina ended its Saturday with Belchick calling a timeout with 1 second left, extending the game to coach a team long since beaten in a home stadium largely emptied by halftime.
Clemson beats UNC
The Atlantic Coast Conference's marquee coaching names — Clemson's Swinney with two national championships, UNC's Belichick with six Super Bowl titles in the NFL — each entered this game hoping for positive signs after an open date that followed a bumpy September. They exited with very different vibes: Swinney getting confirmation on previous hope in a 38-10 win, Belichick losing in lopsided fashion for the third time in as many games against a power-conference program.
"I'll keep my conversations with the team between myself and the team," Belchick said, his voice low and answers terse. "But I'll just say we're going to work through it, and work our way out of it. We'll get better every week and keep working every week and prepare for the next team, be ready to go. That's what we're going to do."
Belichick's arrival in Chapel Hill and Swinney's stature as one of the biggest names in college football certainly made this game stand out on the schedule in the offseason. But the game had lost luster, between the Tigers — ranked No. 4 in the preseason AP Top 25 as ACC favorite — going 1-3 for the worst start in Swinney's long tenure and the Tar Heels struggling so badly to start Belichick's tenure.
It marked only the second time in college football history that a coach with multiple national championships faced one with multiple Super Bowl titles.
Tar Heels lose ugly again
The 73-year-old Belichick started his UNC tenure with a 48-14 loss on Labor Day to TCU, with every ugly moment preserved in a national spotlight. Wins followed against Charlotte of the American Athletic Conference and Championship Subdivision opponent Richmond, but their second matchup against a Big 12 team — this time, UCF — was another blowout loss.
This time, a perfect-weather day that included buzz from a concert by rapper Ludacris on a nearby campus quad gave way to the home fans fleeing in droves by halftime with the Tigers up 35-3 — a repeat of the opening-night exodus against TCU, though a quarter earlier.
That led to a humbling repeat of the game being played out in a largely empty stadium, with the Tar Heels managing a fourth-quarter TD with the outcome long decided. Now UNC has a touchdown on 4 of 29 drives (13.8%) against power-conference opponents, not counting drives stopped by halftime or game's end.
That's not exactly in line with the school paying Belichick at least $10 million guaranteed for three seasons as part of an upgraded football investment.
And Belichick didn't sound on the verge of making major changes, including when asked about coaching duties or play-calling responsibilities.
No, the plan is more of the same heading into another open week before visiting California on Oct. 17.
"The main thing we need to do is keep doing what we're doing and do it better," Belichick said. "I don't think fundamentally we're doing the wrong things. We're just not doing it well enough."
