Belichick and UNC pick up 'big win' over TCU
Mike Florio and Chris Simms discuss North Carolina's 15-10 win over TCU, breaking down how Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels were able to start off on the right foot.
Video Transcript
Remember last year when there was plenty of excitement for North Carolina football, the opening game, Monday night, TCU, Lawrence T- was Lawrence Taylor there?
I don't re- Michael Jordan was there.
Yeah.
I don't remember- Randy Moss was there Lawrence Taylor there.
They did the hot knife through butter down the field against the TCU offense.
They were up 7-nothing, and then it was a disaster after that.
TCU was up 10-3 in this one, but Bill Belichick and the North Carolina Tar Heels, playing in Ireland, came back, won the game.
Great defensive showing, and a long way from last year's 48 to 14 debacle.
And last year was four and eight.
This year, they flip it around, they get off to a 1-0 start, and it's a big year- Yeah for Bill Belichick.
And, hey, they, they worked through some stuff.
Michael Lombardi, the GM of the team, he's been on paid leave while they investigate him for something for more than a month.
His lawyer was crowing about it being a witch hunt.
That's usually not a good idea while an internal investigation is pending, but, oh, well.
And Steve Belichick, the defensive coordinator, is on medical leave.
He wasn't in Ireland.
So Bill Belichick's had to hold that program together without a- as much help as he's used to, and they got it done.
And, they, they should win their next game against one of the FCS schools, but then Clemson is on deck after that, and reality sets in.
They have Miami, they have Notre Dame.
But they could, they could win.
I mean, that team that I saw on Saturday looks good enough to win enough games to get to a bowl game.
Hopefully.
That, that's the goal.
I mean, that, to me, is, will be kind of the, the litmus test to how, you know, how he's viewed this year.
But that was a big win for them.
Just start it off that way, kind of get the good vibes going.
You can tell, I mean, Bill Belichick, when they got the last first down and got TCU to jump offsides, he did this and went first I mean, Bill Belichick didn't separ- celebrate like that after he won his sixth Super Bowl.
He, I mean, he, he, just still walked across and just shook the hand of the guy that he'd just beaten in the Super Bowl.
So I think that emotion in itself just showed you how important it was.
And he won, as we know, the situations of the game.
He, he stopped TCU's offense on two fourth downs inside the five-yard line.
And then, of course, that right there at the end where they got TCU to jump offsides on, on their own fourth down and get the first down to run out the clock, hey, that's w- what we expect from a Bill Belichick football team, doing those type of things the right way.
They got to see TCU a second time.
You know it, Bill's always gonna be better the second time around, so, good for them getting off the schneid and getting a, get a good start to the year here.
Next up on September 12, they have East Tennessee State, then it's Clemson, Notre Dame, Pitt.
I never know if a Pitt's gonna be any good, and I'm very happy when they're not.
Sorry, it's a West Virginia-Pitt thing.
Duke, Syracuse, Miami, Connecticut, Louisville, Virginia, which thumped NC State- Yeah on Saturday.
They're not good.
NC State after that, and then the ACC Championship, if North Carolina should get there.
So last year was a major disappointment.
This year, who knows?
Maybe it'll work out.
Maybe it'll work out.
Maybe the key was to get Lombardi out of there.
Maybe that was the key.
Well, they got some- Maybe that's what turned the tide they got, they got some talent down there.
I'm kidding.
I know you're kidding.
and, and it's top- No, I'm not you know, top 15 recruiting class.
I think they got a little more talent there.
It's another year of, hey, just being with Coach Belichick, learning the way he wants you to play, the fundamentals of football that he is so great at and preaches at all the time.
So I would expect to see cleaner football from them this year, and be more of a pain in the butt.
Yeah, I'm not sure they can beat Clemson and those teams, but can they keep it competitive and tight?
I think that, that, that'll be the thing we all wanna see
