Things couldn't have gone much worse for Bill Belichick in his college football coaching debut at North Carolina. After an opening drive that gave the Tar Heels a 7-0 lead, TCU scored at will and cruised to a 48-14 victory.
No team coached by Belichick had ever given up 48 points in a single game before Monday night's disaster. That covered 511 NFL games between the New England Patriots and the Cleveland Browns. Just one game in, and the future Hall of Fame coach is already learning how drastic the difference is between the college game and the NFL.
TCU, meanwhile, looked like a Big 12 contender eager to reclaim respect after feeling slighted in the buildup to the Labor Day showdown. The Horned Frogs could very well establish themselves as a conference favorite this season.
Nevertheless, this was a North Carolina team that didn't look very buttoned-up.
“In every area things that we need to tighten up,” Belichick said, according to WRAL's Brian Murphy. “TCU is a really good football team. I think that some of our deficiencies got exposed.”
For Belichick, the road ahead gets slightly easier. His second game comes against Charlotte, a Group of Five program from the American Conference. Still, it will be his first official college road game.
Max Johnson will play QB for North Carolina
South Alabama transfer quarterback Gio Lopez was taken out against TCU after suffering a back injury and was replaced by Max Johnson. When asked by reporters on Wednesday about Lopez's status, Belichick didn't reveal much beyond saying he was “doing good,” according to WRAL's Pat Welter.
Quarterbacks coach Matt Lombardi weighed in on the situation too: “We'll see what it looks like on the practice field.”
Johnson played well in relief of Lopez, completing 9-of-11 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown, though the game was already out of hand by then.
Lopez, on the other hand, struggled. He went 4-of-10 passing for 69 yards, threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, and on the play he was injured, fumbled the ball, which was also returned for a score.
Against Charlotte, Johnson will most likely play, if not get the start. Still, it could be a game where Belichick evaluates which quarterback proves the most to him — that is, if Lopez is healthy enough to go.
The Tar Heels' offense can score against Charlotte
Nothing went right for North Carolina against TCU beyond the opening drive. The Tar Heels didn't find the end zone again until the fourth quarter, when a garbage-time touchdown made the final stat sheet look a little more respectable. As they head to Charlotte, though, the offense could be in line for a bit of an awakening.
Against Appalachian State last weekend, the 49ers surrendered 404 passing yards and three touchdowns while their secondary managed just three pass deflections.
Now, does that mean North Carolina is about to light up the scoreboard? Let's not go that far. But after producing only 222 total yards of offense — 172 passing and 50 rushing — the Tar Heels should see at least a modest bump, along with more than 14 points.
Charlotte will score more vs. UNC than Appalachian State
The 49ers managed just 11 points on 218 total yards of offense last weekend against Appalachian State. Conventional wisdom says a Power Four program like North Carolina should be able to handle a team coming off that kind of performance. But let's be clear — the Tar Heels looked atrocious in their opener.
Yes, there are plenty of reasons for that, starting with a 73-year-old Belichick trying to acclimate to a sport he's never coached before. It also doesn't help that North Carolina has 70 new players on its roster who haven't fully gelled yet.
From Week 1 to Week 2, there should be adjustments — and there will be — but expecting all of North Carolina's problems against TCU to vanish in a week is unrealistic. The Tar Heel defense, which surrendered 542 yards of total offense to the Horned Frogs, is going to give up more than 11 points to Charlotte.
Bill Belichick picks up his first college win against Charlotte
How fitting would it be for Belichick to pick up his first win as a college head coach on the road in a stadium that holds just over 15,000 people? That would only further highlight the beauty of college football.
This is the perfect makeup game for Belichick and North Carolina — even if it might get a little ugly. Again, don't expect all of Week 1's problems to disappear overnight. But to say this team can't fix some of its issues would be an overreaction.
“I'm not going to push the panic button on North Carolina,” Joel Klatt said on The Herd. “The expectation for North Carolina was never gonna be that they were gonna be great right away.”
No, this team was never going to be great, or even good, right away. At best, it's probably lucky to make a bowl game. Everyone just got excited seeing Belichick's name tied to a college program and believed he could instantly turn it around.
He can, however, get his first win this weekend to start moving things in the right direction.
