Belichick Duke Game Week Q&A: Rivalry Prep

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Bill Belichick met with reporters on Wednesday morning ahead of North Carolina’s final home game of the season to preview its rivalry matchup with Duke and address lingering questions from UNC’s disappointing loss at Wake Forest this past weekend. 

The Tar Heels must win both remaining games on the schedule — Duke and N.C. State — to reach bowl eligibility for the seventh straight season. Last year, the Blue Devils came back from down 20-0 in the third quarter to defeat North Carolina in Durham and reclaim the Victory Bell for the first time since 2018. 

Among several topics, Belichick expressed what the Tobacco Road rivalry means to him, as well as his appreciation for Tar Heel seniors who will be honored at Saturday’s game. Watch his question-and-answer session in the video below, and scroll down to read some noteworthy excerpts. 

Opening Statement

Belichick: “First of all, I want to just take a few minutes to recognize our senior class, it’ll be the last home game, and even though I’ve only been here a year, I really appreciate what that group has done for the entire program and certainly for this year. They know the time I spent with them, going back to the spring training camp and during the season, it’s a group that’s mixed with players who have been here for their career, but also players who have come in for their final year of eligibility…

“Collectively, some of them are captains. Obviously, a lot of them aren’t, but as a whole, they’ve given us a lot of leadership, a lot of experience, not just in football, but off the field and setting a good example for our younger players and some of our new players, whether it be academics or things related to football, community service, so forth. It’s really been a good group.” 

“For Duke, I mean, obviously a big rivalry game here for us. This game means a lot to people in Carolina, people at UNC, people at Duke, obviously a big division here, and that’s what makes these games exciting and fun and super competitive. So everybody knows each other pretty well, and looking forward to being a participant in this event. I have a ton of respect for Manny (Diaz)… I’ve learned a lot from spending time with him, and talking football with him on multiple occasions when he was at Miami as a defensive coordinator, when he coached at Penn State, and even a little bit at Duke last year, one of my former coaches is there, worked on his defensive staff for him at Penn State. So I have a lot of familiarity with how he coaches, the job he does, and he’s an excellent coach…

“Watching them compete is impressive. Have a lot of respect for him. (Darian) Mensah, I saw him play in person last year. Was super impressed with him. This guy’s a really, really good quarterback. I think he’s the best quarterback we faced, and we faced some good quarterbacks, but this guy really reminds me of an NFL quarterback. He’s got great presence in the pocket. He does an excellent job of seeing coverages, seeing receivers. He’s very accurate down the field, good throwing mechanics. He can certainly run and get out of trouble and avoid the rush and extend plays. But he’s not out there running around trying to be a running back… they got a good group of receivers, good returners. So the receivers are also the returners and have a solid running game too.

“So they’re an explosive team offensively and in the kicking game, with their return game. Defensively, they have a very good front. Those guys are very disruptive up front, starting with (Wesley) Williams, but it’s really all of them. They do a good job of causing negative plays, putting pressure on the quarterback. They’re a hard group to handle. They can definitely ruin the game with strip sacks, batted balls, tackles for loss, things like that. So, handling them is every team’s challenge when you play Duke; certainly, that’ll be the case for us on Saturday.” 

Madrid Tucker played 55 snaps against Virginia, but has sort of fizzled out from then on, and Demon June had only nine carries against Wake Forest. What goes into the highly fluctuating snap count for guys at wide receiver and running back? 

Belichick: “Sometimes it’s game plan, sometimes it’s called availability. So yeah, it could be a number of factors, again, that we don’t go into any game with a set, this guy’s going to catch so many passes, this guy’s going to carry the ball so many times. That could vary by game plan, by the way the game plays out. So the big thing is for everybody to be ready to go and take advantage of their opportunities when they come. And they’re not the same every week. So that’s the way we approach it. I mean, you can read off another group of guys that did more in another week, and another group of guys that did less. I mean, that’s probably the way it’s going to go.”

What are some tangible areas of growth you have seen from Gio Lopez and how do you think he’s developed since week one? 

Belichick: “I mean, overall, our passing yardage and decision making in the passing game has gotten a lot better, and that’s really started with him, including some decisions he makes in terms of run-pass options or plays that could go either way. Either before or after the snap, depending on how it’s called, protection adjustments, things like that, where it’s not perfect. We’re not there yet where we want to be, but it’s certainly gotten a lot better.”

When you’ve talked to your dad about coaching here, did he ever mention what it was like coaching and competing in this game? 

Belichick: “Yeah, sure. Yeah, it was the game. It was the game. I mean, I don’t think it’s Army-Navy, but it’s that kind of type of game. And my whole life, I’ve been involved and grew up in an Army-Navy rivalry. I was a little too young for the Duke-UNC rivalry before we left Chapel Hill and went to Annapolis. But from the time I was the littlest kid in Annapolis, it was Army-Navy, it was those 10 games, or however many games that were, and then it was Army. And so here you got a couple other state games, like Wake Forest, NC State, those are big rivalry games too, but Duke, that’s it.”