Biting Reality Replaces Wild Optimism Five Games into UNC’s Season

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — It was the sort of miserable performance amid a resounding loss that can give way to coaches getting canned or reassigned on the professional level in the NFL.

And so after North Carolina’s latest beatdown loss, this one suffered Saturday against Clemson in its ACC league opener, a question was posed to Bill Belichick about whether changes should be made to his coaching staff, perhaps shaking up play-calling duties on offense or defense and moving in a different direction with those responsibilities.

“The main thing we need to do is keep doing what we’re doing, and do it better,” Belichick said in response. “I don’t think that fundamentally we’re doing the wrong things. We’re just not doing them well enough.”

There’s no argument on that front. Five games into UNC’s considerable investment in the Belichick experiment — two of which have produced victories, by the way — the optimism that buzzed wildly prior to the season opener against TCU has been replaced in full by the biting realization that these Tar Heels (2-3 overall, 0-1 ACC) appear headed toward a heaping helping of humbling experiences.

Seven games remain on the schedule, all of them ACC matchups. Clemson’s 38-10 romp at Kenan Stadium marked UNC’s third blowout loss by 25 points or more already this season. Across the last two games, the Tar Heels have tumbled into deep deficits of 27-3 at Central Florida and 35-3 against Clemson, before tacking on second-half touchdowns that have proven cosmetic only.

After UCF controlled the time of possession and plowed over UNC’s defense with lengthy scoring drives that included 13-, 14- and 18-play marches two weeks ago, Clemson unloaded quick-strike touchdown passes of 75, 45, 35 and 23 yards during the first half alone on Saturday.

Now, the Tar Heels have the second open date on their schedule, allowing 12 days between games to prepare for their Oct. 17 road assignment at California. This after coming off their first open date and effectively face-planting headlong into a brick wall against a previously reeling Clemson team.

UNC receivers Jordan Shipp and Alex Taylor were the final players to make their way off the Kenan Stadium field on Saturday. They stayed behind for a couple of extra moments while visiting with their former position coach Lonnie Galloway, who since parting with the Tar Heels has become an offensive analyst on Dabo Swinney’s Clemson staff.

Shipp and Taylor were surrounded by vast rows of abandoned seats as they walked into the home tunnel, with the UNC crowd having begun emptying toward the stadium exits far earlier, when the Tar Heels trailed 28-3 at the end of the first quarter.

“It doesn’t really matter who’s in the stands,” Shipp said Saturday, when asked about that desolate scene. “All that matters is what we’ve got in the locker room.”

What populates the Carolina locker room continues to draw growing criticism as a group simply devoid of sufficient talent. UNC quarterback Max Johnson, who played in the SEC for four seasons across stops at LSU and Texas A&M, said he doesn’t agree with such an assessment about what the Tar Heels lack.

“No, I would not say that,” Johnson said, when asked if UNC doesn’t have enough talented players. “I believe in our guys. I believe in our team. I came here for a reason, and this is where I want to play. So I’m trusting the coaches, trusting our players. We need to go out there and play better.”

UNC now has been been buried by a combined margin of 120-33 in its three games this season against opponents from power conferences (TCU, UCF, Clemson). For all of the late-season collapses that plagued former coach Mack Brown’s previous six seasons in charge, the Tar Heels haven’t failed to qualify for a bowl game since 2018.

What was Belichick’s postgame message on Saturday after another debacle?

“I’ll keep my conversations with the team between myself and the team,” he said. “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. Keep working every week and prepare for the next team, and be ready to go. That’s what we’re going to do.”