Charlotte Win Shows Progress, But UNC's Path To Higher Status Remains Long

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolina completed the most vital objective — winning — on Saturday, and it showed some improvements in doing so, but a 20-3 victory against Charlotte wasn’t the most satisfying outcome. 

On one hand, the Tar Heels got in the win column. Future Hall of Famer Bill Belichick secured his first win at the college level, a milestone in this expensive experiment. UNC didn’t turn the ball over after giving it away three times in the season opener vs. TCU. Gio Lopez looked sharp, and the run game looked efficient.

While all of that stands true, it doesn’t stand without context. North Carolina managed just 20 points and punted six times (effectively five, excluding UNC’s first-down punt in the last minute of the game) against a Charlotte defense that surrendered 34 points and 586 yards to App State the week before. The defense took care of business throughout the game, limiting the catastrophic mistakes and not allowing a touchdown. But the 49ers’ offense is several steps down from that of TCU’s, so their ineptitude played a role in aiding UNC’s productivity.

It’s safe to say that North Carolina is a team still scratching the surface of what it hopes to become: an elite, pro-model program in the college football world. Everyone understands the newness of the roster and the overhaul of the coaching staff at this point. The last nine months were spent trying to change the culture internally while developing some cohesion within the team. But the goal of all of that was to translate the new look and feel into an effective on-field product that can be a presence nationally. Two games into this thing, the Tar Heels, understandably, are still in the process of getting there.

Belichick and the players did acknowledge the need for improvement on Saturday.

“Things got going, and I thought we did a good job not turning the ball over, which was a big improvement from last week,” Belichick said. “Played better defense, tackled better and played better in the kicking game. We had some decent field position in the kicking game. So I thought overall, it was a solid effort. Certainly, a lot of room for improvement. We can do a better job in all the areas, coaching fundamentals, playing, missed some opportunities, but thought these players deserved it.”

Lopez added: “We still didn’t play our best ball at all. We can play a lot better, but just overall, to get a win, it felt good.”

Take a look nationally at what other unranked power conference schools did on Saturday against lower-level FBS opponents. Houston handled Rice 35-9, Colorado defeated Delaware 31-7, Wisconsin ran through Middle Tennessee 42-10, Nebraska shut down Akron 68-0 and Arkansas took care of Arkansas State 56-14.

Within the ACC, however, no team truly dominated in such games in a convincing fashion. Pittsburgh was the closest against Central Michigan, though it led by just seven late in the third quarter before winning 45-17.

Credit must be applied where earned. Special teams play was improved for UNC, as Tom Maginness averaged 42.5 yards per punt with a long of 55. Rece Verhoff made his first two field goal attempts of the season, making his first try from 49 yards out and the second from 33.

North Carolina’s ability to protect the ball on offense gave the team a better opportunity to see what it’s working with from a personnel standpoint. Demon June, Aziah Johnson, Chris Culliver and Charleston French all possessed the football at least once on offense after never receiving it in Week 1. No one had a virtuoso performance, but UNC created more game film to look at for its offensive skill players.

A 5-15 conversion rate on third downs kept the Tar Heels from scoring more. Last week’s mark vs. TCU was 1-10. Just one of UNC’s third-down conversions came on a pass play vs. Charlotte. Extending drives is one of the next steps of evolution for this UNC offense.

Andrew Simpson’s third-down sack on Conner Harrell gave UNC its first quarterback takedown of the season. Harrell hit a stride with his passes from late in the first quarter to early in the third quarter, completing 12 in a row. Harrell’s longest pass in that stretch was 19 yards. Still, North Carolina kept Charlotte out of the endzone and forced six punts. Charlotte only managed 21 rushing yards against UNC’s defense.

Despite a few bad snaps, Charlotte didn’t turn the ball over when Harrell was in the game. UNC got takeaways late in the fourth quarter by intercepting Grayson Loftis twice, but none before the game was fully decided.

Taking the glass-half-empty approach after a win feels cynical, but Saturday was a game you’d like to see North Carolina completely fill the cup. Expecting that in Week 2 — in a short game week, nonetheless — seems like a big ask in some respects, but when a big-name ACC school brings in a six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach to lead its program for $10 million a year, that becomes part of the deal. 

After facing Richmond this week, UCF will be UNC’s next opponent of substance. That game, which precedes a bye week, should offer a better look at what can be expected from the Tar Heels for this season.

“There are a lot of roles that are still evolving on the team,” Belichick said on Wednesday before the Charlotte game. “I always felt like in the NFL, you need about a third of the season, so call it five to six games, to really know what your team really is. So, we’re probably looking at four or five games before we feel really good about the best group we can put out there.”