Tar Heels Set Sights On Charlotte, Work On Picking Up Pieces From TCU Defeat

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Monday night didn’t offer much great tape for North Carolina, as two drives into the game, TCU took complete control and spoiled UNC’s season opener in Kenan Stadium.

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Much has been said about UNC’s play in Monday’s 48-14 prime time defeat to the Horned Frogs, particularly surrounding the fact that the letdown performance coincided with Bill Belichick’s first time rolling out a team for a college game. There are plenty of pieces left to pick up after the season-opening loss, but the Tar Heels are working on turning the page, starting with practice on Wednesday.

“Give TCU credit, that’s a good football team, and they played well, but a lot of our problems are self-inflicted,” Bill Belichick said. “The turnovers, we have two turnovers from touchdowns. Defensively, couldn’t convert on a couple of third-and-longs. Gave up a couple long runs that were just not well defended. Our special teams weren’t particularly good either. Short punt and dropped snap and so forth, blocked extra point, we’re lucky on that one. So just kind of in every area, things that we need to tighten up.

“I think that some of our deficiencies got exposed, and we’ll address them and hopefully get them to a level that is a competitive level they need to be at.”

North Carolina had more turnovers (three) than touchdowns (two) against TCU, with two of those giveaways immediately resulting in touchdowns by way of a pick-six and a fumble recovery. The offense went 34 minutes and nine seconds of game time without completing a pass, and on the ground, the team’s running backs averaged just 2.9 yards per carry. To make matters worse, the team lost starting quarterback Gio Lopez in the third quarter with a back injury, though Max Johnson had an efficient showing in the 17 snaps he played.

Defensively, the Tar Heels surrendered 542 yards of total offense to the visiting Horned Frogs, compared to the 222 yards they got themselves. TCU moved the ball with ease as UNC was helpless to stop it.

Belichick admitted that the TCU game highlighted some of UNC’s weaknesses as a team. And with that, there’s clarity on what needs to improve.

“We need to shore up the things we need to shore up,” Belichick said. “And overall, just some fundamental execution of just basic football, snaps and catching the ball and tackling and finishing blocks and getting to the proper depth on pass routes. All those things are not what we’ve done before. We know how to do them. We didn’t do them consistently enough in the game. We need to be better with that.”

The emphasis among the team in the days that have followed Monday’s loss has been on playing with consistency for 60 minutes. UNC’s hot start with the electric touchdown drive and four-play defensive stop wasn’t sustained on either side of the ball. And as the mistakes continued, with botched snaps, blown defensive assignments and the inability to move the ball, TCU continued to create separation.

“When we were doing good, we were looking very good,” linebacker Khmori House said. “And when we had our lows, we were low. There’s obviously things to work on, but if we pick up from the good things and correct the things we’ve got to work on, we can be a really good team. We’re just trying to stack days. We’ve got to just keep stacking our days. We’re gonna get better, for sure. That’s no question. There’s a no-brainer.”

The benefit of a short week for UNC, starting with Wednesday’s practice, is the chance to get back on the field sooner. Plenty of corrections need to be made, and Saturday’s game against Charlotte will give North Carolina an opportunity to get a better feel for personnel and find its way to the win column.

“It’s the beginning of the season,” running back Caleb Hood said. “A lot of things can still happen. So just being positive and regrouping and restarting this week.”