UNC-NC State Bill Belichick Q&A: 'We've Got A Lot of Work to Do'

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina was thoroughly outplayed by rival NC State 42-19 on Saturday night at Kenan Stadium.

Carolina’s offense managed just 265 yards of total offense, and averaged less than three yards per carry. Gio Lopez completed 11-of-16 passes for 118 yards and one touchdown. He suffered a lower-body injury early in the third quarter and did not return. Receiver Jordan Shipp collected eight catches for 90 yards and one touchdown, while Kobe Paysour added five catches for 49 yards.

True freshman quarterback Will Wilson, NC State’s change-of-pace gadget quarterback, rushed for 54 yards and four touchdowns. He’s the first-ever NC State quarterback to record four rushing touchdowns in a game. Sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey completed 21-of-30 passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns. 

The defeat extends Carolina’s losing streak in the rivalry to five games. Here are the key quotes and full video from coach Bill Belichick following the beatdown loss …

Opening Statement 

“Disappointing game for us. Give NC State credit, they played well. They were certainly the better team tonight. They did everything better than we did. Coaches, players, offense, defeat, special teams. So yeah, they were the better team. They deserved to win. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

How quickly does the page turn to 2026 for this staff and roster?

“Signing day’s Wednesday, so pretty quickly.”

This game is pretty fresh, but looking back at the entire season, what made things difficult to get things together?

“We’ll take a look at the season later. We just finished with the game 10 minutes ago. We’ll look at it later, we’ll go back and find ways to improve.

What is the plan moving forward as far as meetings with all the players that have eligibility remaining?

“We’ll go through it. There’s a lot of processes we’ll look through at the end of the season that’ll start tomorrow.” 

Some coaches have those conversations a little during the season. Have you had any of those conversations?

“What conversations?”

Conversations with players with remaining eligibility?

“The season just ended like a few minutes ago. And so now we’re going to move into the offseason. That’s what we’re going to do.”

And since we won’t be talking to you, we’re trying to get an idea of what the plan is moving forward.

“I’m trying to tell you we’ve been working on NC State. We’ve been trying to work on NC State. The week before that, worked on Duke. Before that, worked on Wake Forest. Week before that, work on Stanford. Week before that, we’re on Syracuse. That’s what we’ve been doing, working on a team every week. I haven’t started on the season recap for you. We haven’t done it.” 

What challenges did Will Wilson present? Was that something you identified during the week?

“Yeah, of course we knew. They did a good job, they executed well.”