Bill Belichick Q&A: Syracuse Game Week Presser

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina came up inches short against No. 16 Virginia, falling 17-16 in overtime on Saturday at Kenan Stadium.

UNC (2-5, 0-3 ACC) continues on with conference play and travels to face spiraling Syracuse (3-5, 1-4 ACC) on Friday night at the JMA Wireless Dome. The Orange have dropped four straight games, losing by an average of 22½ points over that stretch. The Tar Heels still are in search of their first win over a power-conference opponent under coach Bill Belichick.

Here are the key points and full video from Belichick’s weekly availability with the media on Tuesday inside the Kenan Football Center …

Opening Statement

“Watching Syracuse, I think Fran (Brown) has done a great job with that program. Spent a lot of time watching them last year. And honestly, what they did offensively was phenomenal. They set a couple dozen school records and led the nation in passing. Had some productive performances almost every week. I saw a lot of those in the things I was doing last year, just watching them and keeping kind of track of how efficient they were offensively, particularly passing the ball. Then coming into this year, you know the new quarterback, and kind of second year in the program, it’s unfortunate that, you know the quarterback (Steve Angeli) got hurt, but Richie Collins has stepped in there and has got a little different skill set, but nevertheless very dangerous with the ball in his hand. Great athlete, very good runner, and you can just see him getting better every week. He’s only played a couple weeks, but every time he steps on the field, and I thought he was better last week as well, it’s going to continue to get better. So this is a really good football team that obviously beat Clemson, and has played some very good football in spurts against SMU Georgia Tech, the better teams in the conference.

Your team has been close to winning these past two weeks. How do you breakthrough this point and get the end result you want?

“Well, you start all over every week. Couple weeks ago after Cal game, you look at that game and you start all over again on Virginia. And now we start all over again on Syracuse, and we’ll do the same thing next week. So each week’s its own week. It’s all a new preparation cycle. Everything’s different. Players are different, schemes different, environment and the atmosphere is different. So it’s every week’s own entity. So that’s where we are, we do the same thing every week. That’s all we’ve been doing every week this year. And I’ll see how that can change, because each week is so different.”

Looking back, the defensive line, and specifically the interior, was probably the least experienced group on this roster. How much can you quantify that group’s marketed improvement since the TCU game?

“Go back even a little further than that, go back to the spring when you know we only had, three players that had played the previous year. And then players that we added in the spring, and then some players that we’ve added for the fall. It’s a completely new group. … They’ve done a great job coming together, working together, playing fundamentally well together and improving. Our strengths improved, our speed, explosion has improved, our block recognition, transition, pass rush, all that. Those guys work hard, and you can see their hard work on the practice field pay off in games. So really proud of that group and the way that they’ve just come together as almost a completely new team or new unit.”

Players told us that when you told them you were here to stay and weren’t going anywhere, that was the start of everybody coming together. Do you see a different team from before you told them that, almost something in their eye like, ‘okay, now we have the confirmation, now we’re going go out there and really continue doing what we’ve been doing?’

“Well, it’s never been anything but that. And wherever that story came from, obviously it’s already been taken down and everything else. And it’s just total, as Trump would say, fake news. I mean, it’s just a novel. There’s plenty of that out there too, by the way, but I’m not going to deal with that. Look, our consistency has been here since the day that Michael Lombardi and I came in and started hiring people and came into the organization in December. We got here the same day, and we’ve been doing it every day, and that’s the way it’s going to be. So I’m sure there’s a lot of other people out there that want to get clicks and views and posts on my face or whatever, but like, it’s just a bunch of garbage.”

Have there been any schematic adjustment in the recent weeks that may have unlocked better play from the defensive front?

“Again, I hate to sound like a broken record on this. But if you play teams like Clemson that run a lot of counter plays and run a lot of perimeter plays, it is different than playing a team that runs a lot of inside zone. It’s just different. So the scheme and the fundamentals, and I’d say that the awareness and techniques that you would use against one team are different than the next team. And so is there some carryover in terms of defeating blockers in front of you and double teams and reaching blocks and back blocks and things. There’s some fundamentals. But as far as team defense, it really is about defeating team offense. I just don’t believe you can do the same thing against Clemson that you would do against Syracuse, that you would do against TCU, that you do against Richmond. They’re all different, so I think you got to play them differently.”

You mentioned Michael Lombardi as the first guy you brought with you. Why did you want him to be here? How have you seen him apart to this role, and what do you see moving forwards in terms of that position?

“We already talked about that a lot. I mean, certainly need somebody else with the way the college game is now with recruiting and NIL money and everything else that’s going on. Like there’s no way I could do it. Maybe there’s other coaches who can do, there’s no way I could do it. He’s done a great job of all that. I’d say let’s keep an open conversation on Syracuse, that’s really where we are right here. What he’s doing to help our program is monumental. But honestly, I’m just trying to focus on the Syracuse game right now.”

What led to Madrid Tucker playing such a prominent role last game?

“Like a lot of players who are new to the program, and either got here, particularly in that June or July area, they were a little bit behind other players in terms of knowledge, experience, playing experience at this level and so forth. But as we practiced more and competed more, the gap has narrowed, and some of those players have shown that they are ready to compete on this level and have earned more playing time. At the receiver position, Madrid Tucker has done that, Shanard Clower’s done it. Demon June did as a running back. So we have guys who are playing more than they did earlier in the year, because they have shown that, in our opinion, they’ve shown in competitive situations that they’re ready for those opportunities.”