The night started with a fast touchdown for North Carolina, but the rest of the game was a disaster for new head coach Bill Belichick. The ACC program was outmatched by the Big 12’s TCU in a 48-14 blowout in front of 50,500 fans at Kenan Stadium on Monday night.
The Tar Heels made unfortunate program history in the defeat, with Belichick’s defense giving up the most points in a season opener, 41 of which were unanswered.
Forty-one was the most points North Carolina had surrendered in a season opener before Monday night’s game. That happened in a 41-27 loss to Oklahoma in 2001.
Following the game, Belichick told the media that his defense needed to tackle better.
“Yeah, I mean, you said it, we got to do a better job of tackling,” Belichick said, via Jeremiah Artacho of Sports Illustrated. “There’s no doubt about that. And so we’re just gonna have to work harder on it. Tackle better. I mean, there’s no secret to it, no pill you can take. Just gotta, you know, tackle better fundamentally, and get more guys around the ball. So we’re not, you know, so many tackles in space.”
Offensive turnovers didn’t help a gassed defense. North Carolina lost two fumbles and quarterback Gio Lopez threw an interception.
However, the Horned Frogs didn’t just take advantage of short fields. They scored touchdowns on drives of 75, 85 and 76 yards.
UNC has a couple of games to develop its defense before playing UCF and then the ACC schedule. North Carolina will travel to play Charlotte on Saturday and will host Richmond in Week 3.
The Tar Heels will need to show improvement with fundamentals on both sides of the ball, or it could be a long season for Belichick in Chapel Hill.
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