TCU had a heckuva time ruining Bill Belichick’s big debut at North Carolina on Monday night. The only one who might’ve had as much fun as the Horned Frog players in Chapel Hill was 32-year-old Sam Lazarus.
TCU’s director of football creative media, like the rest of the Horned Frogs, had taken note of how everything surrounding Monday night’s game was about Belichick and his team. Of course, that wasn’t a shock considering that the 73-year-old Belichick, the greatest coach in NFL history, was coaching his first game at the college level. The curiosity factor of that probably even topped what the Horned Frogs faced when they opened up two years ago against Colorado in Deion Sanders’ first FBS game. Still, for a team coming off a nine-win season with most of its top talent returning, the disrespect of being reduced to some random faceless opponent felt like a snub.
And, when the Tar Heels opened the game with an impressive seven-play, 83-yard touchdown drive to go up 7-0, it felt like the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach was going to work some of his wizardry against his first college opponent. North Carolina did make that first drive look easy, and it only ratcheted up the hype another few notches. From that point on, though, the Horned Frogs systematically dismantled everything Belichick and his team attempted to do, and Lazarus and his three-person crew were ready to celebrate all of it from their TCU Football X account with memes, one-liners and lots of receipts.
Early on, the TCU Football feed sent out posts praising their players for forcing a three-and-out on defense, and then for star QB Josh Hoover’s pinpoint TD pass to Jordan Dwyer to tie the score. But an hour later, after Bud Clark’s pick six, a few field goals and a long touchdown run, Lazarus started to lean into the vibe of the evening. Like the TCU scoreboard, which ran off 41 unanswered points en route to a 48-14 victory, his posts came in a flurry.
https://t.co/5vON5s7NKk pic.twitter.com/IMMghbe7TE
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) September 2, 2025
Babe go back to sleep. https://t.co/tyfK7iuELo
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) September 2, 2025
when does episode one come out? https://t.co/ZOp6lUwgKF
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) September 2, 2025
I guess we’ll never know. https://t.co/40O9IeBxn7
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) September 2, 2025
https://t.co/t3pgvduhnV pic.twitter.com/rSwVSeACq6
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) September 2, 2025
Lazarus proceeded to zing everyone, from Skip Bayless to Colin Cowherd to the UNC Football account, before the night was over.
“TCU was the favorite in the game, but you probably wouldn’t have known it beforehand,” Lazarus told The Athletic on Tuesday. “A lot of that played into how we approached it afterwards. We wanted to play into the irony of how it was all covered.”
Lazarus, who is in his second season at TCU, previously worked for UCLA and Tulsa, his alma mater. He said when he was hired at TCU, it was with the goal of showcasing the players and telling their stories.
Much of what Lazarus and his team posted from Chapel Hill was spur-of-the-moment stuff. Like his response to the Cowherd tweet that popped up right after the Tar Heels’ opening drive, when the longtime TV host declared Belichick “the second best college coach I’ve ever seen, just below Saban.”
https://t.co/hZ0EyBp88Z pic.twitter.com/hc1KV4LBqR
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) September 2, 2025
Same with his dunk on the Skip Bayless tweet predicting that “TCU is about to get blown out. Too much MJ, LT. About to get Mossed.”
Of course, none of those guys were actually playing in the game. Someone sent that to Lazarus, and it didn’t take him long to respond with the perfect meme of Bayless’ old colleague Stephen A. Smith laughing his head off.
“Just knowing the whole Skip-Stephen A. rivalry, that made perfect sense,” Lazarus said.
https://t.co/3pbGVhu38k pic.twitter.com/GDeJQM0rR9
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) September 2, 2025
A week-old Carolina Football tweet with behind-the-scenes footage touting a docuseries on Belichick’s team was another easy target. It might’ve felt like trolling when he responded with “when does episode one come out?” But Lazarus said he is genuinely curious to see that show. He also knows that’s not why the post already has more than five million views.
“It’s a little bit of a joke, but there’s also a little bit of seriousness in that you want to see how they cover it,” he said.
For the night, a glorious evening for TCU, the Horned Frogs football X account has received more than 17 million views. Not bad for a school that only has around 13,000 students, but that’s part of the goal.
Thank you to all the fans who came out tonight! You made a difference! #GoFrogs 🐸 #ForTheWinners pic.twitter.com/mxhQhIvLAk
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) September 2, 2025
“We’re in a private school in a league with a lot of huge schools, UCF, ASU, Texas Tech is big,” Lazarus said. “We have to get more creative with how we get attention because we don’t have that same built-in fan base that some others have.”
When he enrolled in college, Lazarus, a huge “Moneyball” fan, had visions of working for a Major League Baseball front office, but he eventually switched to a marketing track. At one point, he thought he might go the athletic director path, but as he’s seen the evolution of the social and creative aspects of college athletic programs that have grown so much, he’s found a niche he loves.
“This part is just so much fun,” he said.
It sure was for TCU fans.
(Photo of Bill Belichick shaking hands with TCU coach Sonny Dykes after Monday night’s game: Bob Donnan / Imagn Images)
