As if we needed such a morbid reminder, Carolina’s one-sided 42-19 loss at N.C. State on Saturday was a microcosm of the season that has mercifully ended at 4-8, UNC’s worst record in football since 2018.
Despite some success in the middle, the Tar Heels started the game slowly and finished with a fizzle in a season where they lost to three in-state rivals that are all going to bowl games — and one, somehow, is playing for the championship of the brutally bad ACC.
State drove the ball 75 yards in 11 plays to score its first of four touchdowns on four straight possessions. Call that the 48-14 embarrassment to TCU on Labor Day night. The Heels scored on Jordan Shipp’s acrobatic catch to make the game 14-7, which was as misleading as wins over mid-majors Charlotte and Richmond. Carolina even dropped N.C. State tight end Justin Joly on third down on the ensuing drive, seemingly forcing a stop. Could the team be finding its momentum?
But N.C. State used a fake punt to rush the ball and pick up the first down before driving to the end zone once again. The deficit ballooned to 21-7 and 28-10 thanks to another Wolfpack touchdown before halftime. Let’s call those the blowout losses to UCF and Clemson, showing just how far off the Tar Heels still were.
UNC opened Saturday’s second half with some good offensive snaps before QB Gio Lopez slipped while running a trick play on third down and fell untouched far behind the line of scrimmage for a big loss. That feels like a metaphor for the Heels coming up just short against Virginia and Cal, two games where victory was within reach and could have turned the season around.
Rece Verhoff’s field goal in the third quarter could equate to the two ACC wins UNC earned over Syracuse and Stanford — results that did not move the needle much in terms of showing vast improvement or generating excitement. The Wolfpack’s second half scores raising the spread to 42-13 can be the final three-game skid against Wake Forest, Duke and State. Perhaps the Heels’ final touchdown by Jordan Owens from true freshman QB Au’Tori Newkirk represents how they looked marginally more competitive…but the results were still the same.
North Carolina State’s Caden Fordham (1) celebrates after a sack against North Carolina quarterback Gio Lopez (7) during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (Photo via AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker.)
Yep, the fifth consecutive loss to State wrapped up a season that went from the highest expectations to the lowest disappointment under new coach Bill Belichick, who grumbled his worn-out post-game line, “We’ve got a lot to work to do, so we’ll go back at it.”
Back at what, the question must be asked?
This expected loss to a more talented, more determined Wolfpack can stand for how all eight victors more than doubled final scores, total yards, first downs and win sum over UNC. By halftime, when the 28-10 score was already decisive, State also had twice as many first downs, more than twice as many total yards, ten times as many rushing yards and half the penalties. The Heels made those numbers look better in the second half, while Carter-Finley Stadium was already toasting State’s third straight victory to end the season. That contrasts with Carolina’s three L’s to the Big 4 rivals.
Belichick’s unexpected debut in college football should result in the Carolina athletic department asking him to lay out in detail what went wrong and show his plan to fix it all. Will anyone at UNC with the football knowledge have the cajónes to demand that of the $10 million man who has never had to do it in his head-coaching career?
State’s Senior Night sellout characterizes a program that looks far more like what’s left of college football than at Carolina. After a sixth straight bowl bid, head coach Dave Doeren will finish his 13th season in Raleigh, a rare longevity he owes more than anything else to his 9-4 record over State’s archrival and the royal straight flush he will carry into 2026.
Doeren has done it while winning four each over Larry Fedora and Mack Brown, coaches whose tenures started strong and ended, respectively, with bad seasons and upset losses. In recruiting, he has been the anti-Heel, promoting a tougher culture in his locker room and a hatred for light blue especially on the field, often reminding his fan base of the winning streak that began in 2021 with Carolina’s last-minute meltdown. Doeren can now boast he hammered a six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach on another cold chippy night from start to finish.
Gio Lopez was having his typical good-but-not great game for UNC before being helped off the field with what looked like a serious injury to his left leg, suffered after he was tackled by one Wolfie and pounced on by another that should have been flagged for a late hit. Reportedly being paid $4 million in rev share, Lopez may face a long-time rehab that could further complicate the problematic QB position or create an opening for Belichick and general manager Mike Lombardi, who hopefully have learned more about the transfer portal than they knew upon arriving last December.
Lopez was replaced by sixth-year senior Max Johnson, who was a short story within the story. He looked better passing and running than someone who made an incredible comeback from a broken leg in his first game under Brown in 2024. Granted, he did not play well in his only start against Clemson, but no one did that day. And, ironically, Johnson took a big hit by another State defender and another who rolled over him to bend his right leg back that had him hobbling off the field to bookend his two-year tale at Carolina.
Maybe Belichick was expecting the two-year contracted Lopez to improve, which he did through the season. But Lopez is one of many footnotes about missed opportunities where deeper personnel up and down the roster could have taken advantage of the mess ACC football turned into, with traditional powers stumbling and Carolina’s schedule among the most favorable in the league. Critics will claim a different regime would have had very different results.
North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick protests a call during the second half of an NCAA college football game against North Carolina State in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (Photo via AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker.)
Adding injury to insult, 7-5 Duke is somehow going to the ACC championship game after the Blue Devils should have lost to Carolina and could have lost to Wake Forest. Their second-place tiebreaker happened because Pitt lost at home to Miami and SMU was losing to Cal, then on the verge of beating the Bears before blowing the win in the last two minutes. The talented but erratic Devils will play first place Virginia in Charlotte Saturday — and even if they reverse their 34-17 home loss to the No. 18 Wahoos, they might miss the College Football Playoff due to their five losses overall and no prior CFP ranking.
As for the Tar Heels, offseason speculation has already begun over changes to Belichick’s coaching staff and in his administration, which include long-time friends, his two sons and one of Lombardi’s – nepotism not actually allowed at UNC.
The incredible hype and media attention that came with the Hoodie have relatively decreased across the season and at times turned sordid over his running of the program, his loss of coaching commitment and his young girlfriend — who has become the second face of Carolina football with her self-promotion and social media presence.
It’s all part of what was hoped to be the greatest college hire ever becoming a borderline embarrassment for the school that tried it.
Featured photo via AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
