Little Kool-Aid will be consumed by Carolina fans before the noon kickoff from Dublin. Fool me once but not again.
It is a great trip to Ireland for the Tar Heels fans who bought the plane tickets and hotel rooms to tour the Emerald Isle and see if their team is any better than Bill Belichick’s college football debut.
A year ago, many giddy UNC fans believed Belichick’s Super Bowl magic would help the team win the opening game in Kenan Stadium against perennial Big 12 contender TCU.
Aside from overstating his first college team with very little experience and marginal skill, Belichick probably shouldn’t have agreed to play that game on Labor Day night in front of a national ESPN audience. Fans paid for bloated tickets and came to Chapel Hill earlier than most home games to see Chase Rice and others perform at Polk Place in front of Wilson Library.
The 48-14 blowout loss turned out to be one of the more deflating moments in Carolina football given the Belichick hype. And the rematch with TCU does not look any more promising.
The Horned Frogs are 7.5-point favorites, which is about the spread in the 2025 game. You would think the odds makers knew better than making TCU less than a prohibitive favorite.
Sonny Dykes bit his tongue before the game. But afterward, he said ESPN and pretty much all the media disrespected his team after coming off another nine-win season. And while Belichick must improve his own gravitas, he can no longer trade off his NFL record.
Like many ultra-competitive college coaches the chances or beating Belichick multiples is more than feathers in the caps, they could be resume builders for the their next jobs. Dykes is considered a savvy college football scout and navigates the portal like someone who knows exactly what he’s looking for in players. Carolina is going into its second straight season with a roster that is highly untested. Whereas all the buzz was positive a year ago, question marks reign this time around.
And the UNC staff is in turmoil, now fully past the honeymoon period with coaches who either were untested or unknown for the most part. Former general manager Mike Lombardi is on leave. As his case works its way through the system, it looks unlikely he will return to UNC in any way. Meanwhile, Steve Belichick, who did a good job as defensive coordinator last year, is on medical leave. And it is unknown whether he’s coming back at all.
The newest and most important piece to the staff is offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, former college and pro head coach who was most recently interim boss at Arkansas, and is considered an excellent offensive play caller.
With a new quarterback and average running backs, a thin group at wide receiver and inexperienced offensive line, the best Carolina can hope for is to show vast improvement and get ready for a brutal schedule that includes an early road trip to Clemson – where the Heels haven’t won since 2001 – and a visit from Notre Dame, which has beaten Carolina like a drum in every matchup except two since 1949.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
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 on 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro during football and basketball seasons.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.
