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Who has the advantage, Carolina or TCU?
Would the Tar Heels’ football opener be on Labor Day night on ESPN, with no other college game being played if Bill Belichick wasn’t their new coach?
Of course not. Belichick has been the biggest offseason story since he stepped onto the dais last December. Despite some obvious distractions, the Hoodie has remained the biggest story, and now we can talk about the game as both teams begin training camp.
What are Carolina’s advantages?
No. 1, the Heels’ coaching staff has plenty of tape to watch on the Horned Frogs from last season, when they went 9-4 and finished in the middle of the Big 12. So they know the TCU personnel, especially returning quarterback Josh Hoover, who has set the single-season school record for yards passing with 3,949 yards.
Hoover also has 42 TD passes in his career, which includes leading the Frogs to six wins in their final seven games of 2024. So defensive coordinator Steve Belichick has been studying hard how to contain Hoover who lost his leading receiver Jack Bech from last season.
To the contrary, how is TCU coach Sonny Dykes going to prepare for a team that features more than 50 transfers and other players who come from all over the country? Dykes says his staff is watching plenty of tape on the Patriots from the Belichick era. They are also watching what the Washington Huskies did last season when Steve Belichick was their defensive coordinator.
Clearly, Belichick’s staff will know a lot more about TCU than Dykes’ coaches will know about the almost brand-new Tar Heels and could be surprised by anything quarterback Gio Lopez, who will be playing in a different offense than he did at South Alabama.
Hoover will be much more comfortable after ignoring advances from Tennessee to transfer there. It’s not him the Heels have to prepare for as much as replacements for Bech who is now with the Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL.
While Lopez introduces himself to new surroundings, Hoover will demonstrate how comfortable he is in Fort Worth, where his family has a farm and he hangs out every chance he gets during the off season. He wouldn’t even allow Tennessee to put a number on the table when the Vols called his father with an offer.
Yes, Dykes has a more stable program than Belichick at this point, even though general manager Mike Lombardi has constructed a team that plays from the “inside out” with bigger linemen on both sides of the ball than Mack Brown had.
Watching tape of 50 different transfers from different schools is not a useful exercise for TCU. Their program was in the College Football championship game just two years ago and knows what it is doing.
If the Tar Heels can learn TCU, they should have an early advantage, but over 60 minutes is another story.
Featured image via Associated Press/LM Otero
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.
