Does Bill Belichick fully understand what awaits him in Raleigh?
While acknowledging the rivalry between Carolina and N.C. State, the Hoodie is not aware how hostile Saturday night will be in the weather forecast to be 44 degrees.
He was asked if playing Wake Forest, Duke and State on the last three weekends of the season was any different to him than his first nine games at the UNC helm. He said a few players and coaches have schooled him on this particular rivalry, and he has known State coach Dave Doeren for a long time with mutual friends in the profession. But he did not venture how difficult it would be than the other road or rivalry games they have played so far.
What he and the Tar Heels will encounter when the teams kick it off at Carter-Finley Stadium will be unlike anything in his illustrious career as a future Hall of Famer in the NFL. He likened it to playing AFC division rivals twice each season and the familiarity both teams had with each other in player and coaching personnel.
But after the tiny crowd in Charlotte, the so-so crowd at UCF, the California crowd in Berkeley and the indoor crowd at the Dome in Syracuse . . . how Wake Forest, Duke and N.C. State represent a different test that makes college football in the Triangle unique.
In Winston-Salem, the Belichick boys were awful against a brand-new coach with a mostly new roster. Duke was better prepared and made far fewer errors than the home Heels. But the regular season finale against the Wolfies will be a much different animal.
If he was aware that UNC has lost four straight to its arch gridiron rival, he never mentioned it. Perhaps he was treating it like those losses were suffered by Mack Brown-coached teams and that blowing a 9-point lead in 2021 and losing did not matter. Nor did losing a two-overtime thriller the next season in Kenan was the second of four straight losses that followed a 9-1 start. And that getting blown out in Raleigh in 2023 was the second of three straight defeats souring the season that had begun with a 6-0 record.
And, of course, the 35-30 home loss last November was shrouded in the controversy of Brown being fired five days before the game and how the dysfunctional UNC administration was badly dividing the fan base. Meanwhile, his old buddy Doeren was caught on a mic in his locker room calling the Heels “those pieces of…” (rhymes with grit) and last season recited the number of days (thousand-plus) they had gone without losing to the Tar Heels.
Belichick said the Pack has a great defensive front, a quarterback who is “a problem” and two hard-running backs. But he obviously doesn’t know how crazy a college crowd that has been boozing all afternoon will make it.
Featured image via Chapel Hill Media Group/Eli Melet
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.
