College football is not, and never will be, a “moral victory” business. In a 12-game season, wins and losses carry more weight than in any other sport.
But for UNC, which has been taken behind the woodshed more often than not this fall, the definitions of success have changed. And while every Tar Heel fan would’ve preferred it if Nathan Leacock weren’t stripped at the one-yard line last Friday at Cal, Carolina at least had a game in the balance in the waning moments. That’s something.
True, the Golden Bears aren’t world-beaters. But neither is UCF, which lost three straight games after dominating Carolina. And neither is TCU, which sits at 2-2 in the Big 12.
This probably doesn’t make a difference to victory-starved UNC football fans. But those in the Kenan Football Center feel the Cal game set a foundation from which to build upward.
“Our offensive line, we’ve been building every single week,” said center Chad Lindberg Monday. “We saw a lot of good, explosive rushes [at Cal]. That fuels us, fires us up. I think we have a lot of good things going. We’re trying to build on it this week. We’ve strung a lot of good practices together. We’ll keep going with it.”
Behind Lindberg and the rest of the offensive line, UNC rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns at Cal, by far its best performance against a power conference opponent this season. And while it might be easy to point to one standout performance from running back Ben Hall as being the difference, head coach Bill Belichick said the improved efficiency was a team effort.
“It’s a lot of little things,” Belichick said. “I don’t think you can just point to one thing and say, ‘Oh, this is the difference.’ It’s 11 guys improving five percent as opposed to one guy improving 90 percent. It’s those little incremental improvements, and then collectively, the rising tide lifts all boats. That’s where we’ve been week by week, and hopefully we can continue on that trend.”
No. 16 Virginia will likely provide a much stiffer test. The Cavaliers enter on a five-game winning streak and have achieved their highest AP ranking in nearly two decades. Led by quarterback Chandler Morris and a powerful rushing attack, Virginia leads the ACC by averaging 40 points per game.
Earlier this month, The Athletic published a report claiming Morris was interested in the Tar Heels coming out of the transfer portal and that the program rebuffed him, but both Morris and UNC refuted that report during the week. It was just one of a number of reports to put a spotlight – and not a good one – on Belichick’s program recently. The loss at Cal, and the manner in which it happened, could appear to some as just another indignity suffered by the Tar Heels. Defensive lineman Leroy Jackson saw it a different way.
“We’re not worried about the outside noise,” said Jackson. “We’re focusing every day and competing every day in practice. Because it’s gonna start from Monday, and it’s gonna finish on that Saturday when we do play. Just going throughout the day, competing every day and working on that process to get better and better.”
On 97.9 The Hill Monday morning, UNC general manager Michael Lombardi said the team’s level of effort was still high. Some of Lombardi’s claims have turned out to be dubious, but that one has merit. The 2025 Tar Heels are not exactly the “33rd NFL team.” But if they remain competitive, and don’t send their fans packing less than an hour after kickoff again, perhaps there’s more to Chapel Bill than meets the eye.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
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