UNC football is four games and 35 practices into the Bill Belichick era.
Following an off week, the Tar Heels (2-2) are back on the field at Kenan Stadium for their ACC opener against Clemson (1-3, 0-2 ACC) on Saturday, Oct. 4, at noon in a game that will be televised on ESPN.
Despite UNC being blown out in each of its two games against Power 4 competition, including a 25-point loss at UCF before the idle week, Belichick says he’s “enthused at the progress” the Tar Heels have made so far.
“We’re way better than we were. We still have a long way to go. We’ve made progress in every area, every week,” Belichick said Sept. 29 during UNC’s weekly radio show at Top of the Hill Restaurant and Brewery in Chapel Hill. “. … We just need to do a few little things better — well, several little things better. We’re not making the big mistakes, we just need to do things better on a more consistent basis.”
Joined by play-by-play announcer Jones Angell and general manager Michael Lombardi, Belichick made his second appearance on the show and first since the season debut.
As UNC enters a unique stretch of its schedule, which includes two off weeks and features the Clemson game as the only matchup across 27 days, Belichick says “every little thing matters,” starting with improvement in fundamentals.
“It gives you a chance to take a closer look at what you’re doing,” Belichick said of the off weeks. “Either improve it, keep doing more of it or get rid of it. We’ve had an opportunity to do that in all three phases.”
Asked by Angell about what the Tar Heels are doing well, in addition to having the second-fewest penalties in the ACC, Belichick highlighted his team’s work ethic and commitment to overall improvement.
“We just need to just stay with it. It’s not gonna be easy, but we’re getting better. If we keep working hard, we’re gonna continue to get better. We just need to sustain that. … There’s no shortcut to it, there’s no magic wand,” Belichick said.
“It’s just gonna take stacking a lot of days together over a lot of weeks. We’ll be a better football team in October than we were in September and we’ll be a better team in November than we were in October, if we keep doing those things on a consistent basis.”
Offensively, the Tar Heels are last among Power 4 teams, sitting at 132nd in total offense. Northern Illinois and Massachusetts are the only teams worse in total offense entering Week 6.
“The main thing’s consistency. Too many plays where we have seven, eight guys doing a pretty good job and something happens — there’s one breakdown — and it looks like a bad play,” Belichick said of the offense.
“We just need to be more consistent and string those things together on a complete, whole-team basis. But the positive thing is there are good things going on within those plays, even though they aren’t as productive as we want them to be. As soon as we can get a few things, do things a little bit better, it’ll make a big difference.”
When asked about the defense, which has been a middle-of-the-road unit at No. 60 in total defense through five weeks, Belichick re-emphasized how “it’s always about fundamentals” before making a broader point about the whole team.
“It’s tackling, it’s communication, it’s recognition. I’d say, overall, we’ve had a little more consistency in the kicking game, probably, than we have on defense. And a little more on defense than we have on offense at this point in the year,” Belichick said.
“But, again, that can change week to week and can change over a period of time. We all need to keep doing a better job — better job of coaching, better job of preparing, better job playing.”
Rodd Baxley covers North Carolina Tar Heels athletics for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding UNC? Send them to rbaxley@fayobserver.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Bill Belichick says Tar Heels have ‘made progress’ before Clemson game
