By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — Bill Belichick is less than a week away from his first game as North Carolina’s head coach. In typical Belichick fashion, with no emotion on his face, he said he was excited.
We’ll take his word for it.
One of the most anticipated debuts in recent memory will take place at 8 p.m. on Monday when Carolina faces TCU before a sold-out crowd at Kenan Stadium and a national TV audience in the only college football game of the evening.
At his last press conference before his UNC debut, when Belichick named Gio Lopez his starting quarterback, he was characteristically measured.
“Ready for football here. We definitely are,” he said. “It’s time to focus on the game. It’s upcoming, so I’m looking forward to the preparations on that.”
Belichick analyzed TCU, which he praised as a good program with good all-around talent, an “explosive offensive team, defensive team that’s very tough and aggressive [with a] very competitive kicking game group as well,” he said.
He emphasized the complexity of the Horned Frogs’ offense, led by redshirt junior quarterback Josh Hoover and Boise State transfer wide receiver Eric McAlister.
“[The] number of explosive plays they get is impressive,” he said, adding that TCU is “very good after the catch. You’ve got to defend every blade of grass on the field.”
The UNC roster is still developing under Belichick, who stressed the early-season process of learning every day, each game and added that his team is “far from perfect.”
This week has been all about preparing for TCU, and Belichick said that the coaching staff will “pick and choose the things we feel will be best to use against TCU.”
Belichick warned that TCU will test every aspect of UNC’s defensive scheme.
“You can’t cover a receiver and stop the run,” Belichick said. “You can’t cover a short zone and still cover the middle zone. You’ve got to do your job, and everybody has to do theirs, and you have to play good team defense. We have to tackle well.”
Belichick noted the Horned Frogs’ ability to attack sideline to sideline and short to deep, which makes them a difficult matchup.
Unlike his NFL days, Belichick didn’t have the luxury of seeing his team against another team during preseason games.
“Those first three or four games … they reveal things,” Belichick said. “Either you’re pretty good at these things or this is a weakness we’re going to find some way to minimize.”
National attention is nothing new to Belichick, but he knows it might be new for many of his players, and he’s trying to keep them grounded.
“Control what we can control — preparation, attitude, work ethic,” he said. “The rest of it is, with all due respect, just noise for us.”
The noise will only get louder as Monday gets closer.
Photo by Joshua Lawton
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