By R.L. Bynum

CHARLOTTE — North Carolina still has plenty of work, but may have found a budding running back star on its way to a decisive first victory in the Bill Belichick era.

The Tar Heels ground out a 20–3 victory over Charlotte on Saturday before a Jerry Richardson Stadium record crowd of 19,223. With a 14-point halftime lead, UNC was content to lean on its rushing attack and burn the clock to put away the victory.

Belichick called it a good win for his team.

“Proud of those guys,” he said. “Short week and a lot of negativity from the outside, but they really just got back to work and I thought we played a lot better tonight. Played better defense, tackled better, and played better in the kicking game. Certainly a lot of room for improvement, but the players deserved it.”

The 49ers (0–2) aren’t that good, and UNC (1–1) probably should have won by a bigger margin, but the Tar Heels will take it after an embarrassing home loss five days earlier.

“We had a lot fewer negative plays, which gave us more balance,” Belichick said. Quarterback Gio Lopez (17 of 25 for 155 yards and a touchdown with nine rushes for 44 yards) showed more of his dual-threat ability.

Belichick pointed out that some of it was designed, but much of it came from improvisation.

“Gio, I thought, did a really good job of extending some plays where there wasn’t much there,” Belichick said. “Either throw it or pull the ball down and run. I think that’s one of his real strengths as a quarterback — his gamesmanship and making plays in those situations.”

Lopez also had help from a breakout performance by true freshman Demon June, who carried nine times for 52 yards, including a 19-yard gain, after only getting in on special teams against TCU.

“June ran well, he’s got some explosion,” Belichick said. “But I thought really all the backs ran hard. Charlotte blitzed us quite a bit, so there were a lot of pass-protection situations, and those guys did a good job there, too. As much as everybody wants to talk about the running game, pass protection is key for the backs, and certainly nobody appreciates that more than a quarterback.”

It only took Lopez three plays and 59 seconds to go 71 yards for a touchdown on a 51-yard strike to Chris Culliver.

A 48-yard field goal by Rece Verhoff extended the lead to 10, but Charlotte answered with a kick of its own before squandering momentum. The Tar Heels then pieced together an 80-yard drive capped by a Davion Gause 12-yard touchdown run in the final seconds of the first half.

“That was a big drive for us,” Belichick said. “Gio and [offensive coordinator] Freddie [Kitchens] really managed the clock well. We got into position to score and only left a few seconds on the clock. That was a big swing for us. Very well executed — one of the real highlights of the night, honestly.”

UNC’s defense ended a promising Charlotte drive to start the second half with a fourth-down stop, then sealed things late with Florida transfer Gregory Smith III’s interception at the goal line.

Belichick credited the defense for flipping the script from last week.

“We had more positive plays on first down, which created second-and-long and third-and-long,” Belichick said. “That’s the great situation to rush the passer, and we played from ahead. Score has a lot to do with it, and tonight we were able to create those situations instead of being on the other side of it like against TCU.”

Overall, Belichick saw progress across the board.

“Offensively, we didn’t turn the ball over,” he said. “We had more production on first down, which led to better production on third down. We were two-for-two in the red area. Defensively, our fundamentals were better. And our kicking game was definitely better than last week. Just all around, a more solid effort and fewer mistakes, more positive plays.”

As for the personal milestone, Belichick downplayed it, acknowleging the moment but deflected praise.

“It’s great, but it’s really about the team,” he said. “Of course, it’s always good to win — it’s hard to win. You’ve got to do a lot of things right and do them better than your opponent. Tonight, we were fortunate to do that. I didn’t make any blocks, tackles, catches or runs out there. The players made them, and they’re the ones who deserve the credit.”

The postgame press conference also gave Belichick his first chance to respond to reports about him barring New England Patriots scouts from UNC practices earlier this week.

“Yeah, well, no. It’s clear that I’m not welcome there around their facility,” he said dryly. “And, so, I’m welcome in ours.”

NOTES — Carolina returns home Saturday for a 3:30 game (ACC Network) against Richmond. The Spiders lost 21–14 at Lehigh last weekend and beat Wofford on Saturday night 14-10. … The start of the game was delayed 30 minutes because of storms. … Carolina has scored on its first drive in the first two games after failing to do that all of last season. … Redshirt senior Chad Lindberg started for UNC at center. … UNC wide receiver Aziah Johnson played after not getting into the TCU game. … Harrell started at quarterback in this matchup for the second consecutive year, doing that for the 49ers one year after doing it for the Tar Heels. … Carolina converted 5 of 15 third-down chances, both red-zone opportunities and averaged 5.2 yards per play. … UNC has won four straight road openers dating back to Sept. 3, 2021, against Virginia Tech. … Carolina defense allowed the fewest points in a game since shutting out Idaho in 2012. It also marked the first game since 2020 in which the Tar Heels did not allow a touchdown. … Tom Maginness’ 55-yard third-quarter punt was the 10th of his career of 50 or more yards.

UNC 20, Charlotte 3

Month/ date	Score/ time	Opponent	Record/ TV
September
1	L, 48–14	vs. TCU	0–1
6	W, 20–3	at Charlotte	1–1
13	W, 41–6	vs. Richmond	2–1
20	L, 34–9	at UCF	2–2
October
4	L, 38–10	vs. Clemson	2–3, 0–1 ACC
17 (Fri.)	L, 21–18	at California	2–4, 0–2
25	L, 17–16, OT	vs. No. 16 Virginia	2–5, 0–3
31 (Fri.)	W, 27–10	at Syracuse	3–5, 1–3
November
8	W, 20–15	vs. Stanford	4–5, 2–3
15	L, 28–12	at Wake Forest	4–6, 2–4
22	L, 32–25	vs. Duke	4–7, 2–5
29	L, 42–19	at N.C. State	4–8, 2–6