By R.L. Bynum
DUBLIN — Before North Carolina gets to the game plan, there were other important lessons for the Tar Heels to learn once they arrived in Ireland on Thursday.
When crossing the street, looking right when you’d normally look left. While the football will be the same, even if the game is played in the rain, people drive on the left side of the road.
“Just driving from the airport through Dublin’s been interesting, and being on the wrong side of the road. [You’ve] got to get used to that,” UNC coach Bill Belichick said at a Thursday afternoon press conference at Aviva Stadium hours after the team arrived in Dublin for Saturday’s Aer Lingus College Football Classic opener against TCU.
“Got to get used to that. That’s a big one for us. We’ve got to look to the left before we cross the street. That’s the most important thing on this trip is to look to the left,” Belichick said with a smile.
“I think they’ll all get some basic experiences, and the people they’ve run into have all been very nice, friendly, and they’ll get a chance to do that over the next couple of days,” Belichick said.
Belichick is trying to keep game week as normal as possible in a regular-season game that is more like a bowl game. He has experience coaching the New England Patriots during overseas games, but it’s all new for the players.
“We got most everything taken care of back in North Carolina. Nice reception for us on the weather,” he said just before the team practiced in the rain on the “practice pitch” outside of the stadium. “We’ve been working on expecting rain, so we’ll see. Be good working on it [Thursday], but people have been great here, and appreciate the hospitality.”
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The travel itself presented its challenge, given that the Tar Heels arrived just hours before their first Ireland practice. Belichick said the approach mirrored what the program does for any road trip, just with a longer flight.
“[We tried] to get as much rest as we could on the plane,” Belichick said. “Do all the things you’d want to do on a trip like that from a hydration and nutrition standpoint, and hopefully we’ve got some rest in the bank before we left.”
That hydration plan extended well beyond the flight itself. Belichick detailed the process his staff uses to monitor players before and after long travel, calling it standard operating procedure regardless of the circumstances.
“We give them the usual water, Pedialyte, and so forth. And then when we get here, we test everybody to make sure that they’re hydrated,” Belichick said, “so they don’t go there and get a muscle pull or something like that. Pretty standard. We do it every day, so it’s not anything that unusual. Well, the flight’s unusual. I’m not saying that, but just monitoring that guys pretty much know where they are, but we double-check it to make sure.”
Defensive back Kaleb Cost and center Christo Kelly described game week as an exercise in routine, even with an ocean and a five-hour time difference separating them from Chapel Hill.
“You really have to approach the game the same no matter what,” Cost said. “Obviously there’s a little bit more in terms of the travel. You’re here a little bit more, obviously in a different country, but for us everything’s about a process. How do you approach things? What’s your routine? And once you kind of get into that, you’re just in game mode.”
Cost said the team is focusing on the fact that the field is the same size as back home even though they are in another country, adding that it’s just about being ready when the ball snaps.
Kelly, whose Irish surname carries extra meaning on this trip, said the unusual schedule and travel fatigue are nothing his body isn’t already conditioned to handle. He said that strength and conditioning coach Moses Cabrera makes sure that the team is trained for it.
“He puts us through it every single day, on and off the field,” Kelly said. “So, it’s just another one of those things. You’re going to have distractions. You’re going to have different events come up and build pressures all the time. It’s going to be a change of events, and it’s up to us to stay committed to that process.”
Cost said the team has learned to compartmentalize the noise of a trip unlike any other in program history so it doesn’t bleed into practice.
“You get used to it, right? We’re about to go out there and practice, and we’re looking forward to putting together a good practice,” Cost said. “But you kind of put everything on the back burner, and all of our focus is towards this practice.”
Belichick said the wet conditions possible on Saturday are as much of an unknown as anything UNC will see from TCU, a shift from the late-summer heat the Tar Heels are used to back home.
“We certainly haven’t had weather like this in August in Chapel Hill,” Belichick said. “We’ve had a couple of late afternoon downpours, but this is kind of more of a spring-type weather, if you will. We had plenty of that in the spring, but it’s been hot and humid, so a lot different than that. But, honestly, I don’t think anybody’s complained about it. I think the wetness of the surface could have an impact on our footing. We’ll make sure we take a close look at that when we get a chance to get out on the field, which won’t be until game time or game day.”
Kelly, who plays a position where footwork on a slick surface carries added challenges, said his approach to the elements comes down to preparation rather than overthinking the conditions.
“You have multiple pairs of cleats, so you test things out, you see if there’s any issue,” Kelly said. “But it’s just keeping your feet under you and not getting too far ahead of yourself in terms of overextending and whatnot.”
Belichick, who coached in international games throughout his 20 years with the New England Patriots, said the atmosphere at a neutral-site game creates communication challenges that don’t exist in a typical home or road environment.
“It’s a lot different playing in a neutral stadium,” Belichick said. “Usually, you play where your fans are real loud when things are going good, and loud when they have the ball. When you play away, it’s the reverse of that. In a game like this, fans are pretty evenly split. A lot of times they just cheer randomly. Not really sure what they’re cheering for, but it’s not for the game; it’s for their local cheers.”
He said that the coaches are prepared for it to be loud, no matter what is happening in the game.
“Communication will be important all the time,” Belichick said. “It’ll always be hard, and that includes on the sideline as well, substitutions, things like that. We’ve talked about it, we’ve tried to simulate it, but I’m sure it’ll be a little bit different in the game.”
For Cost, the unfamiliar setting still carries personal significance beyond football. He said stepping outside the country for the first time has sharpened his appreciation for the opportunity in front of the Tar Heels this week.
“I feel like this is a big experience, just being outside of the country. This is my first time outside the country, period,” Cost said. “Obviously, for the team and for myself, it’s a big game, and it’s a big opportunity for us all. But we’re just ready to take the challenge.”
Kelly, who traveled to Dublin in May with several teammates, said that early trip gave him a head start on grasping the scale of what UNC is stepping into this week.
“It was really cool to gain a greater perspective,” Kelly said. “There’s a greater sense of appreciation for what you’re really doing when you get that. So it’s an unbelievable opportunity, and we’re excited to be here and play some football.”
Kelly’s connection to Ireland runs deeper than most on the roster. Asked about his family’s Irish dancing background, he acknowledged sharing a bit of that with teammates during the buildup to the trip.
“Maybe a little bit,” Kelly said. “Irish dancing was when I was a little bit younger, but obviously pretty cool, a pretty cool full-circle moment. When your ancestors come from this place, you have a greater sense of appreciation for kind of where you are, and those that came before you.”
For Belichick, the appeal of playing overseas ties into something larger than Saturday’s opponent.
“Football’s been good to me. It’s been good to my family, and so anything I can do to give back to the game, get back to the sport, whether it’s in our country or internationally, I want to be a part of that. I want to do it. That’s important to me personally,” Belichick said.
Photo via YouTube screenshot
