By R.L. Bynum
DUBLIN — Billy Edwards Jr. showed why he earned the starting spot with a solid but not spectacular performance.
He didn’t throw any touchdown passes, but he also didn’t turn the ball over, going 16 of 28 for 232 yards, a total that Carolina hadn’t reached since 2024.
Edwards was off-target at times but showed his veteran leadership in earning the Tar Heels a huge 15–10 victory over TCU on Saturday night in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic at Aviva Stadium.
Edwards wasn’t asked to be spectacular. He was asked to protect the football and move the chains. For most of the night, he did exactly that. But he was the first to acknowledge that the offense missed a few scoring chances, particularly once the second half wore on.
“You saw flashes today, and I think that’s going to be the challenge — I’ll start with myself as the quarterback of the offense — of just being consistent,” Edwards said. “It’s great to have a first game like this and to come out victorious, knowing that we left a lot of meat on the bone.”
The missed connection with wide receiver Jordan Shipp in the end zone was one example, a play that could have turned a tense fourth quarter into a comfortable cushion.
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More on UNC’s win
— What went well and what needs work? Doc Kennedy dissects it all in his Good, Bad and Ugly Report
— Defense made a big difference in getting revenge against TCU.
— There was a lot of passionate talk among the defensive players at halftime before they began to lock down
Instead, Carolina had to grind out the final possession, leaning on a four-minute drive to run out the clock and seal the win. True freshman wide receiver C.J. Sadler delivered a key block on that closing series, and Edwards made a point of crediting him.
“We preached that it’s a four-minute drive, we need a couple first downs, we can’t have stupid penalties, and we got to just smack him in the mouth,” Edwards said of the mentality on that final drive.
The Tar Heels converted several critical situations that had eluded the program a year earlier. It also showed up in the penalty column, where Carolina largely stayed out of its way while TCU committed 11 penalties that repeatedly stalled promising drives.
Belichick, for his part, pointed to Edwards’ ball security as a defining trait of the win, even in an offense that didn’t always click.
“I thought Billy did a solid job managing the game,” Belichick said. “Didn’t turn the ball over on his side of the ball. We got to do a better job of taking care of the ball.”
For Edwards, the victory carried weight beyond the scoreline. A year removed from a knee injury in Wisconsin’s opener, he described the win as the product of a long and uneven road back to the field.
“I try not to think about that too much going into the game,” said Edwards, who got postgame texts from Wisconsin trainers. “It was a lot of up and down the last 12 months trying to get back from the injury, so to come out here with a group of guys like this and to really have the game that we did and finish the way we did, it means a lot.”
Rather than settling on one or two go-to receivers, he targeted eight players with passes. That group includes Shipp, tight end Jelani Thurman and a rotation of others still building chemistry with their new quarterback.
“Just trying to spread the ball around, knowing that hey, there’s going to be times where defenses want to come in and take away a certain guy or a certain receiver, and we have a deep enough skill room to be able to handle and make those adjustments,” he said.
Thurman was the clearest beneficiary of that approach, hauling in four of eight passes targeted to him for94 yards on a night when the tight end position finally looked like a weapon for Carolina after producing little a year ago.
Edwards made sure to note that the position group, not just Thurman individually, gave the offense a dimension it lacked in 2024.
Thurman, an Ohio State transfer who arrived with an established track record, echoed that sense of opportunity after his first game wearing Carolina blue. He said fitting into the offense so quickly, and doing it in front of the crowd that traveled to Dublin, meant something after leaving his previous program behind.
“I’m truly grateful, man,” Thurman said. “Being able to come in here and fit in the offense, be able to be a key player in the offense, be able to be a highlighted player in the offense, being able to catch some balls from Billy, and be coached by one of some of the best coaches in the game.”
Edwards pointed to Belichick’s message in the locker room as a factor in how the team responded when TCU made things difficult up front.
“He challenged us in the locker room, and I’ve heard it from the past,” Edwards said. “The guys always said the stuff he preaches pregame is pretty much always right on. He preached about ball security, tackling and whether we were on defense having to wrap up or running, being able to keep our feet.
“I think we did a great job responding to that. We weren’t perfect by any means, but that’s the game of football. There were ups and downs, but at the end of the day, we finished on a high note.”
And, unlike a season ago, his opener went much better.
Photo via @UNCFootball
