By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — A year ago, Bill Belichick was still trying to get North Carolina’s program moving after a late start. With Duke next ahead Saturday, he said this season’s team is more engaged, and he sees the difference in the meeting room, on the practice field and in the way his players approach the work.
“It’s definitely better than it was last year,” he said of video sessions with this group during his weekly press conference on Monday at the Kenan Football Center. “Last year was getting the process going.”
The biggest change, he explained, was time. A full offseason gave the staff a chance to build a base that was not available in 2025, and a schedule that now includes repeat opponents has given the team something to learn from. Belichick said he can see that in how players absorb the teaching.
“Seeing TCU a second time around, obviously Duke will be another one second time around, that you can start to see some things that happened last year that you can learn from,” Belichick said. “From a teaching standpoint, it’s good, and I think generally speaking, this team is more engaged. They work harder. They’re more dedicated, and they put more into it, and so they get more out of it, and it’s important to them.”
UNC (3–2, 1–1 ACC) visits Duke (4–1, 1–1) at 3:30 Saturday (ESPN2).
Belichick added that the players want the instruction, which he said makes the job more rewarding. “They want to be good, and so they work hard. And we have an opportunity to coach them. They want to absorb it. I love that.”
Center Christo Kelly, a two-time team captain, said the shift has been driven from inside the locker room as much as from the coaches’ office. Kelly said he has seen players take responsibility for the standard, and he pointed to several teammates who have stepped into leadership roles.
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“There’s more ownership of that within the players, within some of the leadership on the team,” Kelly said. “It started in January: ‘What is it that we want this to be?’ It’s identifying the standard, and then every single day, it’s fighting to not only keep that standard, but keep raising it.”
Kelly said continuity has helped. Players who have spent more time together have built trust, and he said that trust has changed what they are willing to give to one another.
“Having guys that played with each other a little bit longer, you start to build that rapport with each other, and ultimately, that’s what leads to this idea of sacrificial love, where you want to do everything you can, not just because it’s in your best interest or whatever it is, but because the guy next to you is doing the same thing,” Kelly said.
Kelly also said Belichick has changed in ways his players noticed. Belichick has spoken openly about how rocky last season was at times, and Kelly said the willingness to adjust has stood out most, particularly in exit meetings and captains’ meetings.
“The humility of Coach Belichick was probably the biggest thing that I noticed,” Kelly said. “He’s open to hearing everything. When he gets input from people, he knows that it’s coming from the right place, and he’s like, ‘All right, they want to win, I want to win, we have the same goal. Let’s figure out the best way of doing this.’ ”
The results are beginning to follow, including Saturday’s road victory at then-No. 25 Pittsburgh, which Belichick called a good ACC team. But he was careful not to read too much into it.
“The process is the process, and progress is progress,” Belichick said, “and it’s great to beat Pitt on the road, but now it’s time to turn the page and face Duke.”
Kelly echoed that view. He said the locker room does not talk about wins and losses as the goal, even though both men know that is how the season will be judged.
“We’re not fixated on the outcome,” Kelly said. “We’re fixated on what we need to do to get better each and every day.”
One area where the contrast with last year is sharpest is special teams, and Belichick pointed to it as a priority against the reigning ACC champion Blue Devils. He said the kicking game cost the team badly in 2025, including in last year’s meeting with Duke, when a kickoff return went to the 50.
“Last year we had a really hard time in a kicking game,” Belichick said. “I think our kickoff coverage hasn’t been tested a whole lot, but it did show up twice very positively in the Pitt game. But it didn’t last year against Duke, and so we want to make sure that doesn’t happen again on Saturday.”
For Kelly, who knows both versions of the program (although he was on the sidelines last season because of an injury), the outlook for the Duke game is the same one the team has carried all fall.
“Our focus remains the same regardless of what the outcome is,” he said, “and ultimately the results will take care of themselves.”
| Team | ACC | All |
|---|---|---|
| No. 3 Miami | 3–0 | 5–0 |
| No. 21 Wake Forest | 3–1 | 5–1 |
| Pittsburgh | 2–1 | 5–1 |
| No. 24 SMU | 2–1 | 4–1 |
| Virginia | 2–1 | 4–2 |
| Clemson | 2–1 | 3–2 |
| California | 2–1 | 3–3 |
| Louisville | 2–2 | 3–3 |
| Duke | 1–1 | 4–1 |
| North Carolina | 1–1 | 3–2 |
| Georgia Tech | 1–1 | 2–3 |
| Virginia Tech | 1–2 | 4–2 |
| N.C. State | 1–2 | 3–3 |
| Florida State | 1–2 | 3–3 |
| Stanford | 1–3 | 2–4 |
| Boston College | 0–2 | 2–3 |
| Syracuse | 0–3 | 2–3 |
Friday’s result
Louisville 44, Florida State 20
Saturday’s results
North Carolina 21, Pittsburgh 17
No. 21 Wake Forest 38, N.C. State 14
California 25, Virginia Tech 20
Georgia Tech 28, Duke 25
No. 3 Notre Dame 58, Stanford 7
Virginia 28, Syracuse 25
Saturday’s games
Virginia at No. 24 SMU, noon, The CW
Pittsburgh at Boston College, noon, ESPN2
Charleston Southern at Clemson, noon, ACCN
North Carolina at Duke, 3:30, ESPN2
Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech, 3:30, ACCN
Florida State at No. 3 Miami, 7 p.m., ESPN
Louisville at Syracuse, 7:30, ACCN
No. 21 Wake Forest at California, 10:30, ESPN2
Elon at Stanford, 7:30, ACCNE
Friday, Oct. 23, games
Duke at Virginia, 7 p.m., ESPN
N.C. State at Stanford, 10:30, ESPN
Saturday, Oct. 24, games
Pittsburgh at No. 3 Miami, noon, ABC or ESPN
California at No. 24 SMU, noon, The CW
Virginia Tech at Clemson, 7 or 7:30, ESPN or ESPN2
Syracuse at North Carolina, 7:30, ACCN
| Month/ date | Score/ time | Opponent (current ranking) | Record/TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| August | |||
| 29 | W, 15–10 | vs.TCU in Dublin | 1–0 |
| September | |||
| 12 | W, 35–3 | vs. ETSU | 2–0 |
| 19 | L, 28–20 | at Clemson | 2–1, 0–1 ACC |
| October | |||
| 3 | L, 37–26 | vs. No. 3 Notre Dame | 2–2 |
| 10 | W, 21–18 | at No. 25 Pittsburgh | 3–2, 1–1 |
| 17 | 3:30 | at Duke | ESPN2 |
| 24 | 7:30 | vs. Syracuse | ACCN |
| 31 | TBA | vs. No. 4 Miami | TBA |
| November | |||
| 7 | Noon | at UConn | CBSSN |
| 14 | TBA | vs. Louisville | TBA |
| 21 | TBA | at Virginia | TBA |
| 28 | TBA | vs. N.C. State | TBA |
| December | |||
| 5 | noon, ABC | ACC championship game in Charlotte | ESPN |
Photo by Smith Hardy
