CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN) — It wasn’t the shining, shimmering start befitting of massive national media attention that North Carolina envisioned in December when the school hired Bill Belichick to be its next head football coach.
Instead, it was an embarrassment that sent crowds abandoning their seats throughout the second half as TCU found the endzone time and time again Monday night at Kenan Memorial Stadium. By the time the final whistle blew, the Horned Frogs had scored 48 points to the Tar Heels’ 14.
On Wednesday afternoon, Belichick didn’t make excuses as he took questions from the media for the first time since his brief postgame remarks Monday night.
“Give TCU credit, that’s a good football team. And they played well. But a lot of our problems were self-inflicted,” Belichick said, rattling off a number of problems from the Week 1 game the team needs to “tighten up,” according to him. “Some of our deficiencies got exposed and we’ll address them and hopefully get them to a level that is a competitive level that they need to be at.”
But in typical Belichick fashion, he said that while both players and staff regretted some of the decisions and calls that were made, the team is looking more forward than backward.
“You can’t participate in a game like that and not feel like there’s some things you could’ve done better and that you’d like to do over again. So learn from those, move on and get ready for Charlotte, and that’s all we can control,” said Belichick, echoing many of his comments from his NFL days. “We need to learn some lessons from what happened in the TCU game, but at the same time, there’s nothing we can do about that one. It’s over with and we need to move on.”
The Tar Heels are operating on a short week that involves some travel, although brief. They next play Saturday night at Charlotte, who is also 0-1 following a 34-11 loss to App State in the Duke’s Mayo Classic on Aug. 29.
Though there are many questions for UNC ahead of the game against the 49ers — including who will start at quarterback after Gio Lopez was pulled from the TCU game in the third quarter — the veteran coach said his team is ready to get back on the field again after the Labor Day letdown.
“I think we’re all gonna be anxious to play again. Better than sitting around two weeks feeling like we feel after that game. You gotta move on anyway, right?” Belichick said. “But we have to recognize what things will need to change in order for the results to change. But yeah, I think everybody will be excited to play Saturday. I don’t think anybody wants to wait an extra week to get back on the field.”
Kickoff at Jerry Richardson Stadium between the Tar Heels and 49ers is set for 7 p.m. Saturday.