The Bill Belichick era at UNC started with a bang before collapsing into disappointment in Chapel Hill.
Following significant fanfare and in front of numerous North Carolina legends, Belichick made his much-hyped debut as UNC’s head football coach Monday night in a Week 1 home game against TCU that completely fell apart.
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The game started with an opening-drive touchdown by UNC. From there, TCU blew the game open in a 48-14 win. By the third quarter, North Carolina was trailing by 34 points and made a change at quarterback to Max Johnson following a big hit on first-year starter Gio Lopez, who’d struggled since the opening-drive score.
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North Carolina received the opening kickoff and opened the game with a 9-yard run from running back Caleb Hood on the first play from scrimmage. Eight plays later, UNC had capped an 83-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown run from Hood to take a 7-0 lead.
This was met with much approval from the fans in attendance at Kenan Memorial Stadium, including UNC icons Michael Jordan, Lawrence Taylor and Roy Williams.
But that enthusiasm was swiftly doused. By halftime, TCU had opened a 20-7 lead. And the Horned Frogs didn’t relent from there.
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They opened the second half with a 75-yard touchdown run from Kevorian Barnes on the first play of the third quarter.
And it continued to get worse for the Tar Heels. Midway through the third quarter, TCU’s Jonathan Bax sacked Lopez, forcing a fumble. His TCU teammate, Devean Deal picked up the ball and returned it for a 37-yard touchdown and a 41-7 Horned Frogs lead.
At that point, Lopez’s night was over.
He took a big hit and appeared to be injured on the play, though his status wasn’t immediately clear. Either way, Max Johnson took over at quarterback for the Tar Heels.
“Hopefully he’s not too bad. We’ll see,” Belichick said of Lopez after the game. He added: “It’s a short week. We’ll see. I don’t know what his availability is right now so I’m not going to speculate on that.”
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Johnson started 2024 as UNC’s starter. But his season ended in a Week 1 win over Minnesota, due to a devastating right leg fracture that required five surgeries. Lopez, meanwhile, transferred from South Alabama and beat out Johnson for the job this season under Belichick.
Johnson provided a spark for the UNC offense and completed a scoring drive with a touchdown to his brother and tight end Jake Johnson.
But the blowout had long been on, and many of the fans who’d shown up to watch Belichick’s debut had long filed out of Kenan Stadium. TCU cruised to the 34-point win, and the Belichick era got off to one of the worst starts imaginable.
