It’s early, but it doesn’t look like Patriots diehards will be too tuckered out from celebrating Carolina football victories Saturdays this season to lock in for 1 p.m. start times on NFL Sundays.
Bill Belichick’s introduction to college football, at age 73 and 34 years after his NFL head coaching debut, was a downright grim watch. After an electric first series in which his Tar Heels scored a touchdown, Texas Christian University ripped off 41 unanswered points. Midway through the third quarter, down 34, North Carolina backup quarterback Max Johnson was in and over half of the fans were out. Empty Carolina blue seats dotted Kenan Stadium as the Tar Heels finally reached TCU’s endzone again.
Among all the pomp and circumstance of the Great Belichick Southern Debut, he tried to temper expectations with ESPN’s Rece Davis pregame.
He never claimed this team would look…good.
“The buy-in’s great, the work ethic’s great. These kids want to learn. I’m not saying we’re anywhere close to being good right now, but we’ve certainly made a lot of progress,” he told Davis.
Well, he spoke the truth. Besides the offense being utterly stuck in the mud, the Tar Heels let the Horned Frogs rack up 542 yards of total offense, including an average 7.4 yards per rush.
But the pregame atmosphere in Chapel Hill looked intoxicating. Everyone was in the house, from Jordan to Jordon. Three out of four analysts on ESPN’s pregame show picked UNC to win. Why? Well, mostly because, “Bill’s a friend,” they said, (“they” being Tedy Bruschi, Nick Saban, Pat McAfee). There were graphics of cut-off hoodies, and shots of Lawrence Taylor and Randy Moss in the suites.
At least they got 4 minutes of fun in the first series.
Look, it’s just one game and one loss – which means a lot less in college football compared to the pre-college football playoffs days. Underdogs upset four Top-10 teams over the weekend. Belichick welcomed 70 new players onto the team. They have a lot to work out.
And yet, it’s hard to take away anything from Belichick’s team that would spark curiosity among Patriots fans still wanting to root for the guy who coached six Super Bowl-winning teams. A team who can’t establish the run and can’t trust the passing game? A defense who can’t tackle, can’t stop a runner who moves between the tackles? A team who finishes with more turnovers than third down conversions?
Why would even the most Belichick loyal Patriot fan want to watch a more amateur version of the teams they endured in 2022 and 2023?
There’s a natural comparison here between Belichick’s late-career reinvention and that of Tom Brady, who left for Tampa Bay in 2020 and won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers that same season, (although he did lose his first game, as well). Lots of Patriots fans declared themselves allegiant to the GOAT that year. It wasn’t that hard, with the Patriots going nowhere and Brady still a beloved figure. It’s far from apples-to-apples. Aside from the whole move between football worlds for Belichick, Brady actually played on the field – perhaps naturally making himself easier to root for. Fans could go so far as to buy a God-awful split New England/Tampa jersey for No. 12.
Will they don Chapel Bill (trademark pending) gear on the south shore this fall? Probably not. Whether the blame was on him, or not, Belichick did more to remind everyone why things ended the way they did in New England, rather than make anyone pine for 2003.
It’s difficult to avoid an overreaction to any first. Belichick’s team looked bad. Some bitter souls will be happy to rail against the man they believe drove their heroic quarterback out of town. But even schadenfreude can only last so long, right? After that, all that’s left is ambivalence.