Bill Belichick’s North Carolina Experiment Won’t Replicate What Deion Sanders Did At Colorado
From Michael Jordan in the stands to Belichick on the sideline, UNC’s opener had star power — but TCU delivered a painful reminder that talent wins games
Well, at least the pre-game atmosphere was fun in Chapel Hill for the Bill Belichick welcome party at North Carolina that ended with a 48-14 loss to TCU.
The one thing that North Carolina fans learned on Monday night was that just because the Super-Bowl-winning coach is coaching the team doesn't mean that will translate to competitive football, which TCU made crystal clear against the Tar Heels.
It doesn't matter how many great coaches you might have roaming the sidelines, it will not turn into wins until you get actual talent on your roster. Having brought in seventy new players this past offseason, there was hope within the fan base that Belichick could turn this roster over quickly, which would then translate into wins.
Unfortunately for those fans, along with plenty of celebrities like Michael Jordan, reality set in pretty quickly after the opening drive that resulted in a UNC touchdown. When you have a team with plenty of veterans like TCU, led by quarterback Josh Hoover, it will obviously play the bigger factor when the two teams actually line up on the field.
We even went two full hours in-between completed passes for North Carolina quarterback Gio Lopez, who transferred from South Alabama this past offseason. If you were a true college football fan, you probably understood what could transpire before the ball was actually kicked off, just going off the rosters alone.
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But, at least, it felt like a monumental moment for the school. The pre-game festivities included plenty of celebrities for North Carolina to prance around the field as the cameras were snapping pictures like they were on the red carpet. Oh, and Bill Belichick was his normal, outgoing self during pregame interviews where he discussed his hoodie attire that he has carried over from the NFL to college football.
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 01: Head coach Bill Belichick of the North Carolina Tar Heels looks on from the sideline during the first half of the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Kenan Stadium on September 01, 2025 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Bill Belichick Is No Deion Sanders, And North Carolina Will Learn That Quickly
Even though the offseason was filled with headlines surrounding the arrival of Belichick to the college game, this is nothing like the Deion Sanders situation at Colorado. For Coach Prime, which was discussed plenty of times on Monday night, having players like Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter were a massive contributing factor in that team continuing to draw ratings.
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The same will not be said for the Tar Heels, who will play at Charlotte next week on ESPN+. They will have to earn their way back into the spotlight, and this current roster is not good enough to challenge teams like Clemson and Miami in the ACC.
Heck, at the 5:58 mark of the third quarter, fans were already heading for the parking lot, as UNC trailed 41-7, with backup quarterback Max Johnson replacing Gio Lopez.
While it was undoubtedly fun for everyone involved in North Carolina in the buildup to this game, reality quickly set in that this was going to be a massive undertaking to turn this football team around. All TCU did on Monday night was bundle up the talk around what transpired in Deion Sanders' first game as Colorado head coach, and took it out on this Bill Belichick team.
For the folks inside the athletic department, there's no way to sugarcoat this one. You can't sell something that isn’t worth watching for the average college football fan. But, it's not as if they don't understand the current situation, or at least I hope they can see it. This isn't Colorado, which is actually crazy to say out loud when trying to compare situations.
Until Bill Belichick puts together a team that can compete on a weekly basis, you can expect the attention to die down. That is unless folks in Chapel Hill start allowing Jordon Hudson to make a few more public appearances.