Pat Forde: The Bill Belichick College Experiment Isn’t Done Yet

Say this much for Bill Belichick, college coach: He has completely defied expectations.

His massively hyped first season at North Carolina was a complete dud—the Tar Heels went 4–8, with five of the losses by more than 15 points and none of the wins against quality opponents. His second season began with problematic off-field headlines, an infusion of freshmen and near-universal predictions of doom, as the dreaded and flawed conventional wisdom turned into a torrent of negativity.

That now has started with an upset of the same team that crushed Carolina to open his college tenure, TCU. The Heels’ 15–10, hang-tough victory in Ireland, as a 7.5-point underdog, could change the vibe as dramatically as their 48–14 loss to the Horned Frogs did last year. Instead of wondering whether this wild experiment was going to end ugly and early, now we’re wondering if it’s just taking off.

Out: Concerns about the coach’s age, the coach’s girlfriend’s age, the general manager on paid leave, the defensive coordinator on personal leave and the makeup of the roster.

In: Renewed respect for Belichick’s acumen, the quality of his defense, his game management, his team’s ability to avoid mistakes at key times and the hiring of offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino.

Is this the beginning of a breakthrough Carolina dreamed of when it hired one of the greatest coaches in NFL history? Who knows? But the signs of life were unmistakable all day in the rain in Dublin.

North Carolina won with some trademark, Belichickian resourcefulness. The Heels scored a total of five points in the final three quarters of the game—but they also shut out the Frogs in that time, allowing nothing on the scoreboard over TCU’s final eight possessions. UNC stopped giving up big plays after the first quarter; rattled the Frogs’ Harvard transfer quarterback, Jaden Craig; and largely left the crippling mistakes to their opponent. An airmailed punt snap went for a safety; TCU committed 69 more yards in penalties; and the Frogs were 1 for 5 on fourth-down conversions.

The arrival of Petrino, hardly a beloved figure in college sports but damn good at dialing up ball plays, paid immediate dividends. Operating on slick turf and with wet footballs, Carolina still managed to grind out more yards than it did in 10 out of 12 games in 2025. Nomadic veteran quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. is an upgrade over Belichick’s first signal-caller at Carolina, Gio Lopez.

Tar Heels quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. throws the ball in the first half against TCU in Dublin. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In passing for a Belichick-era high of 232 yards, Edwards made no major mistakes and utilized Carolina’s best new weapon, Ohio State transfer tight end Jelani Thurman four times for 94 yards. Edwards also perfectly executed a hard-count fourth down, coaxing TCU into jumping offside to end the game.

Petrino has excelled constructing offenses for stars like Lamar Jackson and Ryan Mallett, but he’s also elevated lesser talents into productive, winning QBs. Edwards, who has struggled to stay healthy throughout his career at Maryland and Wisconsin, could be highly efficient in Petrino’s offense.

Part of the offseason narrative surrounding North Carolina has revolved around the difficult opening schedule. The only widely anticipated victory in the first half of the season is Sept. 12 against East Tennessee State; the expected loss to TCU would be followed by defeat at Clemson on Sept. 19, at home against Notre Dame on Oct. 3, at Pittsburgh on Oct. 10 and at Duke on Oct. 17. At that point, the conjecture went, would it be time for Belichick to pull the plug on this college gambit?

Three hours in Ireland changed all that. Now, North Carolina should be 2–0 going to Clemson, turning that into a potential high-leverage Atlantic Coast Conference game.

Speaking of the ACC: this was a potentially massive credibility boost for the league, which was bullied by the Big 12 last season. The ACC was 3–7 against the Big 12 head-to-head, which undermined the league’s claim to being the third-best league in the nation. This is an important start in potentially flipping that script.

For TCU, the script is brutal so far. The Horned Frogs had injury and disciplinary depletions coming into Ireland, and reporting on the latter of those problems led to an ill-advised fight with the only major outlet that covers TCU daily, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Coach Sonny Dykes might eventually need some allies in the Metroplex, and the local media could instead turn into an adversary.

Losing the Ireland opener has been a harbinger of misery in recent years. Nebraska cratered after being upset by Northwestern in 2022, firing Scott Frost three games into the season. Navy finished 5–7 in ’23 after a 39-point beatdown against Notre Dame. Florida State’s program collapse hastened with an upset loss to Georgia Tech in ’24. And last year, after losing to Iowa State, Kansas State went from being ranked in the preseason to finishing 6–6.

We’ll see whether TCU can avoid a crippling Irish hangover. And whether the Bill Belichick college try might turn out to be O.K. after all.

PODCAST: Listen to SI’s college sports podcast, Others Receiving Votes, hosted by Pat Forde, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s college YouTube channel or on SI TV.

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