Why Notre Dame Should Be Wary of Bill Belichick's North Carolina Team

Eyes will be on No. 3 Notre Dame this weekend as it hits the road to take on North Carolina.

The Tar Heels are fresh off a bye week and enter the contest at 2-1, after holding a 20-15 lead with under six minutes to play.

Nobody seems to be giving North Carolina much of a chance to upset Notre Dame, with the Fighting Irish being a roughly three-touchdown favorite.

Even though the Tar Heels have had issues off the field early this season, they do have a pocket ace that should help it in a big way against Notre Dame.

Yes, I'm talking about one of the greatest coaches in the history of major sports, Bill Belichick.

How Bill Belichick Won Big in New England

The greatest dynasty in the history of the NFL belongs to the New England Patriots, who won six Super Bowls and appeared in three more from the 2001 season through 2018. That's an AFC Championship every other year on average for 18 years.

Yes, Belichick had Tom Brady and that is an incredibly important piece to this puzzle, but how did those Patriots teams win so many games and championships?

They exhibited what complementary football is.

It's easy to look and say, "they had a great quarterback," and credit that for what they won.

But when you look back at those New England teams, outside of the short window where Randy Moss was still playing at a high level, those were anything but high octane offenses.

But they controlled the line of scrimmage, seemed to always win the turnover battle, and forced the opponent into getting out of their game, and making mistakes.

New England could slop it up better than anyone, and I mean that as a compliment, and it hoisted the Lombardi Trophy six times under Belichick as a result.

Similarities to Notre Dame

This Notre Dame team is really stinking good, hence why its rated No. 3 at this point in the year. It's not a good team because of just its offense or defense, though.

It's a good team because it performs exactly like those New England teams did under Belichick.

It's not the sexiest thing on earth, and Notre Dame isn't hanging 60-plus on (no-name) opponents like some nationally, but it dominates the same way those New England teams did.

It leads a good chunk of the first half, might stretch that lead to two possessions just before halftime, and sometime around the midway point of the third quarter, it's three or four scores and over.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts

Marcus Freeman and his coaching staff are among the very best in college football.

That isn't a grand statement by any means; it's more so obvious.

However, they're going against the head coach who won at the highest level of football for the longest amount of time, with their exact style of play. If anyone should be expected to be able to counter this kind of matchup, it should be Belichick, as it has long been his specialty.

That said, Notre Dame still has the undisputed talent advantage in this one.

Sure, Belichick could do that in New England, but if you're looking for the quarterback to execute the game plan like Tom Brady did, he's wearing No. 13 for Notre Dame.

The Irish will also bring what might just be the best defense in the country to Chapel Hill (or Bill).

As a football fan, I'm excited to see how Belichick tries to get Notre Dame off its game.

I think the talent discrepancy will be far too much for North Carolina to overcome, but I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing Belichick play chess against a team that does so well, exactly what he did for so long.

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