The Phillips Standard: The 5-Point Scorecard I'm Using to Judge North Carolina in Dublin vs TCU

Former TCU linebacker Jason Phillips knows what a football team looks like beyond the box score. The two-time All-Mountain West selection and TCU Hall of Famer is breaking down the Horned Frogs each week in “The Phillips Standard,” looking at the details, habits and standards that reveal what a team really is.

I told you earlier this week that I'm not going to spend Saturday watching Bill Belichick. I'm watching his players.

Now I'm going to tell you exactly what I'm looking for. You don't need All-22 film, you don't need to understand every coverage, and you don't need to know whether a defensive end is playing a 4i or a 5-technique.

You just need to know where to look.

Everyone watching TCU vs. North Carolina is going to keep score the normal way.

Points. Yards. Turnovers. Sacks. Explosive plays.

I'm keeping another scorecard.

And I want you to keep it with me.

Belichick says North Carolina is "night and day" different entering Year Two. A year ago, TCU beat the Tar Heels 48-14 in Belichick's debut, the beginning of a 4-8 season.

So, Saturday isn't just our chance to see whether North Carolina has better players. It's our first real chance to see whether the program has changed.

Here are five things anybody watching the game can look for.

1. Watch the First Mistake

This might happen on the first drive. Someone misses a tackle. A defensive back blows an assignment. An offensive lineman gets beat.

Don't watch the player who made the mistake.

Watch everybody around him.

I'm especially interested in the first ten seconds after adversity hits the Tar Heels.

Does a veteran immediately find him?

Does somebody communicate?

Does a teammate reset him?

Or does everybody look toward the sideline and wait for a coach to handle it?

That's a small difference with enormous meaning. When the coach has to correct everything, the standard still belongs to the coach. When players begin correcting each other, something has changed.

WHAT IT TELLS US: Who owns accountability?

Keep score.

Who corrected the mistake?

COACHES ___ | PLAYERS ___

UNC football coach Bill Belichick speaks with media members inside the Kenan Football Center before the Tar Heels' first preseason practice on Aug. 2, 2025. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

2. Count How Many Defenders Run to the Football

Here's one you can watch all game. Pick a routine North Carolina defensive play.

Not a sack.

Not an interception.

Not a fourth-down stop.

A boring five-yard run.

Then count how many defenders finish around the football? I'm not asking how many actually made the tackle.

How many showed up?

Eleven guys sprinting toward a football they have almost no chance of reaching isn't an accident.

That's a habit, and habits like that aren't built in Dublin. They're built during some miserable practice in July when nobody is watching and a coach makes you run to the football for the hundredth time. Eventually, the coach shouldn't have to remind you.

That's the point.

WHAT IT TELLS US: Is effort their standard or something they talk about?

Give North Carolina a mark every time you see all-out pursuit. (Tip: The DT’s and the CB’s give this away)

How many defenders consistently finished at the football?

PURSUIT ___ / 11

3. When TCU Lands a Punch, Stop Watching TCU

This is the one I'm most interested in. Something is going to go wrong for North Carolina. Maybe TCU hits an explosive play or forces a costly turnover. Maybe the Frogs put together a long touchdown drive. Or, maybe North Carolina suddenly finds itself down 10.

When it happens:

Stop watching the field.

Watch the North Carolina sideline. Last season, the Tar Heels lost five games by at least 16 points. So, we've already seen what happened when adversity accumulated in Year One.

I want to see Year Two.

Does the sideline get tighter or start separating or do the veterans start talking? Does somebody immediately gather the defense? Or do you see players drifting off individually, helmets coming off, eyes looking down and everybody waiting for Belichick to provide the energy?

2025, TCU @ UNC, Bill Belichick sidelines | Tony Beblowki for KillerFrogs.com

Here's something I learned playing football:

Bad plays don't beat good teams nearly as often as the response to bad plays does.

One bad play becomes two.

Two become a drive.

A drive becomes a quarter.

And suddenly the scoreboard starts separating.

The best teams stop that process before it starts.

WHAT IT TELLS US: Does adversity expose them or activate them?

ACTIVATED ___ | EXPOSED ___

4. Find the Player Doing the Coaching

The television cameras are going to show Belichick constantly. Ignore him for a minute and find the player who's doing his job for him.

Maybe a freshman makes a mistake. Who gets to him first?

Maybe a defensive back blows a coverage. Does a safety pull him aside?

Maybe the offense comes off after a bad series. Is the quarterback sitting alone looking at a tablet, or is he talking to his offensive line and receivers?

I'm specifically looking for player-to-player correction.

Not screaming.

Not finger-pointing.

Ownership.

A veteran putting his arm around a young player and explaining something before the position coach gets there tells me a lot.

That's when you know culture is beginning to move from the coaches' offices into the locker room.

WHAT IT TELLS US: Has Belichick created players who can carry his standard without him?

Count them. Who did the correcting?

COACH-LED ___ | PLAYER-LED ___

5. Watch Them After the Whistle

Here's the last one, and it's probably the easiest.

Watch North Carolina after something good happens. Then watch them after something bad happens.

Do they move differently?

After a first down, everybody runs back to the line. Great.

What happens after a sack? What happens after a penalty? What happens after a dropped pass? What happens after TCU converts third-and-12?

Does their pace change according to the previous play? Or does everybody get back, communicate and prepare for the next snap exactly the same way?

That's one of the differences between emotion and standard.

Emotion changes.

Standards never change.

WHAT IT TELLS US: Are their habits dependent on circumstances?

Did their behavior change with the circumstances?

Score it

SAME STANDARD ___ | CHANGED ___

Now You Have My Scorecard

So, forget the final score for a minute.

Here's what we're keeping track of:

Now You Have My Scorecard

ACCOUNTABILITY

Coach ___ | Player ___

PURSUIT

___ / 11

RESPONSE TO ADVERSITY

Activated ___ | Exposed ___

PLAYER-LED LEADERSHIP

Coach-led ___ | Player-led ___

CONSISTENCY

Same standard ___ | Changed ___

None of those will tell us whether North Carolina has enough talent to beat TCU. Together, I think they'll tell us whether something more fundamental has changed.

Belichick can install a defense during spring football and he can install an offense during fall camp.

He can't install ownership.

Players have to take that. That's what I'm looking for on Saturday, and here's where I want Frog fans involved.

Freshman quarterback Travis Burgess is among the players competing to be a starter for Bill Belichick in the coach's second season with UNC football. There are several key position battles for the Tar Heels. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Before kickoff, tell me which one you think will reveal the most about North Carolina:

A. How they respond to their first mistake

B. How many players consistently pursue the football

C. How they respond when TCU lands a punch

D. Whether players are correcting other players

E. Whether their pace changes when things go wrong

Pick one.

Then watch for it during the game.

Because after Dublin, I'm coming back to this list.

I'll tell you which one told me the most, what I saw that you probably won't find anywhere in the box score and whether I believe the North Carolina team that walked off the field looked like a group of players being coached by Bill Belichick...

or Bill Belichick's football team.

The scoreboard will keep one score.

We'll keep the other and our score will mean more than one win or loss ever could.

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