Five Things Bill Belichick Said After UNC's Beatdown of Syracuse

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — North Carolina turned in its strongest showing of the season at just the right moment, beating Syracuse 27-10 on the road at JMA Wireless Dome.

The Tar Heels (3-5, 1-3 ACC) dominated on both sides of the ball, outgaining the Orange 425-147. The victory marked their first against a Power Four opponent since a win over Wake Forest on Nov. 16, 2024.

UNC — Oct 31, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels running back Demon June (12) gives a stiff arm to Syracuse Orange defensive back Braheem Long Jr. (0) while scoring a touchdown in the third quarter at the JMA Wireless Dome. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

UNC surpassed 400 yards of total offense for the first time this season and broke the 20-point mark against a Power Four team. Syracuse (3-6, 1-5 ACC) was held without an offensive touchdown and finished with just 147 total yards, including only 39 through the air—the fewest allowed by North Carolina all season. The Tar Heels also sacked Syracuse quarterback Joseph Filardi three times.

Here are five things North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick said after the game.

On Demon June...

UNC — Oct 31, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels running back Demon June (12) gives a stiff arm to Syracuse Orange defensive back Braheem Long Jr. (0) while scoring a touchdown in the third quarter at the JMA Wireless Dome. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

When we see guys do what he did down the sideline, his stiff arm on another 34 yards and touchdown run did a really good job of him finishing the touchdown on the toss play, getting his pads down through the goal line, all that. It’s just seeing guys make plays with the ball in their hands and are hard to tackle, and it gets everybody fired up. But I thought all our backs did it, and they ran hard, and good pad level, and once again, the backs ran a good ball security.

How did you navigate Syracuse starting freshman walk-on Joseph Filardi at quarterback instead of Rickie Collins or the other quarterbacks you prepared for during the week?

Oct 31, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; Syracuse Orange quarterback Luke Carney (11) runs between North Carolina Tar Heels safety Gregory Smith III (12) and defensive back Jaiden Patterson (18) in the third quarter at the JMA Wireless Dome. | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

I’d say we basically stuck to it. But you have to be aware of who that player is or was, and that definitely caught us a little bit by surprise. But I know from experience, it’s a short week, you can’t change your whole offense in a week. And so you do what you can do for the quarterback, but the other 10 guys, to try to stay consistent with them.

And I know they were going through some changes on the offensive line, with Washington at guard and Cruz at center, says that some moving parts there, a new center with a new quarterback. So that’s tough for me. I know for Coach Brown, that was something he had to deal with this week, and it was a challenge.

But I think once the game got going, we just tried to play our coverages and try not to let the quarterback beat us with his legs. He got out a couple there, a couple times. But you know, overall, we did a decent job.”

Any special postgame feelings after your first ACC victory?

UNC — Oct 31, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels running back Demon June (12) is greeted by tight end Conner Cox (81) after scoring a touchdown in the third quarter against the Syracuse Orange at the JMA Wireless Dome. | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

Feels good. It feels great. Yeah, it’s good. We had a couple of opportunities the last couple of weeks that we weren’t able to capitalize. It feels good to get this one. Look forward to all the rest of the games.

Your offensive line lost Chad Lindberg at one point. Austin Blake moved inside to center. And you had a couple of inexperienced players, Jordan Hall and Miles McVay, at tackle. How would you assess how that group played tonight?

UNC — Oct 31, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Gio Lopez (7) with center Austin Blaske (58) at the line of scrimmage in the third quarter against the Syracuse Orange at the JMA Wireless Dome. | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

Yeah, Jordan in particular, has done a really good job for us. He’s continuing to improve in practice, and we gave him some playing time early in the game. And then, unfortunately, when Chad went out, Austin went to center, which he’s been practicing as our backup center, so we were kind of ready for that move. Obviously didn’t want it to happen.

But when Chad wasn’t able to go back in then Austin went in for him, and O’Steen stayed at guard, so then Miles has been getting some snaps on the right side. So, we’re fortunate that we had that kind of depth, and guys were able to step in there and play well. But Blaske’s a natural center, so I don’t think that was a big as big an adjustment for him as it might be for somebody else.

Demon June had a big night, but what else clicked for this offense?

UNC — Oct 31, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels wide receiver Kobe Paysour (8) runs past Syracuse Orange defensive back Demetres Samuel Jr. (1) after making a catch in the first quarter at the JMA Wireless Dome. | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

It was really just better execution. It wasn’t like we had a whole bunch of new plays or anything. We just executed a little bit better. And again, our backs made some good runs. We got a few holes open, and then the backs made yards on the run, and they ran hard.

Three yards became seven, and those things added pretty quickly. We skipped a lot of third downs. We were able to get some first downs on first and second down. So we weren’t in a lot of third-down situations like the first half, and that was helpful, too.

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