Artacho’s Angle: UNC Football May End Way Below .500

North Carolina could possibly finish the 2025 season with a record worse than last season's.

Sep 1, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick on the field before the game at Kenan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Bill Belichick has not been the best by any means during this season — nowhere close. The 2025 season has been a failure (at least through the first five games it has been). North Carolina has yet to win a game against a Power 4 conference opponent, one of the many concerns about the state of this team, having only been able to defeat the Charlotte 49ers and the Richmond Spiders, respectively.

Sep 6, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick looks on at this team during the second half against the Charlotte 49ers at Jerry Richardson Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

The Tar Heels have California on Friday, October 17, on the road inside California Memorial Stadium, who hold a record of 4-2 — beating Oregon State (34-15), Texas Southern (35-3), Minnesota (27-14) and Boston College (28-24).

Its losses have come against San Diego State (34-0) as well as UNC rival, Duke (45-21). Head coach Justin Wilcox has been led by his freshman quarterback, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who has thrown for 1,487 yards so far, including nine touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Bill Belichick speaking to the press before UNC's first practice of fall camp on Aug. 2, 2025 / Jackson McCurdy, North Carolina Tar Heels On SI

All things considered, UNC has a legitimate chance to end the season with only two wins, as the mixture of the product it has produced on and off the field has left a bad taste in the fanbase — one that was nothing but excited during the offseason to have a six-time Super Bowl champion leading one of the most historic universities in all of the land.

Sep 6, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick looks at his iPad during the second half against the Charlotte 49ers at Jerry Richardson Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

The Hype Vanished Like Thin Air

As a reminder, here is the rest of UNC's schedule (beyond California):

Sep 13, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick on the field before the game at Kenan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

• Virginia
• at Syracuse
• Stanford
• at Wake Forest
• Duke
• at NC State

Sep 6, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick during the first half against the Charlotte 49ers at Jerry Richardson Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

North Carolina has not shown any grit, nor the tough, smart and dependable motto that Belichick and players have been preaching leading up to the season opener against TCU, where it eventually got smacked down to the ground on national television.

Stanford now poses as a threat, despite being 2-4 (with wins over Boston College and San José St) — what originally looked like a sure win is now possibly another tally in the losing column.

UNC Flag at ACC Kickoff / Jackson McCurdy, North Carolina Tar Heels On SI

Do not be surprised if the Tar Heels end with a record of 2-10, much, much worse than the 6-7 record last year ended with — the last year of Mack Brown's second stint in Chapel Hill, where he was fired, leaving current offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens to be the interim head coach for the time being. Belichick and his coaching staff have yet to do anything special on the field, and it has made the arrival of basketball (both men's and women's) much more needed for the sake of the fans.

Sep 1, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick on the field before the game at Kenan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

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