The Beginning of a Long Week for Belichick, UNC

On this episode of the Tar Heels Insider Podcast, beat writer Grant Chachere discusses why Monday is the beginning of a long week for UNC as it heads to the West Coast to take on Cal on Friday.

To watch, check out the video below!

Here is a partial transcript from Bill Belichick's postgame presser after its loss to Clemson:

Opening Statement

UNC — North Carolina running out on the field through smoke before its game against Clemson on Oct. 4, 2025. | Jackson McCurdy, North Carolina Tar Heels On SI

Well, disappointing outcome for us today. I thought we had a good week. I think we were ready to go, and unfortunately, we gave up some big plays early in the game that really tilted the game, and we're just never able to recover. So the big plays in the passing game, I mean, we probably gave up 200 yards of passing on five plays.

You know, had interceptions in all five. Sit in, look for the ball. Three alignment penalties that were, you know, all our fault. So we just got to do a better job of coaching, better job playing, and just eliminate the mistakes that are fixable. There's honestly not that many things that we can't get right, but we got to do a better job of it.

We can't give up plays like that defensively at the beginning of the game; obviously, it just tilts the score. It's too much. So get back to work here tomorrow, and I think I expect players to rebound like they did last week, and have another good week here. We'll get ready to go and keep improving and keep fixing the things that we need to fix.

Why the mistakes keep happening …

North Carolina defensive lineman Isaiah Johnson making a tackle vs. Clemson; Oct. 4, 2025 | UNC Athletic Communications

\Yeah, well, they don't have all time, but they have been two or three critical times today. And, you know, lack of concentration, and we need to do a better job coaching as part of it.

I mean, it's a lot of plays where nothing happens, and then we have an illegal formation three times. I mean, it's just, we just can't make those mistakes. So when the players make them, that's, it's obviously bad, but the fact that they happen is, you know, part of that's coaching too, so I'll take my share of the responsibility on that. We got to do a better job of coaching.

On whether it was bigger rebuild than he anticipated when he took the job…

Max Johnson | UNC Atheltic Communications

I'm just not going to make any evaluations like that. We're just gonna keep working every day and every week and.

So let the guys get better, and the guys that play play better and keep playing the guys that don't, you know, maybe there's other people that can compete and move ahead of them playing time. We're just gonna keep grinding. I'm not gonna evaluate where things are. Just take a week by week.

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