The Bill Belichick honeymoon at North Carolina lasted exactly one possession.

TCU scored 41 unanswered points on the way to a 48-14 win over North Carolina in Belichick’s first game as head coach. The Tar Heels opened the game with an impressive touchdown drive and then promptly got run over by the Horned Frogs until the game was out of reach.

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TCU put the game away one play into the second half when Kevorian Barnes broke a 75-yard TD run. The Horned Frogs led 20-7 at halftime and Barnes made the lead insurmountable at that point.

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The opener showed just how far North Carolina has to go simply to be relevant this season.

Belichick has preached fundamentals since his introductory news conference in December and, well, North Carolina was not fundamentally sound. The Tar Heels had tackling issues, dropped passes and even dropped punt snaps. It was a disastrous performance for nearly every unit.

Read Nick Bromberg’s story on the game right here and see how it all played out below.

The Bill Belichick Era at North Carolina begins on Monday, Sept. 1, with a showdown with TCU.

It is anybody’s guess how UNC’s gamble, hiring the six-time Super Bowl champion to coach in the college ranks for the first time, will work out, but it should be entertaining.

As for the betting market, it is skeptical that Belichick will be able to find success with the Tar Heels in Year 1.

The Tar Heels are 35/1 outsiders to win the ACC, and they’re win total currently sits at 7.5 with heavy juice on the under.

According to BetMGM, UNC was the third-most bet under team (behind Colorado and Michigan) at their sportsbook this summer.

North Carolina Tar Heels 2025 odds

National Title Odds	Odds to win ACC	Over/Under
400/1	35/1	7.5 (+140/-170)

As you’d expect, sportsbooks did slash UNC’s numbers across the board when it was announced that Belichick would take over the program.

Oftentimes, a high-profile move, like Belichick’s hire, follows a similar pattern with the bookies. They immediately cut the team’s odds to protect themselves against an onslaught of excitable bettors piling in, and then sharp money will buy back against that move, which eventually pushes the number into the appropriate range.

The reasons for skepticism are pretty obvious. The Tar Heels finished 6-7 last season and have undergone a massive amount of change both on the field and off, and nobody has any idea if Belichick can coach at this level. It could be a gimmick.

Or, it could work.

The reasons for optimism are also pretty obvious. Belichick is a six-time Super Bowl champion, and will go down as one of the best coaches in the history of the sport. There’s every chance that he can bring what worked with the New England Patriots with him to Chapel Hill.

Belichick could also have found a diamond in the rough with quarterback Gio Lopez.

The late transfer from South Alabama was superb in 2024, accounting for 25 touchdowns (18 passing, seven rushing), and throwing for 2,559 yards.

If Lopez brings those numbers with him to UNC, the offense should buzz, and then it will be up to Belichick and his son, Steve, to get the defense up to speed.

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Why Trust New York Post Betting

Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A long offseason is almost at its conclusion as the 2025 season opener – the last game of Week 1 action – for TCU will kick off in prime time, standalone fashion on Monday night (7 p.m. CT/ESPN) against North Carolina.

GAME DAY DETAILS

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TCU (0-0) at North Carolina (0-0)
Monday, Sept. 1 – 7:00 p.m. CT
Kenan Memorial Stadium – Chapel Hill, N.C.
Tickets » Sold Out. Buy on SeatGeek

How to Track the Game:

📺 Television » ESPN

(Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Holly Rowe)

📻 Radio Tuning » KZPS 92.5 FM / (Spanish) KWRD 100.7 FM

📻 Radio Streaming » The Varsity Network app

📊 Live Stats » StatBroadcast

GAME DAY PRIMER

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Weekly Press Conference
    » Watch
2025 Fact Book
    » Read
Weekly Game Notes 

    » Read

NOTING THE HORNED FROGS

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• TCU begins its fourth season under the direction of head coach Sonny Dykes in 2025. In his first three years, the 2022 National Coach of the Year has led TCU to more wins in his first three seasons (27) than all but one head coach in program history (Dutch Meyer, 29, 1934-36).
• Dykes has also led programs at SMU (2018-21), Cal (2013-16), and Louisiana Tech (2010-12). In all four stops, Dykes has led the program to the postseason, making him one of just six active head coaches to take four different schools to a bowl game. The others are Hugh Freeze, Butch Jones, Brian Kelly, Lane Kiffin, and Rich Rodriguez.
• Directing the TCU offense for his third season as the starting quarterback is redshirt junior Josh Hoover. In his redshirt sophomore campaign, Hoover set TCU’s single-season passing record with 3,949 yards on 313-of-471 passing with 27 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. He has thrown 42 touchdown passes in 19 career starts. 
• Surrounding Hoover will be a new cast of wide receivers as 76 combined starts and 5,464 career receiving yards across their college careers left with the departures of Jack Bech, Savion Williams, and JP Richardson to the NFL.
• TCU’s rushing attack was an offseason focus as the Horned Frogs rushed for just 113.9 yards per game last season, their lowest per game average since 1997 (110.2) and by far the lowest for a Dykes-coached team. Over his tenure as a head coach, Dykes’ teams have averaged 158.5 yards per game on the ground with his 2012 Louisiana Tech team posting 227.2 yards per game.
• Defensively, the Horned Frogs are led by Bud Clark, who led all safeties in college football last season with a 90.1 coverage grade. After logging a career-high 68 tackles last season, Clark opted to return to TCU rather than head to the NFL, and his 11 career interceptions are two shy of cracking the program’s record book.
  
   

NOTING THE GAME

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• TCU and North Carolina are set to play the final game of Week 1 on Monday night in Chapel Hill. The Horned Frogs have not traveled to the state of North Carolina for a game since a 2002 trip to East Carolina as members of Conference USA.
• The two programs last met in 1997 when No. 5 North Carolina came to Fort Worth and won 31-10. North Carolina has won all three meetings.
• The game is one of two Power 4 non-conference opponents for TCU this season. TCU is one of only two programs in the country to have 11 Power 4 opponents in their 2025 schedule. 
• TCU is 10-6 since 2015 against non-conference Power 4/5 foes. Among those games in a true road environment (excluding bowl games), the Frogs are 4-1.
• The Horned Frogs enter the game, as a program, on a four-game winning streak, having won six of their final seven in 2024. The last time TCU entered a season on a four-plus game winning streak was 2014 after going 12-1 and defeating No. 9 Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl.