The North Carolina Tar Heels entered Week 1 of the college football season as an interesting program only because of Bill Belichick's hiring. The first-time collegiate head coach had a tough matchup to start with after overhauling his roster in the transfer portal, and his Tar Heels fell flat. TCU never let up, finishing the Heels 48-14 and scoring 34 points in the second and third quarters.
Belichick's New England Patriots never surrendered 48 points in a game, so it was a painful experience. What will make the Tar Heels an even bigger target for jokes won't just be that a six-time Super Bowl winner will struggle, but that the 73-year-old's 24-year-old girlfriend has been in the news all offseason. It's not a surprise TCU got some jokes in about Jordon Hudson and Belichick after their win.
"Belichick gotta call for his girlfriend," TCU star safety Bud Clark declared on IG Live in the locker room.
"Belichick gotta call for his girlfriend."
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 2, 2025
TCU's Bud Clark in an IG Live session in the locker room after beating North Carolina. pic.twitter.com/JsCxXVOIUj
Expect more of it to come, and especially if North Carolina sees its home crowd disappear midway through the third quarter on a routine basis. Belichick didn't seem phased, but it's hard to be competitive in the ACC without a star-studded roster.
"We played competitively but then just couldn't sustain it," Belichick said in the familiar low tone from his NFL news conferences after the 48-14 loss. "Obviously, we have a lot of work to do. We need to do a better job all the way around - coaching, playing, all three phases of the game."
"It was a great environment tonight," Belichick said. "I mean, the fans were awesome. There was great energy in the stadium. We just didn't do enough to keep it going. We've got to play better for the energy to be sustainable."
Hudson was on the sideline pre-game wearing North Carolina-blue colored pants with sequin-like decorations on the side of the legs. She and Belichick must be prepared for what could be a difficult fall if this is any indication of how the Tar Heels will respond to adversity.
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