Bill Belichick has six Super Bowl wins on his resume. But his first season with North Carolina football won’t include a bowl of any kind.
North Carolina lost 32-25 to Duke in the Victory Bell rivalry on Saturday, guaranteeing the Tar Heels’ first losing record in a season since 2018. That was also that last time UNC (4-7, 2-5 ACC) hadn’t reached a bowl.
“We’re just playing one game at a time, not worried about anything in the future,” Belichick said in regards to the postseason after the loss to the Blue Devils (6-5, 5-2), who became bowl eligible with the road win.
So what does the 4-7 record mean for Belichick and the Tar Heels?
“It means we have one game,” Belichick said, “and we’ll put everything we got into that one.”
Wide receiver Jordan Shipp, who had eight catches for 83 yards and a touchdown against Duke, said “it sucks, man” and there’s “a lot of stuff you can harp on.” But he went on to say he’s just focused on beating NC State (6-5, 3-4) in the regular-season finale.
“Nobody thinks you’re going to come into a season 4-7, no matter who is your coach,” Shipp said before highlighting the relationships he’s built with his teammates and coaches.
Starting linebacker Andrew Simpson also pointed to the Tar Heels’ growth and connectedness throughout the season, but the mood in the locker room was “not good” after the Duke loss.
“We wanted to win this game, we wanted to be bowl eligible,” Simpson said.
Now, with one game remaining in Raleigh, Simpson and the Tar Heels are simply trying to end their season on a positive note.
“We gotta finish strong. We got a good group,” Simpson said. “Proud of our guys for playing hard, but we just gotta play a little harder. Hopefully, next week we can come out and finish the season strong.”
Rodd Baxley covers North Carolina Tar Heels athletics for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding UNC? Send them torbaxley@usatodayco.com.