Bill Belichick had a weight lifted off his shoulders Friday as North Carolina defeated Syracuse 27–10 to give him his first ACC and Power 4 win as Tar Heels coach.
UNC came close over the past couple weeks with narrow losses to California and No. 15 Virginia, notably with Belichick’s squad falling to the Hoos in overtime after a gutsy call to go for two and win the game. On Friday, the Tar Heels trailed 10–6 entering halftime, but held the Orange scoreless in the second half as their offense scored three touchdowns for the big win led by quarterback Gio Lopez and freshman running back Demon June.
Following the game, the 73-year-old coach shared an optimistic message to his bunch in the locker room as they stand at 3–5 and hope to become bowl eligible over their final four games.
“Let’s get used to it, we’re going to win a lot more games around here,” he said to his team. “You could see the potential we have. We just have to keep working, keep grinding, fix a few little things here and things are going to be a lot different going forward. We got to start all over again. We emptied the tank tonight, we got to fill it up this week and get ready to take care of Stanford.”
Believe in the process. 😤 pic.twitter.com/wLIk0JNZy4
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) November 1, 2025
Before the win over Syracuse, UNC’s only wins of the season came over Charlotte and Richmond. They were on a four-game skid after a 2–1 start, but were blown out by TCU in Belichick’s first game. The Tar Heels play 3–5 Stanford next week and have games against in-state rivals Wake Forest, Duke and NC State to finish their season.
They will need a massive turnaround to salvage the disappointing and odd start to the Belichick era. If there’s a fix in store, the Tar Heels got out to a good start with a much needed win over the Orange on the road.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Bill Belichick Had Optimistic Message for North Carolina After First ACC Win.
