The tide appears to have turned in Chapel Hill.
After a disastrous start to Bill Belichick’s tenure as the head coach of UNC, the Tar Heels have responded with back-to-back wins against Syracuse and Stanford.
Since reports emerged about dysfunction under Belichick’s lead after North Carolina endured a 38–10 blowout loss to Clemson in early October and Belichick reiterated his commitment to the team, UNC has turned things around. While the Tar Heels dropped their next two games to fall to 2–5 on the season, they showed much better fight in narrow losses to Cal and Virginia.
Over the last two weeks, North Carolina has translated those performances into wins. A week ago, the Tar Heels took down the Orange in a 27–10 win. On Saturday, they earned a 20–15 win over Stanford as they sacked the Cardinal nine times and forced two turnovers.
At 4–5, the Tar Heels have given themselves a chance to make a bowl game. Here’s a look at what North Carolina needs to do to become bowl game eligible.
Can Bill Belichick and UNC become eligible for a bowl game?
To become bowl game eligible, a team needs to finish the season with at least a .500 record, or win a minimum of six games and finish the regular season 6–6. Only one win against an FCS team will count to that total, and only if that school has given out at least 90% of the scholarships the FCS has allowed it to over the past two years.
UNC currently has four wins, with one of those coming against Richmond, an FCS program. Since there are three games remaining on the Tar Heels’ schedule, they need to win at least two of those to become eligible for a bowl game.
While all three of UNC’s upcoming opponents hold winning records, they are beatable foes. The Tar Heels will take on 6–3 Wake Forest, before facing 5–4 Duke and 5–4 North Carolina State over the final weeks of the regular season.
If UNC only wins one more game and finishes 5–7, there still is a chance, albeit a significantly lower one, that it qualifies for a bowl game. In seasons when there aren’t enough bowl eligible teams to fill every bowl game spot, teams can be chosen to play in a bowl game if they (in order) fell below .500 after losing in the conference championship game, would have been bowl eligible had an FCS opponent they faced gave out enough scholarships, were a 6–7 team that did not play in a conference championship game, moving from the FCS to FBS, or went 5–7, selected in order of their Academic Progress Rate.
UNC has played in a bowl game in six consecutive seasons, but have not won one since 2019.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as What North Carolina's Win Means for Bowl Game Chances in Bill Belichick's First Year.
