UNC football may have had last week off as far as playing goes, but it still ended up being quite an eventful one. As the Tar Heels got a bye week following the Clemson loss, their struggles came to the forefront, with rumors emerging that coach Bill Belichick was already on the way out, with both him and the school trying to figure out how to end this (so far) less-than-stellar partnership.
Either people were a little too hasty with that one, or bunk reports were released because in recent days,
sources within the program have said that Belichick will at least be here for the rest of this season. For some of us who were less than enthralled with the hire when it happened and have grown only more concerned by what’s happened on the field, that’s disappointing news, but it’s at least quieted the circus somewhat ahead of this weekend’s game against Cal.
That’s hopefully the case, as an x-factor for UNC’s game is simply this: are the Tar Heels focused?
Last week saw multiple stories, in both local and national media, emerge about how things are going in the Tar Heel program. While obviously no current players are going to go on the record, especially with anything remotely controversial, some articles did feature quotes from parents, so it’s obvious that players are talking with someone in their lives about the dysfunction so far. It’s clearly not a situation where all of this is just a media creation that’s unfounded and no one in the locker room actually cares about what’s being reported.
Even as someone who is just a fan of the team, I’ve gotten “hey, what’s going on?” questions, so you can only imagine what people are asking players on the team. You’d hope that by this point in their sporting careers, players are somewhat used to tuning out noise, but there was some pretty loud noise last week. It would be understandable if it took away some focus from the game against Cal. Also, no matter what UNC or Belichick says, and even if the rumors were completely unfounded, it probably will take some time for all that to wash out and for those questions to stop.
Even if the coaching staff has managed to nip everything in the bud and quell any concerns, this UNC team hasn’t exactly played the most focused and crisp football, even under “normal” circumstances. In the last game against Clemson, the Heels allowed a touchdown on the very first play from scrimmage. For the season, they’re averaging over 50 penalty yards a game. In the NFL, Belichick was known for making sure all the Is were dotted and the Ts were crossed, but that has not translated to Carolina so far.
If I was power ranking things that have led to UNC’s struggles so far this season, the first thing would be that Belichick, Mike Lombardi, and company just haven’t put together a roster quite good enough to compete at an UNC level. However, a lack of focus would be somewhere else on the list, and that might be especially prevalent this weekend if the Tar Heels are unable to dig down deep.
