What Bill Belichick said after UNC football loss at Wake Forest
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For the first time in seemingly forever, UNC carried momentum into Saturday’s road football matchup with Wake Forest.
The Tar Heels, fresh off consecutive wins against Syracuse and Stanford, battled a Demon Deacons squad that upset Virginia one week ago.
Despite trailing by one possession at halftime, UNC failed to contain Wake’s big plays again in the second half, losing 28-12.
North Carolina (4-6, 2-4 ACC) now needs to win each of its final two games for bowl eligibility. The Tar Heels have six consecutive bowl appearances, but no victories since 2019.
UNC’s defense, which allowed 414 yards to the Deacs (7-3, 4-3 ACC), faced an uphill climb from go. After appearing to force a fumble, Wake receiver Carlos Hernandez corralled the football and raced 50 yards to the end zone.
Just 52 seconds after Rece Verhoff cut North Carolina’s third quarter deficit to 14-9, Hernandez caught a 70-yard touchdown pass from Robby Ashford, who later capped off the Deacs’ scoring attack with a 2-yard run. Demond Claiborne, one of the ACC’s top running back, scored Wake’s second touchdown just before halftime.
If not for Verhoff, Saturday’s game looks much worse. The Tar Heels’ kicker hit a career-long 57-yarder just before halftime, making Saturday a one-possession game, while also hitting from 40, 42 and 47. UNC didn’t turn the football over once, but only generated 257 yards of offense.
After the loss, North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick spoke to the media. Check out what the Tar Heels’ first-year head coach had to say.
All quotes are via TarHeel247:
On UNC’s two blocked field goals
“A lot of penetration. The one sat up all the time. Execution of the kick was obviously bad on our part.”
On UNC failing to finish drives
“Yeah, it sure was. We need to finish those drives. Getting the ball down there is fine.”
On red zone struggles
“Small things. Several drives. A lot of plays. But in the end we didn’t get it done.”
On consider going for touchdowns over field goals on fourth down
“If it was fourth-and-short, we did that. We went on a couple fourth-and-shorts. We had a fourth-and-10 in a 10-point game with whatever it was in the middle of the fourth quarter. Thought it was in reach. Come get the ball back.”
On limiting Wake’s plays vs. taking the yardage
“Yeah, I mean it’s about the same whichever way you do it. I don’t think it’s a huge advantage one way or the other. So we took it down. It was the end of the half, trying to get the ball back which we didn’t do, but we did it but it was you know after that I think they got first down. Those could go either way. First-and-15, second-and-nine, second-and-10 — statistically it’s about the same.”
On confidence in Gio Lopez moving forward
“Just preparation. I thought he did a pretty good job tonight. He was under a lot of pressure. A couple hundred yards, more than that, but he was under a lot of pressure. Made some good throws. Dropped a long pass.”
On if tonight was a step backwards for UNC
“We do the same thing after every game. We’ve got to make corrections, make adjustments that we feel like will help us, and get ready for the next game.”
On late third-quarter time out and the ensuing field goal attempt
“I thought the wind was definitely a factor. So kicking it with the wind — I thought that was best. I thought I had the timeout at about 8 seconds; they didn’t give it to us until 5. Could’ve helped on the kickoff too, although I don’t know if we really needed that. But I was trying to get that field goal with the wind at the end of the third quarter and try to get the kickoff behind it, which we didn’t get.”
This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: What Bill Belichick said after UNC football team loses at Wake Forest
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