Bill Belichick’s North Carolina Tar Heels have finally beaten a ranked opponent.
Five games into his second college season, North Carolina won 21-17 today at previously undefeated No. 25 Pittsburgh, for the biggest win Belichick has had as a college head coach.
The win shows clear improvement for the North Carolina program, which is 3-2 this year after going 4-8 last year. A 7-9 record through 17 games wasn’t what North Carolina was hoping for when it made the much-hyped decision to hire Belichick, but the program is moving in the right direction.
“Gutsy performance. Kept battling against a good football team,” Belichick said after the game on ESPN. “We just kept hanging in there. We made a couple big plays, and they made a couple too. They’re a good football team.”
Next week North Carolina faces rival Duke, in a game Belichick knows is another big one for his program.
“We’ve just got to get ready for Duke,” Belichick said.