Browsing: Clemson

Imagine, for a moment, the image of Bill Belichick wearing a powder blue blazer and waving to an adoring crowd at a North Carolina basketball game in December as the “how it started” moment during his coaching tenure for the Tar Heels.

The following images taken during Saturday’s 38-10 blowout loss against Clemson—the first one was in the second quarter—are the “how it’s going” part of the meme:

Very little went right for North Carolina on Saturday. They were out-gained in yardage by a massive margin (488-270). They couldn’t string together drives, going 2-of-11 on third downs and 0-of-1 on fourth. They missed a field goal. They were burned by a trick play to start the game and promptly let Cade Klubnik, who had been up-and-down during Clemson’s 1-3 start, to throw for 254 yards and four touchdowns.

Very little has gone right during the Belichick Era. Wins against Charlotte and Richmond were to be expected, but the Tar Heels have been embarrassed by TCU, UCF and now Clemson by a 120-33 margin. Not a great record against the first three Power 5 schools on the schedule.

Suffice to say, there is very little confidence in Chapel Bill at this point:

The Tar Heels get a week off before traveling to Berkeley to face Cal on Oct. 17, and it will be something of a soul-searching bye for this North Carolina team. While the Tar Heels don’t have matchups against Miami, Florida State or Georgia Tech, the ACC schedule still could get very, very ugly in Chapel Hill if the first three Power 5 matchups are any indication.

Belichick and his staff have a lot of work to do to turn this season around. Clemson exposed that, and then some, on Saturday.

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Senior quarterback Max Johnson will start for the North Carolina Tar Heels against the Clemson Tigers on Saturday.

Pete Thamel of ESPN confirmed the news on Saturday after Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports and Pete Nakos of On3 Sports both reported Friday that it was believed Johnson would get his first start of the 2025 campaign due to the fact that starting quarterback Gio Lopez is dealing with an undisclosed injury.

The 24-year-old Johnson has been something of a journeyman throughout his collegiate career, spending time at LSU and Texas A&M before joining North Carolina last season.

Johnson started the Tar Heels’ season-opening win over Minnesota in 2024, but he suffered a season-ending leg injury.

An offseason coaching change from Mack Brown to legendary, longtime New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick then called Johnson’s standing with the team into question.

Belichick ultimately went with the South Alabama transfer in Lopez as UNC’s starter, and the results have been mixed thus far.

The Tar Heels are off to a 2-2 start and coming off a 34-9 drubbing at the hands of UCF.

Lopez is completing 62.7 percent of his passes for 430 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions, while also rushing for 69 yards and one score.

Although he has only played in relief of Lopez thus far, it can be argued that Johnson has looked like the better quarterback this season, completing 66.7 percent of his passing attempts for 170 yards, two touchdowns and no picks.

Johnson, who is the son of longtime NFL quarterback and Super Bowl champion Brad Johnson, is 13-10 over his 23 career collegiate starts at LSU, Texas A&M and UNC.

He saw his most extensive action as a sophomore at LSU in 2021, throwing for 2,814 yards, 27 touchdowns and six picks in 12 games.

After entering the season as one of the top-ranked teams in the nation, Clemson is reeling, having lost three of its four games this season, including two in a row.

Johnson may give North Carolina its best chance to beat Clemson and get into the thick of the ACC title race.

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