After winning eight Super Bowls – six as a head coach – in the NFL, Bill Belichick is preparing for a new challenge. He’s taking on college football at North Carolina, the same school his father once coached. Belichick’s arrival in Chapel Hill brought plenty of excitement considering his achievements at the pro level. However, […]
After winning eight Super Bowls – six as a head coach – in the NFL, Bill Belichick is preparing for a new challenge. He’s taking on college football at North Carolina, the same school his father once coached.
Belichick’s arrival in Chapel Hill brought plenty of excitement considering his achievements at the pro level. However, it also creates some uncertainty about how UNC will look, according to Josh Pate.
The Tar Heels completely overhauled the roster this year, notably adding 42 players from the transfer portal as part of a Top-10 class. A quarterback decision is also looming. But Pate’s questions mainly center on the schedule, which should work in their favor. If they struggle, though, it could create questions.
“They play … five of the bottom five teams in the ACC,” Pate said on Josh Pate’s College Football Show. “So if you’re able to maintain a pulse and draw a breath every three seconds for most of the year, you could win eight games. I don’t know how much more you could do than that.
“What I am saying is, if North Carolina is terrible this year with this schedule – I don’t know what their schedule looks like next year, it will never be as workable as this. Even in the ACC, it’ll never be as workable as that again. So for that reason alone, I’ve got to put North Carolina in there.”
Josh Pate: UNC could ‘just play good, solid football’
Clemson is the only preseason AP Top 25 team on North Carolina’s schedule this year and the only team picked in the Top 5 of the ACC preseason poll. Duke and NC State – the Tar Heels’ final two games – came in at No. 9 and No. 10, respectively.
As a result, Josh Pate said there’s a chance for UNC to be able to just play good football and find success. But there’s also the potential for a rough season considering the unknowns in Bill Belichick’s first season.
“I mean, they could just play good, solid football,” Pate said. “Like, if they did nothing more than not lose games, they could win nine. If they just stand on the field and wait for the other team to hand them a game, they could win nine. That’s the kind of year it could be.
“You’d watch them and you’d say, ‘This team is not good. How in the world are they ranked 19th in the country?’ Could be that kind of year, or it could be a disaster. Thus, the unpredictability.”
Category: General Sports
