The North Carolina Tar Heels earned a hard-fought win on the road Saturday afternoon, rallying to beat Pitt. The win is the first ranked win of the Bill Belichick tenure for the Tar Heels.
With the win, UNC is now 3-2 on the year and 1-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference so far this year. It’s a big win for the program here in year two of the Belichick era and it’s clear that this is an improved team. Now, North Carolina can use this momentum moving forward in hopes of earning some more wins.
But before the Tar Heels head down the road to Durham next week to face off against Duke, Belichick met the media to break down the win. Here is what Belichick had to say following the win via Inside Carolina.
Opening Statement
“Great to come in here and win. Really proud of our team. It was a great team effort all the way across the board. We got some explosive plays on offense, explosive plays on defense, and some big stops. But our kicking game, kickoff coverage was solid. He tried to bring one out, and that was a big play for us. Just all around solid team effort. We had a couple of guys banged up, but guys were ready to go. They stepped in for them and played well, and so really happy for our players. Tough, tough game last weekend. They bounced back. Had a good week of practice, and left it all out on the field this afternoon.”
What did you change to improve the run defense?
“We did a better job of setting the edge of the defense and not letting the ball get outside. Again, look, they’re a good team. They have good skill players, good backs, good receivers, so it wasn’t easy. They did a good job in the first half.”
On finding big plays today?
“There are a lot of opportunities out there. We could have had a few more. That’s the way (Pittsburgh) plays. They play aggressively. They try to hit for a loss, knock it behind the sticks, and then they’re vulnerable. If you can execute things well, then you get a chance for an explosive play. I thought our team speed showed up a couple times. We were able to turn shorter plays into longer plays.”
On his defense today
“Great effort by all those guys. They played hard, tackled better in the second half, and got a little pressure on the quarterback. They forced a couple bad throws, but again, they scored a lot of points, and they’ve got a good receiving core, good backs. They’re not easy, but our guys hung in there and battled them all the way. So I’m so proud of them.”
On Shemar Easter and what he brings to the offense
“He’s big and fast, and he’s a good target down the seam, or in seams, over routes, things like that. It’s hard to overthrow him, and he can run. So he’s kind of a part receiver, part tight end, and a tough matchup. And the guy can definitely get down the field.”
On the TE group as a whole
“We went through a year last year with virtually no production at that position, so it opens up a lot of things offensively. When you have production at the tight end position, that opens it up for the inside receivers and outside receivers and changes the coverage a little bit the way that the teams play you, so it’s great to see.”
On Billy Edwards and turnovers
“We wanted to get that number down to zero, and as we talked about, it’s not just the quarterback; it’s the entire execution of the offense, so we all need to do just a better job on that. We can’t win consistently if we turn the ball over.”
On what it means to get a ranked win…
“We’re confident. We know we can play with these teams. We need to be more consistent and just execute a little bit better than we have a couple of times, and we’ll be able to do that every week. So, Pittsburgh’s a good football team. Like, don’t make any mistake about that. Those guys can play. So we feel like we can too.”
This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: What Bill Belichick said after UNC football’s win over Pitt