Bill Belichick, UNC Criticized For Wasted Opportunities by Fans After OT Loss to UVA

Since the speculation about his future at North Carolina kicked into gear during a bye week earlier this month, things are getting better for Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels.

Saturday was arguably the most encouraging performance of the season to date with a 17-16 overtime loss to No. 16 Virginia at Kenan Stadium.

Given a chance to tie the game with an extra point and go to a second overtime, Belichick elected to go for two and the win. Gio Lopez completed a pass to Davion Gause, who was tackled right before he could get the ball to the pylon.

Fans are taking notice of what's at least been a more competitive North Carolina team in recent weeks, though there is still a lot to be criticized about how sloppy things continue to look.

In the two games since a 38-10 loss against Clemson, North Carolina has been competitive against two ACC opponent. This is a huge step forward given that it started the season 0-3 against power-four conference opponents with an average margin of defeat of 29.0 points.

The first half, in particular, is arguably the best stretch of football the Tar Heels have played all season when considering the caliber of opponent they were facing. They racked up 273 yards in the first half and scored 10 points in the second quarter.

There were still mistakes along the way even during that stretch. Kobe Paysour fumbled the ball while reaching for the end zone in a scoreless game, giving possession back to Virginia. They also missed a field goal at the end of the first half that kept the score tied at 10.

Coming out of the intermission, North Carolina's offense was back to looking like it has for most of the year. The unit racked up a total of 83 yards on six possessions, with its final play in regulation being an interception by Virginia safety Antonio Clary that led to the overtime period.

At least the interception can be excused because Lopez, who actually made a good throw that got bobbled, was trying to make something happen with time ticking down to get North Carolina in range for what would have been a game-winning field goal.

Belichick's defense did a terrific job of keeping Virginia off the board to give the team a chance to win.

The Tar Heels had a two-play sequence against Chandler Morris in the third quarter when they forced an incomplete pass on a fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line midway, then picked him off on the next play after Virginia got the ball back.

Virginia was scoreless for more than 36 minutes of game time in regulation after taking a 10-3 lead with 6:36 remaining in the second quarter. It also didn't run a play in North Carolina territory for the entire fourth quarter.

At the end of it all, though, North Carolina is still 2-5 this season and searching for its first conference win since Nov. 16, 2024. The schedule does ease up starting next week when it plays at Syracuse on Friday.