Everything Bill Belichick Said After UNC Nearly Upset No. 1 Miami, Watch Full Video Following Loss

North Carolina just missed the signature win of the Bill Belichick era with a 38-35 loss to No. 1 Miami on Saturday, and the legendary head coach said he was "proud" of the team's effort in defeat.

"Really proud of our effort tonight, but unfortunately, came up a little bit short," he told reporters after the game, per Jack Morris of On3.com. "Disappointing. Miami's really good, really good on offense. They've got two great players and a lot of other good players. We obviously had a hard time handling, although I thought we actually defended them pretty well. But I mean, they made a couple of great plays that you don't see too many other people make. 

"So they're very good, very good on offense, and one-score, back and forth game, and then they got the turnover, and then it became a two-score game, and we couldn't get the onside kicks, so that's pretty much the story of it. A lot of effort, a lot of toughness, a lot of mental toughness, a lot of competitiveness, and just disappointing to come up short here two weeks in a row."

Belichick also said quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. performed at a "solid" level (1:15 mark) and praised him for spreading the ball around to a number of receivers.

"Billy's job is to throw the ball to the guy that's open," he said (5:37 mark). "We don't throw the ball to one receiver. Sometimes on a screen pass we do, but we don't just go back and say, 'Oh, we're going to throw to this guy. We're going to throw it to that guy.' We run the pattern based on the coverage. We throw the ball to the guy that has the most opportunity to catch it based on the coverage and the read that he gets, and there are different reads on different plays. So that's what he's supposed to do. That's what he did do. That's what he should do."

Edwards went 28-of-34 for 341 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions in a brilliant individual performance that could raise some questions about Miami's secondary moving forward when it will likely face better competition in the College Football Playoff.

Nine different Tar Heels caught passes, including tight end Jelani Thurman.

Thurman finished with five catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns, continuing an impressive season.

"It's been good all year," Belichick said of the chemistry between Edwards and Thurman (6:34 mark). "It was good in the spring. It was good in TCU. It was good tonight. They've been productive all year. We had trouble covering it in practice. It's a problem there, too. So it's been like that all year."

Miami (FL) Hurricanes - North Carolina Tar Heels Highlights

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North Carolina led by four points in the fourth quarter before it gave up a touchdown, lost a fumble and gave up another touchdown in the defining stretch of the game. Despite that sequence, it still recovered two onside kicks near the end of the fourth quarter before they were both overturned by penalty.

Were it not for the penalties, the Tar Heels would have had a chance to win the game at the end.

While it was a disappointing loss to North Carolina, it is 4-4 on the season and looks much better than it did during Belichick's first season with a 4-8 record. Its final four games are against unranked opponents, so it will look to build some late momentum after Saturday's near-miss.