Missed opportunities.
That was the theme of Bill Belichick's postgame conference following North Carolina's loss to Notre Dame. While the Tar Heels hung tough, they did plenty to hurt their chances to win the game, especially in the second half when the Fighting Irish found a way to take control of the game.
Curious to hear what Belichick had to say following the game? Check out the video below and the transcript of some of his most important quotes below.
Bill Belichick gives honest assessment following loss to Notre Dame
Opening Statement
"Obviously, you know, hard-fought game. Proud of the way our guys competed. We just weren't able to make enough plays, really in any area. Missed some opportunities on offense. Had too many easy touchdowns on defense. And, you know, a couple good plays in the kicking game, but then we missed a couple in the kicking game as well, with a punt rush and field goal block.
So, you know, just need to play a little more consistently. They're a good team. Didn't turn the ball over like they usually don't. Very few penalties in the game, so it was, you know, a clean game from that standpoint.
We just need to take advantage of a few more opportunities than we were able to do today. That's about the story."
Notre Dame's success running the football up the middle
"We've got to do a better job. We've got to obviously coach it better, play it better. They're an inside running team, and they ran it inside better than I'd say they should have. But they did it.
So, we've got to coach it better and fix it. That's been one of the strengths for us, and unfortunately today there were too many leaky yards."
Seeing some success throwing the ball downfield
"The passing game is really about team execution. It's not just the quarterback. It's the receivers. It's the protection. It's the way the routes play out against the coverage that they have called and receivers able or not able to win some of their matchups.
Jelani (Thurman) and Jordan (Shipp) did a nice job today being able to create some separation. Billy put the ball on him. Thought he threw the ball well a couple times. We weren't able to give enough time, but we mixed in some shorter passes, screen passes and in-cuts and outside routes. So I thought we had some balance in the passing game based on the coverages they were playing."
On the importance of quarterback rhythm and connection
"That's always what you're looking for, is to have a good rhythm and have good timing. But again, it's not just the quarterback, not just the receiver. It's the timing of the play, the protection and the other guys on the pattern that are properly distributed so that the pattern has space where you need to have it and the quarterback has options on where to throw the ball.
If we get congested together because we don't run the route right or get jammed, or sometimes they have a defense that isn't particularly friendly to that type of pattern, then it's kind of tough on the quarterback and sometimes it's tight fits."
Belichick's thoughts on CJ Carr
"I mean, he was efficient. They hit a lot of short passes and then they gave him a couple opportunities down the field. We made a couple plays and he made a couple plays.
They beat us on the blitz, on the trap, and the post pattern. We were out of position and they made a post for a touchdown. We've got to defend it better. Obviously, we can't give up those kinds of plays."
Having some success against a top-ranked defense
"Every week's a different week, so we'll face a different defense next week. Pitt's got a good defense, too. They do things differently than Notre Dame does.
We'll see what happens next week. Clemson—I mean, they're different every week. So we have to play a little bit differently. What works one week may or may not be good the next week. We'll have to see when we get into that situation.
Success in all three phases of the game
"There were times in the game where our execution was good. We took the ball off the goal line and got it into a position where we were able to score and also not leave them with any time to counterattack or counter those points.
So, managing the clock—and obviously scoring is the main thing—but managing the clock in the situation, that was good.
There were other things that we could have done better, but certainly there are a lot of positives there.
Kickoff return—I mean, that's probably more yards on that return than we had all last year on all the returns combined, close to it. I think we were the worst kickoff return team in the country last year.
So, that was an explosive play that, like you said, got us back in the game in conjunction with that long drive.
We've just got to keep working on all those things and take advantage of our opportunities. You don't know whether it's going to come on a punt return, a kickoff return, a blitz, an interception, a long run, a catch-and-run pass. You just have to be ready for all of it."
Notre Dame scoring on the first play of second and third quarters
"They were at the end of those drives, so there were a lot of plays before them. But yeah, I mean, we already talked about those plays. We got beat on a blitz and we got beat on a slot fade.
So, we ended up giving up three touchdowns from pretty far out, and when they got down there, we made them drive it through the red area. They had a hard time scoring. They couldn't score on one drive and the other one we should have stopped them on fourth down. So, I don't know what else to tell you."
What are the little things that separate this team from victory?
"There are little things on every play. They're not all the same. Each play's got its own dynamics, has its own coaching points, has its own things that need to happen for each individual play to be successful.
So we certainly weren't running the same play out there, nor were they running the same defense. There were multiple different situations throughout the course of the game, but again, some of them we got and some of them we need to do a better job on."
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