For the first time in two years, the Victory Bell is coming back to Chapel Hill where it belongs.
The UNC football program held on to defeat rival Duke in another chaotic classic between the two schools who share Tobacco Road. It marks the first time that head coach Bill Belichick has defeated Duke, avenging last season's loss to the Blue Devils.
For Belichick, the win holds a lot more meaning than just beating his team's rival. It took him back to his childhood, one where his father inititlally brought him into the Carolina family. Now, many years later, Belichick is honoring his father by dedicating the win over Duke to him.
Belichick had a lot to say following the win, going in-depth about a variety of topics about the game. Hear (and see) what the head coach of the Tar Heels had to say below:
Opening Statement
"Obviously, heck of a football game. A lot of credit to Duke. They’re a good football team. They’re well-coached, and they battled hard. Fortunately, we were able to make a couple more plays than they did.
Really happy for our team. They worked extremely hard, especially our seniors. It meant a lot to them to ring the bell, so I’m happy for them and proud of them.
We had a couple of great drives early, a good one in the third quarter and a good one in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, we turned the ball over three times on fumbles, so we have to do a better job of taking care of the ball.
Defensively, it was a good effort in the red area. We kept them out of the end zone a number of times. Those guys just fight hard down there. They don’t give up those final yards, and that’s really been helpful for us all year. Hopefully, we can continue to keep that going.
We had a couple of guys banged up during the game, and so did they. It was a physical, tough game, as you would expect with these two teams. Like I said, I’m proud of the team and happy to come out of here with a win. I thought our guys earned it.
Now, we have to reload, fill the tank back up and be ready for Syracuse."
Thought process on the fourth-down call on the final offensive drive
"I wasn’t punting again. It hadn’t gone well for us. Unless it was fourth-and-30 or something, I didn’t want to give the ball back. I thought we’d go down taking our best shot.
We hit a lot of quick timing passes. I thought Billy did a good job of distributing the ball. It was a battle. They’re a good pass-rushing team, and it’s a battle to keep them off the quarterback.
I thought he did a really good job of stepping up in the pocket and kind of taking the ends out of the rush. Our tackles were able to ride them by, but it wasn’t easy. We weren’t going to punt that last series."
On shaky offense (if Belichick noticed any trends from it)
"Well, we fumbled. We drove the ball down the field and fumbled on the 10-yard line.
Look, this is one of the best defenses in the country. It’s not like they’re a bad defensive team. They’ve got good defensive players and a damn good coach.
You think we’re going to go out there and score 58 points against these guys? They’re a good defense. We made our plays, we played pretty good defense, and they made theirs. It was a great battle back and forth.
You think somebody’s going to go out there and score 55 points on these guys? I think you’re going to be waiting a long time for that. Really."
Greg Smith's impact
"He (Smith) really stepped up. It was a game-time decision, and when Peyton went out a little bit earlier in the game, Greg really stepped up and made a lot of critical plays.
As you said, tackling, run force and also in coverage. He had another big game for us. He’s just getting better and better every week."
On this team's character
"These guys battle all the way. They battled all the way against Notre Dame, too. We’ve been fighting all the way.
I don’t have any questions about their competitiveness, character or toughness. There are obviously some things that we need to keep doing better, but the competition part of it is pretty good."
Kenton Dopson's emergence (and key interception)
"Hopefully, that’ll be a big confidence moment for him. He’s played pretty well for us. They had a couple of outs on him, but that’s going to happen in some of those coverages.
Overall, I thought he’s done a good job for a freshman. He stepped in there, and not every play is great, but there are more good ones than bad ones. Hopefully, we can keep that trending that way.
We’ve had a lot of freshmen step in and get some key playing time for us. When they’re ready, Sneed did it on offense, obviously Alvarez. We’ve had some guys step in there and play for us, and we’ve needed that."
Jaylen McGill
"He runs hard. He’s a tough kid. He’s very dependable. It’s hard to see what happened on that play. Obviously, they were grabbing at the ball. It looked like he might have been down, but he wasn’t, I guess.
Overall, his ball security has been good. Against a good team like Duke, you’ve really got to lock it in because they do a good job of hunting the ball.
On the touchdown run, it was so well-blocked. He made a nice run on it, but those guys did a good job of capturing the edge and getting out there. They made it look like a pretty clean play right behind them."
On Billy Edwards' performance
"Again, I thought he did a really good job with his pocket presence. Duke’s a good pass-rushing team. He stepped up in the pocket. He slid in there. He ran once or twice, but he made a number of completions when he slid up in the pocket, got some extra time and hit those guys over the middle.
His poise and movement in the pocket helped our passing game a lot. That’s sometimes a little underrated for a quarterback, but I thought he did a nice job of that."
On how to address fumbles
"We work on ball security every day. Sometimes two or three times in the same day. We always work on ball security.
Obviously, we’ve got to do a better job of it. We’ve got to coach it better, and we’ve got to find a better way to do it. It really cost us two games last year.
It’s not anything that isn’t emphasized. We’ve just got to do a better job of it.
Again, Duke’s one of those good ball-stripping teams. If you don’t tighten it for a second, they find a way to get it out. They’ll lawnmower it right out of there on you. We’ve just got to do a better job with that."
On Edwards potentially using his legs more
"I think the quarterback is always going to do the best he can in those situations.
If it opens up and there’s nobody open, then that’s a good time to run. We’re not going to run 10 quarterback draws. That’s not really what our offense is or what he is. We’ll make a lot more yards throwing than him running. We make most of our yards when he doesn’t have the ball.
But there are times. I liked the quarterback sneak. That was a great play because it got us the first down. Sometimes a yard is everything.
There were a couple of times when, if Duke could’ve gotten one more yard, maybe it changes the outcome of the game.
It’s about making positive plays. If nobody’s open and the quarterback can run and pick up a few yards, whether that’s five, 10 or whatever, then great.
The most important thing is to take care of the ball and be efficient in the passing game. Sometimes those opportunities present themselves, but we don’t sit there and say, “Hey, you’ve got to run the ball 10 times.” We would never do that. But sometimes it could happen."
Belichick's assessment on how they fared against Nate Sheppard
"We hung in there. He’s tough. He’s a really good back.
He got outside a couple of times. They got him out there on that swing screen with a blocker in front of him, and they got a couple of good gains on that, which we kind of expected. Then we missed a tackle another time.
He’s tough in space. We were just trying to keep him as condensed as possible, which is a lot easier said than done.
When we were able to keep it tight, we did okay. There were a couple of times when he got some space and hurt us.
The big thing was not letting him make those explosive plays. There were a couple of six- and eight-yard runs, but at least he didn’t go 70 on us. Those are the ones where you need to be able to line up again and have another chance on the next down.
For the most part, we did that. I thought we played him tough in short yardage. We knew he was going to get the ball. Hell, you’ve got to give it to him. He’s the best back in the country.
I’m proud of our guys for standing up to their offensive line and their running game. It wasn’t easy."
On his team's mental resolve and when it started to show
"I think it’s been a year-long process. It started back in January, then through spring ball, summer workouts and training camp.
These guys are very dedicated. They’re tough. Football is important to them. It means a lot, and they put a lot into it.
When you put a lot into it, it’s a lot harder to give up, and it’s a lot harder to accept anything other than your very best effort all the time.
They’ve been giving that."
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