When one looked at the NCAA football schedule a few months back, all indications were that the Clemson-North Carolina tilt in Chapel Hill was destined to be in prime time on ABC. Two old school coaches–Dabo Swinney and the always top-tier Clemson Tigers, and the special intrigue that Bill Belichick was bringing to his first significant college football stint of his career. Should have had Pat McAfee and gang there as well.
Instead, as this season has unfolded, Clemson and Swinney have fallen both out of contention and favor and the Tar Heels under Belichick have been even less competitive. So this ACC conference tile was pushed back to 12 noon Eastern on ESPN. And as THE HERALD’s Luke DeCock wrote yesterday, if possible what unfolded was far worse than feared:
Clemson needed 16 plays to score four touchdowns on its first four possessions and leave the Tar Heels for dead in the first quarter, piling even more misery upon a football program that is paying millions for the privilege. North Carolina couldn’t have been much less competitive if it tried, and given how poorly the Tar Heels were prepared, once again, they may actually be trying at this point.
If all of that sounds and feels a little too familiar, that’s partly because we’re a month into the Bill Belichick era and UNC football getting embarrassed is already old news. Yawn. Everyone in the ACC has been lined up to show Belichick how this actually works for 10 months. Clemson got to go first, and that’s exactly what happened.
In the aftermath of this embarrassment, the hues and cries for immediate course correction from both professionals and laypeople grew louder still. THE IRISH STAR’s Tom Malley supplied the view from the media pulpit:
CBS analyst Aaron Taylor slammed North Carolina’s decision to hire Bill Belichick as a “mistake” and advised the program to “move on” from the veteran head coach following Saturday’s humiliating 38-10 defeat to Clemson. The Tar Heels were once again outplayed by a superior opponent…, leading to droves of fans heading for the exit doors before the halfway point had even arrived.
While things improved in the second half as UNC limited its visitors to just three points, it was yet another sign that Belichick is being exposed at the collegiate level, leading Taylor to suggest that the school should already consider severing ties with the 73-year-old.
“Ludacris performed for the students around 10 o’clock this morning — that’s a perfect word to describe whatever the heck is going on in Chapel Hill. It is ludicrous that that’s the product,” Taylor said on CBS Sports following the game.
Underscoring that was SPORTS ILLUSTRATED’s Blake Silverman supplied from those who actually were supposed to buy into this in the first place:
To start the “Chapel Bill” era, the Tar Heels have dropped two of their first four games with a loss to TCU in their opener followed by a 34-9 loss to UCF on the road in Week 4. As North Carolina dug themselves into an early hole against Clemson Saturday, the ESPN broadcast shared an interview with a UNC student who’s anything but thrilled with Belichick’s start.
“TCU was… I went to that game and that was one of the saddest feelings I’ve had in University so far,” the student said about her school’s first game of the season. “And I’ve failed midterms before, so that’s saying something.”
Speaking of fails, what did take place in prime time last night on the three broadcast networks was only slightly more enthralling–the best of the lot being yet another Sunshine State tilt that did wind up with that ABC window and which THE ATHLETIC’s Jason Kirk and Alex Kirschner described thusly in this morning’s UNTIL STAURDAY newsletter:
No. 3 Miami, which went into Tallahassee and sat on No. 18 Florida State, 28-22, thereby closing in on a top-four seed and making national title talk a reality. (FSU made the score respectable late, but it wasn’t a close game.) The Hurricanes already had wins over neighbors USF and Florida.
Meanwhile, FOX had a rematch of the upset that kick-started the Deion Sanders era at Colorado two years ago that this time was a reminder that the talent that helped make Primetime ready for prime time is apparently over, a 35-21 Horned Frogs win that dropped the Buffaloes to 2-4, while NBC led into the season 51 premiere of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE with a thoroughly uncompetitive 42-3 Ohio State rout over Minnesota.
But if one was looking for compelling and surprising storylines, the late afternoon window provided more than their share, including a reminder that there is indeed life in Gainesville even after a Cane conquest, as the ASSOCIATED PRESS’ Mark Long reported:
DJ Lagway and Dallas Wilson might be the combination Florida coach Billy Napier needs to save his job. Lagway threw for a season-high 289 yards and two touchdowns — both to Wilson, a true freshman making his college debut — and Florida upset No. 9 Texas 29-21 on Saturday to end a three-game skid. Arch Manning and the Longhorns (3-2, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) had a chance in the final minute thanks partly to a defensive penalty, but he threw incomplete deep and was sacked twice. That set off a raucous celebration for Florida (2-3, 1-1), which won for the first time since beating Long Island in the opener and eased some pressure on Napier.
And if that were surprising, what transpired in Pasadena was utterly shocking, as CBS SPORTS’ Cameron Salerno described:
No Power Four college football program has undergone more change during the last six months than UCLA. Sitting at 0-4 and being the only FBS team that hadn’t led in a game this season, it would’ve been easy for Iamaleava — the former top-ranked player in the 247Sports transfer rankings — to pack it up. Instead, Iamaleava put Penn State in a position where winning out might be the only guarantee at a spot in the College Football Playoff after UCLA delivered the most stunning result of the season with a 42-37 win over No. 7 Penn State on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
“There was a lot of outside noise coming into it,” Iamaleava said. “I was preaching to the guys, if you don’t want to be here, you can leave. I was basically telling the guys, whoever still believes that we are still in this and that we have games ahead of us that we can go win, then let’s roll.”
And if you thought Happy Valley was anything but in the wake of last Saturday night’s double OT defeat at the hands of then #6 Oregon, the reaction that PENN LIVE.com’s Megan Lavey-Heaton compiled made that look like a parade:
“3 million dollar defense gets swagged on by 0-4 team that just fired their head coach. Kill the entire program” – u/hoennevan
The internet didn’t hold back, with fans and neutral observers alike unleashing a barrage of hilarious and brutal comments about Penn State’s performance.
“I thought Penn state fans were being a bit dramatic after losing to Oregon but damn…I get it now.” – u/Dme503
The funniest outcome is Penn State losing here and UCLA going 1-11 for the year” – u/Competitive-Rise-789
“If Penn State loses this game, I’ll take out a loan to buy out Franklin’s contract” – u/theManWOFear
“I keep seeing people say that we should fire Franklin if we lose this game and I’m sorry that’s b——t. We should fire Franklin even if we win this game.
To which I can offer this merely as something close to solace: Be thankful Franklin isn’t shuttping someone practically a third of his age.
Courage…