Monday, Sept. 1
8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific
ESPN
The long wait is over. After an offseason of soap operatic craziness, Bill Belichick takes the field for his college football regular season debut as North Carolina’s head coach. Belichick drew headlines in the offseason for reasons completely removed from football and coaching. Now we get to find out if he can coach college players as well as he coached NFL players.
TCU Opens Belichick Era For North Carolina
Bill Belichick makes his debut in college football coaching
Coaching brilliantly in both the college game and the pros is not easy. Bill Parcells, who would become Belichick’s boss with the New York Giants, struggled as a college head coach in one year at Air Force before he moved to the NFL. Nick Saban, arguably the greatest college coach of all time, could not solve the pro game. Neither could Steve Spurrier.
Only three coaches in football history have won a national championship and a Super Bowl: Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer, and Pete Carroll. Switzer wasn’t a disaster with the Dallas Cowboys, but he was handed a Super Bowl roster and did not maximize its talent. He made only one Super Bowl appearance in four seasons. Given what he inherited, his tenure was hardly a clear-cut success.
The point is clear: Being elite in both the NFL and college football is hard. Now we all get to see how well Belichick can measure up against other accomplished coaches who have gone to the other side. Fair or not, Belichick will be the story of this game, regardless of result.
TCU Horned Frogs-North Carolina Tar Heels Odds
Spread: TCU -3.5 (-110), North Carolina +3.5 (-110)
Total: 56.5 (Over -110, Under -110)
Underdog moneyline: North Carolina +135
Great Unknown For North Carolina Opening Game
The reality of betting is that one should bet on games in which one has a clear angle and can confidently predict an outcome, whether that outcome is the margin of victory or the total number of points scored. You need to ask yourself if you have a clear line on this game and how it will unfold. Given that Bill Belichick’s college debut is a moment freighted with curiosity – what’s gonna happen? – this feels like a game which is best left alone. It should be observed and studied so that one can gather information about North Carolina and TCU for future weeks and different games.
Belichick will get all the attention no matter what, but TCU is part of this game, and how TCU will react to the carnival atmosphere and media circus encompassing Belichick is also a mystery. TCU has not done very well since making the 2022 national championship game, so it’s not as though North Carolina and its coach are the only competitors with something to prove. TCU has a ton to prove as well. These teams seem hard to know right now, so it’s better to get to know them and wait for a more favorable betting opportunity later in the season than to risk money on the outcome of this game, which seems extremely difficult to project.
Belichick could be a total genius in this game or he could be a disaster. Neither outcome would seem all that surprising, but both outcomes are in play. Let’s put it this way: Proceed with caution. If you bet on anything in this game, be ready to make a hedge play against the original bet, and don’t put up too much money on your original wager.