CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina — The University of North Carolina made an unprecedented investment in football with the hire of Bill Belichick and the additional financial support that has been poured into the program. It was a true experiment to see if the Tar Heels could achieve different results on the field, and possibly shake loose from the “sleeping giant” moniker that has followed the program for decades.
Belichick brought with him a spotlight that had the Tar Heels discussed nationally before they had even played a game. The Monday night stage against TCU set up for a moment that could have been transformative for the program and the school.
But instead of a transformative evening in Chapel Hill, North Carolina delivered a performance that for fans (who had mostly cleared out by the end of the 48-14 smacking) felt was all too familiar. North Carolina football history in the 21st Century has been mostly good, but rarely great and rarely terrible. In fact, with Monday night’s loss the program has a 157-157 record since 2000. But while that historical average will get you to plenty of regionally-based bowl games and deliver enough home wins to keep the fans entertained until basketball season, the outside view of North Carolina football has been shaped by how the Tar Heels have performed on big stages.
Since 2000, North Carolina is 4-12 in bowl games and has gone 1-8 in bowl games since 2014 with the only win coming against Temple in the 2019 Military Bowl. College football fans are used to seeing the iconic interlocking NC in the postseason, but also used to seeing the Tar Heels on the losing end.
It’s not just bowl games, either. Since 2000, North Carolina has also fallen to 4-12 in season openers against power conference…
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