UNC Football Catch-all | Bill Belichick Era underway

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ACC Announces 2026 League Opponents as Move to Nine-Game Conference Schedule Begins​

theacc.com

ACC Announces 2026 League Opponents as Move to Nine-Game Conference Schedule Begins

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) - The Atlantic Coast Conference unveiled its 2026 football league opponents for all 17 teams on Tuesday, marking an exciting milestone as the league furthers its transition to a nine-game conference schedule and a minimum of 10 games each year against Power Four...
theacc.com theacc.com

North Carolina
Home: Louisville, Miami, NC State, Syracuse
Away: Clemson, Duke, Pitt, Virginia

Transition Year (2026)
  • Serves as the bridge between the previous eight-game ACC slate and the new nine-game structure.
  • Twelve teams will play nine ACC games, while five will play eight ACC games due to contractual obligations and scheduling balance.

Power Four Focus
  • Each program must play a minimum of 10 Power Four opponents annually (9 ACC + 1 non-conference Power Four or 8 ACC + 2 non-conference Power Four).
  • Aligns the ACC with all other Power Four conferences.

17-Team Scheduling Model
  • With 17 football-playing members, rotating opponents ensures competitive balance over multi-year cycles.
  • Not every team can play nine ACC opponents every season.
 
JCTarheel82 said:
Petrino is definitely slimier than most but at least he gave us this timeless meme.

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I can't believe that just a few days ago on the College Football Thread people were talking about the Michigan coach's extramarital affair and I posted about Petrino and his epic scandal leading to classic memes like this one, and now it appears, incredible as it sounds, that he is a leading candidate to be on our staff. I hope to god they pick one of the other candidates, as Petrino, jokes aside, is the sleaziest of coaches. If he is hired at least he and Belichick can hit it off discussing their dating success as sugar daddies (or granddaddies), I guess.
 
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I think we're pretty spoiled in terms of likeability of coaches. Is there a more beloved coach in history than Dean Smith, who was a badass in terms of innovation, competitiveness wins yet was also a kind, caring, humble, moral man of integrity and principles? Somewhere in the top-N list of these types of guys you'd probably find Roy Williams, and both he and Dean would point to Gut. Even on the fball side we had a guy like Mack Brown for a total of 16 yrs. There aren't a ton of Matt Dohertys in the world, but there are tons of Jim Calhouns, Ks, Pitinos and BBs who win but aren't easy to like.

My order of importance for OC:
a) Bring offensive portal talent. I still believe jimmy/joes > than x/o's. Ex. if Colton is a stud and he'd follow Decker then i'd almost prefer Decker over Chip Kelly unless we're positive Lombo has a good QB on the hook. If Andy K could bring Ethan Grunkemeyer AND some OL then sign him up.
b) College Experience - different level of athletes and fundamental ability compared to pros.
c) Proven success at P4 - the opposition is bigger, faster, often better prepped
d) Proven success without 5* talent.
e) College HC experience - BB and Lombo clearly have a lot to learn.
f) Be likeable
g) No history of scandal
h) Adhere's to the half-your-age-plus-seven rule for wives, girlfriends and mistresses for sake of this board.
 
Yikes. That’s the kind of attrition you quite simply cannot have and hope to be competitive next year. Highest-graded player on the team per PFF with 7 sacks, 8 TFL and 2 FF as a sophomore. Local kid to boot. Put simply, losing a high impact pass rusher is pretty much the last thing you can do with how exorbitantly expensive elite ones are in the portal.
 
CFordUNC said:
Yikes. That’s the kind of attrition you quite simply cannot have and hope to be competitive next year. Highest-graded player on the team per PFF with 7 sacks, 8 TFL and 2 FF as a sophomore. Local kid to boot. Put simply, losing a high impact pass rusher is pretty much the last thing you can do with how exorbitantly expensive elite ones are in the portal.
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I'm shocked he's the highest-graded player per PFF. How do I find PFF grades for the season?

Definitely hope he comes back (a la Seth). I think Abou-Jaoude is the must-retain edge rusher on the team, definitely if Thompson doesn't come back.
 
CFordUNC said:
Yikes. That’s the kind of attrition you quite simply cannot have and hope to be competitive next year. Highest-graded player on the team per PFF with 7 sacks, 8 TFL and 2 FF as a sophomore. Local kid to boot. Put simply, losing a high impact pass rusher is pretty much the last thing you can do with how exorbitantly expensive elite ones are in the portal.
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Who were the sacks against? We did play the worst schedule we have ever played. How many total tackles? Did he have any vs the one or two average teams we played this year? I dont remember him doing squat vs State or Duke.
 
stankeylegjones said:
I'm shocked he's the highest-graded player per PFF. How do I find PFF grades for the season?

Definitely hope he comes back (a la Seth). I think Abou-Jaoude is the must-retain edge rusher on the team, definitely if Thompson doesn't come back.
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PFF is unfortunately behind a paywall.

Totally agree though that we have to retain MAJ, now more so than ever. Loved watching that dude over the last half of the year.
 
keywestheel said:
Who were the sacks against? We did play the worst schedule we have ever played. How many total tackles? Did he have any vs the one or two average teams we played this year? I dont remember him doing squat vs State or Duke.
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Fair point. Two of the sacks were against Cal, three were against Stanford, and I think the other two were against Virginia. Still, though, guys who can get to the quarterback are priceless, and guys like him often times make even bigger leaps between their sophomore and junior years developmentally. Just not a good feeling to be losing a local kid from right down the road, at one of the greatest positions of influence on the field.
 
keywestheel said:
Who were the sacks against? We did play the worst schedule we have ever played. How many total tackles? Did he have any vs the one or two average teams we played this year? I dont remember him doing squat vs State or Duke.
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he had arguably his best game of the season against the best team we played all season, UVA. 1 sack, 1.5 TFL, 1 FF, 4 "stops" (tackles that constitute a win for the defense, which IIRC is before 40% of yardage required on 1st down, 60% on 2nd down, and 100% on 3rd and 4th) in 21 snaps.

As far as not doing anything vs State and Duke, it's not like he was alone on the team in that regard.

And it's hardly unique that a player's biggest production would come against weaker opponents. Go look up where most of Donovan Ezeiruaku's sacks came from last year; didn't stop him from being a demon both in college and the NFL.
 
After Mack Brown being fired and especially with the board change this past off-season, I admittedly have no idea which posters are considered the “insiders” anymore, but there is one poster whom others are at least treating like he may have brought reputable inside information in the past saying that many of the players hate Belichick and hate Lombardi even more, and then Tommy Ashley followed with a post essentially implying similar and making the implication that Thompson isn’t leaving because of money.

I know that my dislike of Belichick and Lombardi is not subtle so I completely acknowledge I am not without bias, but I truly just do not think that you can afford to run a college program with the same sterile, emotionless, ‘all business all the time’ mantra as you can in the pros. No matter how professionalized college sports feel these days, and no matter how much money these kids are making, they are still 18–22-year-olds and not grown men playing professional football with eight figure contracts. There still has to be a collegial sense of camaraderie, mentorship, connection, etc.
 
akillesheel said:
he had arguably his best game of the season against the best team we played all season, UVA. 1 sack, 1.5 TFL, 1 FF, 4 "stops" (tackles that constitute a win for the defense, which IIRC is before 40% of yardage required on 1st down, 60% on 2nd down, and 100% on 3rd and 4th) in 21 snaps.

As far as not doing anything vs State and Duke, it's not like he was alone on the team in that regard.

And it's hardly unique that a player's biggest production would come against weaker opponents. Go look up where most of Donovan Ezeiruaku's sacks came from last year; didn't stop him from being a demon both in college and the NFL.
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What made UVA the best? Losing to a 5 loss Duke team? No one in the ACC is good Im sorry to tell you. As for the stats you posted vs UVA thats beyond pathetic. No need in polishing a turd his loss is no loss. Do I trust BB and ML to replace him with anything better? Nope.
 
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