University of North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick said the passing game’s struggles in a collapse at Clemson doesn’t fall all on one player.
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Everyone looks to the quarterback, Belichick said, and many did as Billy Edwards Jr. completed just 8 of his final 22 passes in a 28-20 loss at Clemson on Sept. 19. The offense scored just twice on its final 10 drives. Despite offensive line coach Will Friend noting it could have played better at some critical moments at the end of the game, the running game still generated 214 yards on the ground. The passing game, though, just wasn’t working, and UNC stalled.
But entering a bye week, just over five weeks removed from the completion of a competition where Edwards emerged as the starter in front of backup Miles O’Neill, Belichick said on Monday, yes, there’s more that the passing game could provide. And that’s not necessarily all on the quarterback.
“There’s a lot of detail that goes into every route and every throw,” Belichick said, “and so sometimes we have to make adjustments on that.”
Belichick replied “I do” to a question about whether he expects Edwards to remain the Tar Heels starter at the quarterback position going forward. While he didn’t specifically predict that Edwards will remain in that position even if his struggles continue, Belichick said he doesn’t want to create a “musical chairs” scenario with O’Neill and Edwards flipping positions in the depth chart. In the meantime, he foresees an ability to piece together enough improvements from the quarterback, receivers and offensive game plan to create better production in the passing game.
Belichick said passing, at every level, involves components of “timing, execution, the operation of the play” as well as protection, but also minor details like the technique by a receiver on a route and a quarterback’s anticipation of where a pass catcher is headed.
“I mean, I’m not trying to turn this into landing a guy on the moon,” Belichick said.
Sure, Belichick said, some of the failures are on Edwards. But he added that it’s on “all of us.” Belichick’s description was vague as it relates to the specific areas UNC can improve in, but it illustrated his point: Simply blaming every aspect of the passing game on the play of the quarterback doesn’t capture the full context.
“There’s more to it than just one-on-one quarterback throwing the receiver against air,” Belichick said. “I think that’s good to warm up on, but unfortunately, that’s not the way the game’s played.”
This upcoming Saturday will be the ultimate test of that, but perhaps not the best situation for a passing offense suddenly trying to find its way after two solid weeks to start the season. The Fighting Irish have, as Belichick said, “a lot of their good players from last year back, and they’ve added a few more.” Notre Dame is 4-0, with the second-best defensive grade among FBS teams, per PFF, and the fifth-best overall grade among FBS teams. And it scores points, too, having averaged 42.3 per contest through four mostly-lopsided win, so a Tar Heels offense that struggled in a 28-20 collapse against Clemson before the bye week finds itself needing to rebound quickly against a team that doesn’t seem keen on providing offenses much to feel good about.
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Clemson was struggling entering a matchup with the Tar Heels in week three. And in part due to the play of Edwards, UNC moved the ball quickly to score touchdowns on its first two drives. But over the course of the game, Clemson seemingly figured some things out. It took away some of what Edwards is comfortable with — particularly, the underneath passing game to dynamic tight end Jelani Thurman.
“We started off well, kind of executed a little bit more as a full unit,” Thurman said. “Me and Billy just connecting on those (short) routes was just the right option or the right read at that time. So we’ll continue on that game and the deeper passing game overall.”
And over time, it produced horrendous results for the offense.
There’s no certainty that O’Neill would put the offense in a better situation, though. If freshman CJ Sadler were to return, that would add a major piece to the receiving game that wasn’t present in the Tar Heels’ last game, too. Sadler missed the loss to the Tigers after a traffic stop the week of the game where he was the driver led to the arrest of fellow freshman wide receiver Keeyun Chapman for a concealed weapon charge. Belichick said, “yeah, we’ll see” when asked about Sadler’s status against Notre Dame.
The preparation for games and learning new opponents is “quite different than training camp,” Belichick said. He didn’t get into specifics on ways in which O’Neill could potentially get on the field, or how the Texas A&M transfer has progressed since Edwards was awarded the starting job. But there, of course, is reason for him to stay ready.
“Well, look, everybody’s one play away from being out there,” Belichick said. “Every player that backs up anybody in a position is one play away from playing. So that’s how they should, and I think do look at it.”
The legal system “has spoken,” Belichick said. But he noted it had spoken before in regards to kicker Rece Verhoff’s eligibility.
“And that changed,” Belichick said.
But Verhoff could be in line to reassume the Tar Heels’ kicking duties after going 19-of-23 on field goals in 2025, the result of a preliminary injunction ordered by Judge Kara E. Krothe in a Monroe County, Indiana court case where Verhoff and three other UNC athletes seek an additional season of eligibility. Belichick said that Verhoff has continued to work hard while he’s been ineligible. But he urged that he still has confidence in kicker Aeron Burrell, who has handled the punting, kickoff and field-goal kicking duties for the Tar Heels so far this season.
Burrell has missed all three of his attempts from 40-plus yards out. But Belichick said he has a “great leg” and has “done a good job for us.” He said Verhoff back will create competition among them, and the Tar Heels will see how that progresses. With the frequent changes in the legal system, Belichick is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“But for right now, it appears that people will be eligible to play this week,” Belichick said. “That’s what it looks like.”
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This story was originally published September 28, 2026 at 4:03 PM.