North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick credited Clemson for executing when it mattered most on Saturday.
After North Carolina blew a 14-point first-half lead in the eventual 28-20 loss to Clemson at Memorial Stadium, Belichick acknowledged that the Tigers “made a few more plays than we did in the last eight minutes of the game.”
The Tigers dominated the Tar Heels down the stretch of the contest. Trailing 17-15 when time resumed with 8:11 to go in the fourth quarter following a lengthy lightning delay, Clemson held UNC to a field goal.
Clemson then scored touchdowns on consecutive possessions before intercepting the Tar Heels with 32 seconds to play to seal the victory.
“Obviously a disappointing end,” Belichick said. “Proud of the way our players competed. Clemson’s a good football team. In the end, they made a few more plays than we did in the last eight minutes of the game. We missed a couple of opportunities on offense and missed some tackles on defense. Had a couple long runs that obviously hurt us, so, you know, disappointing end. But we’ve just got to keep working and keep getting better, which we are. So there’s really not too much to say. Give Clemson credit — they made the plays at the end of the game they needed to make to win.”
Coming out of the delay, North Carolina had the ball at Clemson’s 7-yard line and ran the ball twice on second and third down. The Tar Heels got stuffed both times for gains of 3 and 0 yards, forcing them to settle for a field goal that pushed their lead to 20-15 with 6:34 remaining.
“We missed an opportunity down there,” Belichick said. “I’ll just leave it at that.”
After that UNC field goal, Clemson raced 68 yards in four plays to score a touchdown on an 8-yard Gideon Davidson run, giving the Tigers their first lead of the game at 21-20 with 5:01 remaining. Clemson would not relinquish the lead.
UNC jumped out to a 17-3 lead on an Aeron Burrell field goal with 8:36 remaining in the second quarter, which followed a 3-yard touchdown run by Demon June early in the first quarter and a 15-yard touchdown pass from Billy Edwards Jr. to Benjamin Hall later in the opening period.
But after a couple Nolan Hauser field goals cut into UNC’s lead, the Tigers closed the gap further to 17-15 on a 27-yard touchdown pass from true freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds to tight end Christian Bentancur at the 4:21 mark of the third quarter.
And following the two-hour-and-twenty-five-minute lightning delay, Clemson looked like a totally different team as the Tigers came storming all the way back.
Belichick was asked what he felt the biggest difference was after his team’s fast start.
“We ran the ball consistently. We didn’t finish in the end zone a couple of times when we got down there,” he said. “But again, you know, we’re playing against a good football team.”
Making his first career start, Reynolds finished the day 20-for-29 for 215 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception. He also rushed for 26 yards.
“He did some good things,” Belichick said of Reynolds. “He threw a couple of interceptions. One counted, one didn’t. You know, the receivers did a good job running with the ball. He made a couple of good runs. Good, competitive game.”
You can watch Belichick’s press conference below:
