Bill Belichick is bringing North Carolina into Storrs for a game that feels a little different from the usual Saturday slate.
The six-time Super Bowl-winning coach will be back in New England for the first time since his final game with the Patriots, a loss to the New York Jets that ended the 2023-24 season. This time, he arrives with a Tar Heels team that has shown real fight in his second year at the college level and nearly knocked off top-ranked Miami last week before a string of fourth-quarter mistakes got in the way.
UConn will get the shot at him Saturday at Rentschler Field, and the Huskies are trying to rebound from last week’s trip into the triple-option against Air Force. Head coach Jason Candle said the matchup brings a different kind of stress than the one UConn just faced.
“Another really quality opponent this week,” Candle told reporters in Storrs. “A (UNC) program that is playing some good football here in the last month, coming off a couple really tough losses to two good teams that are both playing very well right now. Very well-coached team, athletes all over the field, and you know they’re going to stress us in a lot of ways.”
North Carolina’s offense gives UConn a much different look than Air Force did. The Tar Heels are No. 59 nationally in passing offense at 236.8 yards per game, with quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. completing 63.4% of his throws for 1,872 yards, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions. Jordan Ship leads the receiving group with 45 catches for 587 yards and three scores, while tight end Jelani Thurman has been a big red-zone threat with 38 receptions, 461 yards and six touchdowns.
Belichick said this week that UConn’s defense reminds him of Pittsburgh’s, and that’s not a compliment in the sense of comfort. The Panthers picked off Edwards twice and held North Carolina to 21 points in the teams’ Oct. 10 meeting. UConn defensive coordinator Ryan Manalac was linebackers coach at Pittsburgh before joining Candle’s staff.
“As an independent, (UConn has) a schedule that’s really a national schedule from Air Force to Southern Miss to Syracuse to Temple and so forth, so you don’t really see them playing the same type of competition like you would in a conference. So that’s a little bit unique.
But all in all, defensively, they’re kind of similar to Pittsburgh with a lot of pressure defense,” Belichick told reporters in Chapel Hill this week. “Offensively, they’re balanced, and played Syracuse into overtime - that was a terrific game.
But they do a good job of running the ball, running the quarterback, and they can also get it down the field. They have a couple of explosive backs and receivers, so they’ve been in several close games as well.
Pretty well-balanced team.”
For UConn, the formula starts with keeping Kalieb Osborne upright. The Huskies’ offense has climbed to No. 29 nationally in total yards per game at 437.6, helped by explosive running plays and Osborne’s steady growth as a dual-threat quarterback.
That task gets harder against a North Carolina front that brings serious production. Sophomore defensive end Xavier Lewis is tied to seven sacks, good for ninth nationally, and linebacker Derek McDonald ranks fourth nationally with 83 tackles.
“Both guys are game-changers and you can’t let them wreck the game. I mean, that’s just what it is,” Candle said.
“You try to do that each and every week. You try to make sure that the other team’s strength is neutralized the best you can, and you know when you watch a tape, those two guys stand out and have made some really high level plays this year.
So we got to do a great job with those guys.”
North Carolina comes in at 4-4 after a stretch that included a weather delay at Clemson, an 11-point loss to Notre Dame, back-to-back wins over then-No. 25 Pittsburgh and Duke, and a one-point overtime loss to Syracuse before the Miami game. The Tar Heels also opened the season by studying UConn film before their first game against former Huskies offensive coordinator Gordie Sammis and TCU, a 15-10 win in Ireland.
UConn, meanwhile, is still chasing its first power conference win of the season after a 24-point loss to Maryland and that overtime loss to Syracuse. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m.
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