Bill Belichick talks UNC's hot start, second-half comeback attempt

Remember earlier in the college football season, when UNC kept scoring on its opening drives and failed to replicate that success later in games?

North Carolina did the same thing Saturday night, marching 75 yards in 13 plays for an opening-drive Gio Lopez touchdown. The Tar Heels only added a field goal later in first-half action, then woke up late in the third quarter, scoring on consecutive drives to take a 1-point lead.

Unfortunately for UNC, the final result was a 32-25 loss to Duke that knocked it out of bowl eligibility. After North Carolina's (4-7, 2-5 ACC) crushing defeat, head coach Bill Belichick spoke about his team's hot start and second-half rally.

“Well I think they (Duke) made some adjustments after the first drive," Belichick said. "Then we made some adjustments in the third quarter. It’s kind of football, it goes back and forth. If you heard somebody was something, then they usually try to do something to compensate and vice versa. Manny’s a good coach, he does a good job and they gave us some problems, we gave them some problems and they made more plays than we did. Therefore, the result.”

The Blue Devils (6-5, 5-2 ACC) aren't anything to write home about on defense, but like Belichick pointed out, they adjusted to limit the Tar Heels' first half offense. UNC's only other first-half score came on a 49-yard Rece Verhoff field goal – just before halftime.

North Carolina tapped into its first-drive momentum in the second half, scoring touchdowns on consecutive drives to take a 25-25 lead. Lopez and Jordan Shipp connected for a 20-yard score, then Davion Gause ran the football 12 yards into the end zone.

Duke made the big plays needed to win on its final drive: first, on a 26-yard fourth down pitch-and-run to kicker Todd Pelino, then on Anderson Castle' third touchdown run of the day.

The Tar Heels had one final chance, but turned the football over on downs. With postseason play out of the question, UNC enters NC State with hopes for one final win.

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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: Bill Belichick points to UNC's adjustments in near-comeback vs. Duke