CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Gio Lopez threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Chris Culliver on the first possession, Davion Gause ran for a 12-yard score and Bill Belichick got his first win as a college head coach as North Carolina defeated Charlotte 20-3 on a rain-soaked Saturday afternoon.
Lopez completed 17 of 25 passes for 155 yards for the Tar Heels (1-1).
North Carolina’s defense held Charlotte (0-2) to 271 yards and forced two turnovers.
Belichick, who won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and is the second-winningest head coach in NFL history, downplayed the significance of his first win at this level after the game.
“It’s hard to win,” Belichick said. “You gotta do a lot of things right. You gotta do it better than your opponent, so we were fortunate to do that. So it’s, it’s good to be part of it. I tried to do what I could to help them, but look, I didn’t make any blocks, tackles, catches, runs or anything else out there.”
North Carolina lured Belichick to Chapel Hill with a five-year, $50 million million contract to boost its athletic profile, but his debut in front of a national audience on Monday night was a disaster as the Tar Heels got blown out 48-14 at home by TCU. It was the most points ever allowed by a UNC team in a season opener.
It raised some early questions about whether the 73-year-old Belichick was capable of winning at this level, but his Tar Heels responded with a solid overall performance.
North Carolina started fast with Lopez completing two short passes before firing a deep ball along the left sideline to Culliver, who beat his man by 5 yards for the easy touchdown and a quick 7-0 lead.
But like Week 1, when the Tar Heels scored on their first possession before going into an offensive funk, the early fireworks faded fast.
The Heels offense floundered for much of the first half until Gause broke free off left tackle and scampered 12 yards for the touchdown and a 17-3 lead with 19 seconds left before halftime.
“That drive before halftime was a huge momentum killer,” Charlotte coach Tim Albin said. “But tonight is about us getting better and showing improvement in a lot of areas but I think we did that.”
Charlotte had a chance to make it interesting early in the third quarter, but wide receiver E. Jai Mason dropped a catchable pass in the end zone on fourth-and-6 after quarterback Conner Harrell used his athleticism to escape the pocket.
After the play, Harrell put both hands on top of his helmet in disbelief, lamenting the magnitude of the missed opportunity.
“We just didn’t make a play and that was a tough one,” Albin said.
Harrell finished 17 of 29 for 140 yards.
Lopez said he hurt his back against TCU, but able to practice with the help of trainers.
“We didn’t play our best ball against TCU,” Lopez said. “It was good to get back out there on a short week.”
“Gio I thought did a really good job of improvising and extending some plays,” Belichick said.
