ACC Football

Legendary head coach Bill Belichick is embarking on his new life as UNC head coach, and it sounds like he's planning on bringing some familiar faces with him.

During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday, Belichick revealed that he's going to start putting together his coaching staff within the coming weeks, and many of the coaches he brings in will have NFL experience.

"I'll really start to move on that this week and next week. A lot of coaches that are potentially available that'll be on the staff are either still involved in college football bowl games, playoffs or they're still involved in the NFL, which we still have another week of the regular season, and then some of them are in the playoffs as well, so we'll see how that plays out. But there will be a strong NFL presence on the staff, but not exclusively. We have some other people, too, that we're working on," Belichick said.

Belichick already announced that he will be retaining former Tar Heels interim head coach Freddie Kitchens on his staff. Kitchens, who coached the Cleveland Browns in 2019, has been with the UNC football program since 2023.

Belichick is also expected to bring his son Stephen Belichick with him to UNC. Stephen Belichick spent the 2024 season as defensive coordinator for Washington after previously working under his dad with the New England Patriots.

The 72-year-old added that his staff will be focused on establishing a winning culture and developing players at UNC.

"So, trying to put together the best that we can, coaches that'll help the players and help produce winning football at Carolina. That's what we're there for, we're there to help the players," he said.

Miami head coach Mario Cristobal is not divulging any information about quarterback Cam Ward's absence in the second half of the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

Ward played in the first half but did not play in the second half of the 42-41 loss to Iowa State. Following the game, Cristobal expressed his desire to keep the details around the decision "private."

"I think all meetings with players and decisions like that, we keep them in private and keep them in private," Cristobal said, per Adam Lichtenstein of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "So I'll prefer not to answer questions as it relates to that. I know he played his best while he was in there."

Ward went 12-of-19 for 190 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, setting the record for most touchdown passes in a collegiate career in the process. Miami was down 28-27 at halftime and backup Emory Williams took over under center.

Williams went 5-of-14 for 26 yards and an interception in the second half but a rushing attack paced by Damien Martinez and Mark Fletcher Jr. kept Miami's hopes alive. Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, it was not enough, but Ward's presence could have potentially flipped the script and sent them home with an 11-2 record.

Ward is a top prospect for the 2025 NFL Draft and will likely hear his name called very early by a quarterback-needy team. With this in mind, preserving his health may have been a factor in the decision to not play.

Regardless of what happened, Miami finishes with a 10-win season and will look to the future while Ward will finally get to embrace the NFL Draft process.

After missing out on the College Football Playoff, the Miami Hurricanes were unable to end the 2024 season on a high note.

The Hurricanes fell to Iowa State 42-41 in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Saturday and finish the 2024 season 10-3.

Quarterback Cam Ward only played in the first half of the game but that was enough for him to secure his place in history.

He set the Division I record for passing touchdowns in a career, breaking the previous mark of 155 set by Case Keenum.

Ward went 12-of-19 for 190 yards and three touchdowns in the opening half. Miami trailed 28-27 when he exited the matchup. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reported that representatives from the New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders were in attendance.

He finished his season with 4,313 passing yards with 39 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. He should be an early pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and will hope to translate his collegiate game to the professional level.

Fans took to social media to project Ward's draft position and NFL potential.

Ward finishes his collegiate career with 18,189 yards and finishes third all-time in passing yards in a career.

He will now turn his attention to the NFL Draft process and figuring out which team he will be taking snaps for in 2025.

During Saturday's Pop-Tarts Bowl between the Miami Hurricanes and Iowa State Cyclones, an altercation erupted on the Miami sideline during the first half, with two teammates throwing punches.

The altercation came amid a high-scoring first half, with each team putting up 28 points midway through the second quarter.

The clash between the two defensive linemen appeared to involve senior Simeon Barrow Jr. and freshman Marquise Lightfoot, with Lightfoot responding to a push from Barrow Jr. by throwing a punch. Teammates and coaching staff swiftly intervened to separate them.

The Hurricanes entered Saturday's game with a 10-2 record, ranked 15th overall and third in the ACC thanks to Heisman candidate Cam Ward.

In the first quarter of the bowl game, Ward set the record for the most Division I career passing touchdowns with 156 after a four-yard pass to Jacoby George.

The Hurricanes hope to bounce back against the Cyclones and finish their season strong after a 42-38 upset loss to the Syracuse Orange in their final regular-season game.

The sun set on a disappointing era of North Carolina football in fitting fashion on Saturday as the Tar Heels lost to UConn 27-14 in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl.

The Huskies had their way with North Carolina all game, especially on the ground as they racked up 210 rushing yards and a touchdown. Junior running back Mel Brown led the way with 96 rushing on 11 carries.

The Tar Heels offense was sluggish in the loss, producing just 206 total yards of offense. North Carolina's special teams accounted for half of its points as Chris Culliver scored on a kick return. The Tar Heels' other touchdown came on a trick play that saw running back Caleb Hood find John Copenhaver for a touchdown.

North Carolina looked to freshman quarterback Michael Merdinger under center in his first collegiate appearance, and it wasn't a memorable day for the young player. Merdinger completed just nine of his 12 pass attempts for 86 yards and an interception.

After the disappointing conclusion to the season, fans expressed their excitement for new coach Bill Belichick's arrival.

Belichick, the legendary New England Patriots head coach who won six Super Bowls, agreed to a five-year deal with the Tar Heels earlier this month following Mack Brown's firing. It will be his first time coaching at the collegiate level, but expectations are high given his past success.

Though it's been competitive in the ACC throughout the years, North Carolina has never boasted an elite team. Fans are hoping Belichick can change that.

Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord made history on Friday night.

McCord connected with sophomore wide receiver Darrell Gill Jr. on a 50-yard bomb during a matchup with Washington State in the 2024 Holiday Bowl, setting a new single-season ACC passing record.

The throw gave McCord 4,594 passing yards in 2024, breaking a conference record that was previously set by Cleveland Browns signal-caller Deshaun Watson during his 2016 campaign at Clemson.

McCord threw for 315 yards through three quarters against Washington State, giving the Orange a 42-28 lead entering the fourth.

The 22-year-old transferred to Syracuse after spending the first three years of his college career at Ohio State and immediately benefitted from the change of scenery. McCord led the nation with his 4,326 passing yards prior to the battle with the Cougars.

He's remained efficient despite also leading the country with 558 pass attempts, completing 65.8 percent of his throws while racking up 29 touchdowns compared to 12 interceptions. McCord finished at No. 10 in the 2024 Heisman Trophy voting for his efforts.

He sat at No. 5 on the ACC's single-season passing list entering Friday's contest before surpassing Brennan Armstrong, Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan and eventually Watson.

It's safe to say that McCord has been pleased with his choice to join the Orange.

"It was the best decision that I've ever made in my life," McCord said after a 31-24 win over UConn on Nov. 23, per Chris Carlson of Syracuse.com. "I think the people I've met and relationships I've created will go a lot further than wins, losses and records. I grew as a player and person more than I could have imagined."

Syracuse sits at 9-3 in its inaugural season under head coach Fran Brown and has an opportunity to reach 10 wins for the first time since 2018.

As for McCord, he etched his name in the history books on Friday.

UNC football head coach Bill Belichick is not expected to attend the Tar Heels' Fenway Bowl game against UConn, per ESPN's Pete Thamel.

Belichick signed a five-year, $50 million contract with the Tar Heels to coach the team for the 2025-2029 seasons. In the meantime, interim coach Freddie Kitchens is leading the team on the field after UNC parted ways with ex-head coach Mack Brown. Kickoff in Boston's Fenway Park is slated for Saturday morning at 11 a.m. ET.

Belichick wasn't present at the Fenway Bowl media day on Friday, nor has he been at the team's bowl game practices. However, there's a reason for his absences, as UNC AD Bubba Cunningham noted, per Thamel.

"He's totally dialed into building the roster," Cunningham said. "He didn't want to go to practice or be a distraction to the kids or the coaches for the bowl game."

He also said: "It's been great. He and [UNC general manager Mike Lombardi] have locked themselves in a room and really spent all the time since he's been announced, building the roster for this spring and next year."

In the meantime, Kitchens, who will be on Belichick's staff, leads the show on the field. Belichick has been hard at work, though. Of note, linebacker Amare Campbell recalled how Belichick recruited him to return to Chapel Hill after he entered the transfer portal.

"I knew how he would develop me and we would compete at a high level," Campbell said.

He also noted: "You know how he is, he's monotone. He kind of got that robot kind of voice. He was just like, 'We're going to compete, we're going to get better. We're going to work every day.' And that's been my mindset since I've been growing up. So that's something I can really get behind and I trust him as a coach."

Belichick's son, Steve Belichick, is also aboard as UNC's defensive coordinator.

The new staff in town has a lot of work to do to turn around a program that is about to go four straight seasons without finishing in the Top 25 of the Associated Press poll. This year's squad notably is 6-6 (3-5 ACC) and particularly struggled on defense. But UNC is putting its hopes in an eight-time Super Bowl winner in Belichick as he coaches in college for the first time in his career.

Bill Belichick is bringing his son on staff as he starts his journey at the collegiate level.

Per 247Sports' Matt Zenitz, Belichick's son, Steve, will join the Tar Heels staff as a defensive coordinator after his current team, Washington, plays its bowl game. Steve Belichick, who worked under Bill Belichick on the New England Patriots from 2012 to 2013, is the current defensive coordinator for the Huskies.

Steve Belichick joined the Patriots staff as a defensive assistant in 2012 and stayed in that role until 2016 when he became the safeties coach for three seasons. From there, he was New England's defensive backs coach for one year and was the outside linebackers coach from 2020 until his father's final season at the helm last year.

He found success in his first season at Washington, taking the Huskies from 99th nationally (406.7 yards per game) in total defense in 2023 to 26th (324.8 yards per game) this year. Washington finished 6-6 and has a date with Louisville in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 31.

Steve Belichick is the second addition to Bill Belichick's coaching staff after he retained Freddie Kitchens as an offensive analyst. Kitchens, who was the tight ends coach and run game coordinator over the past two seasons, was named interim head coach after Mack Brown's firing and will coach the Tar Heels in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl against UConn.

Bill Belichick has some time to figure out his staff before the fall but said he plans to bring in coaches from the NFL to fill up his staff.

"But look, in the end, I've already had a lot of people contact me," Bill Belichick said during his introductory press conference (h/t On3's Alex Byington). "There will certainly be a strong presence of NFL people on the staff. I think that's a certainty. And not only in the staff but in the training area. But at the same time looking for the best people we can get for Carolina, and that fit is a little different than what an NFL team would have, but we'll see."

Kitchens, like both Belichick's, has NFL experience, including one season as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

SMU coach Rhett Lashlee stood firm in his belief that his team deserved its place in the 12-team College Football Playoff despite a 38-10 blowout loss to Penn State in the first round on Saturday.

"We didn't play very good today. But this team is a quality team," Lashlee told reporters post-game. "We were a good team, we earned our spot here, deserved to be here."

The SMU Mustangs were overwhelmed in the first half, being outscored 28-0 by Penn State, sparking debate among college football fans about their legitimacy in the playoff field.

After their lackluster first half, Lashlee acknowledged the assumptions people might make about their place in the playoffs but maintained it was merely an off-day defensive struggle.

"People are gonna see the scoreboard of the halftime score and say things like, 'They shouldn't been in or didn't belong,'" Lashlee told reporters. We had our opportunities to make it the game it should have been, which was a really good defensive struggle."

Among college football fans, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin added fuel to the fire, taking to social media to troll the committee's decision to exclude the Rebels from the postseason and question SMU's inclusion over his team.

One of the biggest controversies surrounding SMU's inclusion was the absence of several SEC teams that failed to make the cut. However, with three losses on their résumés, it's difficult to sympathize with teams that didn't take care of business during the regular season.

Despite the criticism, Lashlee's confidence in his team extends to his starting quarterback, Kevin Jennings, who struggled against Penn State on Saturday. Jennings completed 20-of-36 passes for 195 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions in the loss.

After the game, Lashlee walked straight to his sophomore quarterback and embraced him, saying, "I believe in you. Everyone believes in you."

SMU's season was remarkable despite its disappointing ending. The Mustangs achieved back-to-back 11-win seasons, went 8-0 in their inaugural ACC campaign and earned their first College Football Playoff berth in school history.