One of the all-time college football greats has finally given his opinion on Bill Belichick’s season opener with North Carolina.
As Week 2 of college football is underway, many fans are finding it hard to not talk about Week 1’s debut performance from Belichick with the Tar Heels. The former New England Patriots head coach is now under a five-year deal with the school, but North Carolina’s season opener against TCU saw the Tar Heels lose 48-14.
After scoring easily on their first scripted drive to take a 7-0 lead, UNC quickly collapsed under Belichick’s charge. However, seven-time national championship coach Nick Saban came to Belichick’s defense on Friday’s edition of the “Pat McAfee Show.”
Nick Saban Says Belichick Needs More Time with Tar Heels Roster
Saban is widely considered to be one of the greatest college football coaches in history due to the massive success the Alabama Crimson Tide saw under his leadership. Following retirement, he has since become an analyst for ESPN’s College GameDay.
Most recently, on Friday morning, Saban defended Belichick in the face of the harsh criticism he has faced since North Carolina’s latest loss.
“I think the most important thing is you win with people and you’ve got to have a good roster, and a good opportunity to develop that roster, and I think they got in there kind of late in January, kind of being new and got behind the eight-ball a little bit and didn’t do as well in the portal as they would have liked,” Saban said of Belichick’s start in college football.
“Bill Belichick has some work to do with the players that they have..
There’s a lot of things that they can work on and they’ve gotta develop as a group” ~ Coach Saban #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/iz8P1e5Gcf
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 5, 2025
He continued, “They’ve got work to do, in terms of the players that they have… There’s a lot of things that they can work on, and there’s a lot of things that they can improve, and I’m sure that Bill will go to work on that.”
Throughout the game against TCU, the Tar Heels were not physically competitive along the line of scrimmage and were also outgained 542-222. Belichick’s 34-point loss comes as a shock, considering he holds the NFL record for most Super Bowl wins, six of which were as head coach of the Patriots and two more as a coordinator of the New York Giants.
However, Saban said that fans need to be more patient with Belichick’s adjustment to the college football world.
“But I do think that there’s also, people need to have patience in the fact that you’ve got to have a chance to get good players and have a chance to develop those players as a group,” Saban explained.
North Carolina and Belichick’s next opportunity to prove themselves comes at a 7:00 p.m. ET kickoff on Saturday as they travel to take on the Charlotte 49ers of the American Conference.
