Week 1 Overreactions:
Bill Belichick is in over his head
The North Carolina Tarheels had a pretty disastrous start to the Bill Belichick era last night, getting their doors blown off by TCU at home 48-14. Probably the only positives I saw from the game was the overall buzz and excitement there seemed to be inside Kenan Memorial Stadium – which lasted all of about 1 quarter.
TCU outgained UNC by over 300 yards in total offense, forced the Tarheels into 3 turnovers, and probably worst of all – Belichick left the game with more questions than answers at quarterback.
My initial reaction to the game: This is going to be a failed experiment in Chapel Hill, and Bill may be past his prime. The reality of the situation though is that UNC had a similar roster overhaul to that of Deion Sanders at Colorado in Year 1, with 70 new players on the team. Coincidently Deion’s Colorado tenure started against the same team, although they were victorious against the Horned Frogs. After a hot start for Deion, the wheels came off in year 1, and I believe we may have a similar experience with North Carolina this year. I don’t think one of the greatest coaches in NFL history thought this thing would be built into a quality program in one year though.
The Tar Heels will probably be bad this year, but I would be hesitant to say Belichick is “in over his head” until he’s had a full recruiting cycle under his belt.
Kalen DeBoer was the wrong hire
Social media has been stirring since Alabama’s surprising upset defeat to open the season at Florida State. A consistent theme has emerged since that 31-17 loss to the Seminoles – Kalen DeBoer is not the right man for the job in Tuscaloosa. Is that a fair assessment only 14 games into his tenure with the Crimson Tide? Not yet.
There are definitely glaring issues that need to be fixed however. Here are some negative trends under DeBoer:
- Alabama struggles to win away from home, as they are 1-5 outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium
- The Tide are among the highest penalized teams in the country, averaging around 70 YPG in penalty yards in their 14 games (123rd in the nation in that timeframe)
- Effort – The Tide’s effort has seemed to have fallen off, even since the beginning of DeBoer’s tenure. I don’t really know how you fix this one… How do you coach effort? Are the right players in the program? Do they need to recruit a different style player?
I’m pumping the brakes on calling Kalen DeBoer the “wrong hire”, but he and his coaching staff have a lot to figure out, or the moans are going to get louder.
Arch Manning was over-hyped
When you have the name Manning, and you play quarterback at a major college like Texas, you are going to be under a microscope. In the Longhorns first game with Arch Manning as the primary starter, they played on the road against the defending national champs, and were mostly shut down.
The negative – Texas was held scoreless through the first 56 minutes of the contest. Arch made a few risky throws into traffic, one resulting in an interception, and was humbled by the Ohio State defense most of the game.
The positive – Arch made a few throws late in the game that were legit, NFL-level throws. Manning hit Jack Endries on a 30-yard pass down the sideline, where he dropped it in a bucket into double coverage. It was an insanely impressive throw. Not a lot of QBs around the country can make that type of throw.
I think Arch and Texas will be fine. They just ran into a really quality opponent in week 1.
The Bottomline: Alabama no longer gets the benefit of the doubt
I have watched a lot of Alabama football over the years, and one thing that was consistent in that viewership was that I always felt like they were going to “pull it out” in close games, or when they trailed… because they usually did. They no longer get that distinction anymore.
When you play .500% football in your last 10 games, and drop multiple games to unranked opponents, the confidence I have in a team diminishes.
In addition, I don’t think opposing teams fear them anymore. The aura and luster is fading, and Alabama has to earn that back… you don’t simply get it by putting on the Crimson & White.
The Carter Cadence is a new blog series from Creative Media Director Brooks Carter. Follow Brooks on X and Instagram.
