What we learned in UNC football’s win at Charlotte, Belichick’s first with Heels

An opening drive touchdown with an explosive play through the air — this time a 51-yard pass from Gio Lopez to Chris Culliver in the end zone — followed by the Tar Heel defense forcing a three-and-out.

Stop if you’ve heard this one before. Maybe, even, as recently as this week?

On Saturday night, the Bill Belichick hype train kept chugging just enough to defeat the 49ers, 20-3, in front of a record-setting crowd of over 19,000 at Jerry Richardson Stadium. The win is the first for Belichick at North Carolina (1-1).

Charlotte (0-2) is still seeking its first win under coach Tim Albin.

“A good win for our team tonight,” Belichick said. “Proud of those guys [with the] short week and a lot of negativity from the outside, but they really just got back to work and I thought we played a lot better tonight.”

Belichick knew the Tar Heels would be facing a five-day turnaround between TCU and Charlotte, so he did some work preparing for the 49ers in the offseason, he said Wednesday. Lopez credited the staff after the win on a “great job” preparing for the game throughout the week. Gavin Gibson, a defensive back transfer from East Carolina, said the team’s preparation led to the Tar Heels being better situationally on third down and more “fundamentally sound” in man-to-man and zone techniques.

The end result indicated that: North Carolina was able to hold the 49ers to just one field goal — Charlotte’s lowest scoring total since a 34-3 loss to Tulane last October.

Even so, Saturday night wasn’t exactly a dominant showing for UNC, especially considering Charlotte’s stature. The 49ers have only beat one in-state ACC opponent in program history, and yet, the Tar Heels committed careless penalties — see their illegal substitution late in the fourth quarter, for instance — and failed to score more than two touchdowns against a bottom-tier FBS defense.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Gio Lopez rebounds from season opener

Lopez exited Monday’s game in the third quarter with a back injury, but said Saturday it felt “better now.”

That much was clear. By the opening drive at Charlotte, Lopez had already completed more passes — three — than he had in the entire first half Monday.

The South Alabama transfer didn’t miss his first eight passes, but began to struggle after that point. Lopez was 17-for-25 on the game (68%), but that drops to 9-for-17 (53%) once you factor out that hot start.

That said, Lopez showed off more of his mobility on Saturday. There were multiple points where the quarterback was able to scramble and extend plays — or even run for a first down like he did late in the second quarter.

Lopez’s ability to improvise came at a critical time just before the half. The signal-caller scrambled three times on an 11-play, 80-yard drive that ended in a Davion Gause 12-yard rushing touchdown. That score put North Carolina up 17-3 heading into halftime.

As the game grew on, Lopez’s play became more questionable. He wasn’t facing a particularly stout defense in Charlotte — the 49ers entered Saturday ranked 116th in FBS in total defense — but had a hard time, in particular, when passing right. The left-handed quarterback, outside of screen passes, failed to make a pass short right, mid right or deep right despite attempts at all three levels.

It was clear Charlotte had adjusted to UNC’s early-game looks. North Carolina’s one scoring drive in the second half came after the Tar Heels ran Demon June repeatedly up the middle and ended in a 33-yard field goal from Rece Verhoff.

Lopez’s one throw on the scoring drive? A pass to June for a pickup of zero yards.

Chris Culliver injured

Some more bad news for UNC’s offense: Culliver went down late in the first half.

The wideout held his left arm as he exited the field. He didn’t need help to walk off, but was surrounded by multiple staffers and appeared to be in serious pain.

Per the ESPN+ broadcast, he was ruled out for the rest of the game with a shoulder injury. There have been no specific updates from UNC on Culliver’s future status to this point.

Culliver, despite playing less than one half, was North Carolina’s top wideout on Saturday. He racked up 74 yards receiving and one touchdown — that 51-yard reception at the beginning of the game — on four targets.

This is another hit to a North Carolina offense that’s already battling injuries early in the season. Sixth-year senior center Austin Blaske has been unable to play for the Tar Heels, with UNC using redshirt senior Christo Kelly (Belichick’s first transfer portal addition at North Carolina), but mostly third-string center Chad Lindberg.

Considering the status of North Carolina’s offensive line, and the fact that the Tar Heels have combined for just 198 rushing yards over their first two games, the passing game will be crucial — at least until Blaske is available and the O-line can gel more.

Culliver’s potential absence, though, makes that much harder.

“He wasn’t able to come back,” Belichick said. “You know, hopefully we’ll see what it is... he’s a tough kid, you know, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Tar Heel defense looks…. better?

Fireworks erupted into the sky midway through the third quarter at Richardson Stadium.

Conner Harrell’s pass to E. Jai Mason was a bit low, but nothing the wideout couldn’t handle. He dropped down in the end zone to anticipate the catch and dropped the ball. The 49ers fans in the crowd celebrated and the pyrotechnics ripped into the air before the call on the field became clear: incomplete pass.

It’s hard to say, based on Saturday night, how improved the Tar Heels’ defense looked because of moments like this.

The unforced errors continued to rack up for the 49ers in the second half. On Charlotte’s next drive following the dropped pass in the end zone, Harrell fumbled a snap for a loss of 10 yards. That self-inflicted wound put the 49ers in a 3-and-20 situation, at which point Andrew Simpson sacked him for a loss of 11 yards. That was UNC’s one sack on the game and first of the season.

This much is certain: the Tar Heels’ rushing defense — which relinquished 258 net rushing yards to TCU on Monday — shut down the 49ers. Charlotte managed just 21 rushing yards for an average of 0.7 per carry.

This story was originally published September 6, 2025 at 10:45 PM.