What we learned in UNC football’s win over Richmond, Bill Belichick’s first at home

It’s unclear if Richmond linebacker Zach Chambers simply jumped the gun or lost his balance. Either way, his lunge into the neutral zone late in the first quarter bailed North Carolina out of what would’ve been a three-and-out on its second drive.

The Tar Heels’ special teams unit celebrated, jumping up and down and patting each other on the helmet. Quarterback Gio Lopez and the offensive jogged back onto the field. Lopez continued on that same drive and, five plays later, connected with wideout Jordan Shipp for the Tar Heels’ first touchdown of the day.

Were you to simply look at the highlights — Shipp’s touchdowns or Mikai Gbayor’s fumble recovery for a touchdown, you could surmise North Carolina had a dominant showing against the Richmond Spiders on Saturday at Kenan Stadium. The final score, a 41-6 win for Bill Belichick’s first home victory at UNC, certainly indicates that as well. But much like the first two games of the season, this matchup provided some answers and, at the same time, exposed deficiencies.

“It was overall a good, solid effort,” Belichick said after the win. “Certainly a lot of things we can still work on and do better. There’s no question about that. We left some plays out on the field.”

Here are four things we learned about UNC football (2-1) in its win over Richmond (1-2):

Demon June solidified as UNC’s No. 1 option at RB

North Carolina was still in search of its top backfield option through two games.

When Demon June earned the start Saturday, it appeared he may be that guy. His 50 yards in the Tar Heels’ opening drive — the longest run for a North Carolina freshman since Omarion Hampton against Georgia State in 2022 — only confirmed that.

Much like Hampton’s performance in Atlanta three years ago, June had a breakout game Saturday. The freshman from Jacksonville built on his Sept. 6 standout performance against Charlotte by racking up 148 yards on 14 attempts for an average of 10.6 yards per carry. Despite UNC’s struggles on third down, the running back proved a reliable option for short yardage pickups on basic power plays.

Sophomore running back Davion Gause was used sparingly, earning just six yards on five attempts. Senior back Caleb Hood was targeted once on an incomplete pass.

Meanwhile, June continued to break tackles en route to the Tar Heels’ first 100-yard rushing performance of the season and the most single-game rushing yards by a UNC freshman since Michael Carter in 2017.

“He’s earned it,” Belichick said. “Nobody gave him anything. He started at the bottom of the depth chart and just kind of worked his way up. He’s had some opportunities and has done pretty well with them.”

North Carolina struggled on third down

UNC entered Saturday ranked 125th in FBS (out of 136 teams) and 17th in the ACC (out of 18 teams) in third-down conversions with a .240 rate.

North Carolina’s 6-for-11 performance against FCS opponent Richmond did little to assuage that.

The first half, in particular, was a struggle for the Tar Heels. They went went 3-of-7 on third down conversions in the first half. After the June 50-yard pickup, the other successful chances came on another June rush up the middle and Lopez’s touchdown in the second quarter.

But there were also two Lopez sacks, a short Lopez rush and a missed pass attempt to wideout Kobe Paysour in the end zone.

Lopez’s first third-down opportunity in the second half didn’t go much better. His pass to tight end Jordan Owens was short, leading to UNC’s first three-and-out of the day.

The North Carolina signal-caller, to his credit, converted on his remaining third down chances. But....

Gio Lopez looking shaky

Lopez, through three games, has yet to truly find his rhythm.

The South Alabama transfer appeared to take strides last week following a disastrous 4-for-10 performance in the season-opening loss to TCU. But after an improved outing at Charlotte, Lopez completed 10-of-18 passes (a roughly 56% completion rate) for 119 yards and two touchdowns against Richmond.

That puts the quarterback’s completion rate so far this season at 31-for-53 (roughly 58%).

“We think we’re getting more comfortable with him and he’s getting more comfortable with us,” Belichick said. “There are things he obviously does really well and we want to try and feature those. There are some other things that we need more work on.”

Lopez’s most reliable target Saturday was Shipp, who had to show off his athleticism at multiple points to reel in catches on wide-open looks that were thrown off target. Take his touchdown reception in the first quarter, for instance, where Shipp leapt to grab a ball thrown over his head before stiff-arming a defender on his way to the end zone.

No defender was within five yards of Shipp on that catch.

Lopez was sacked two times and, as with his first two outings, seemed to struggle more as the game churned on.

Defensive deficiencies exposed

After effectively shutting down Richmond’s first four drives — forcing multiple three-and-outs and one turnover on downs — North Carolina’s defense allowed the Spiders to burn nearly nine minutes of game time in a single second-quarter drive.

That 14-play, 76-yard drive ended in a field goal for the Spiders — the team’s first of two field goals on the day.

Richmond ate away at the clock again in the third quarter (on another lengthy drive) until linebacker Andrew Simpson and defensive lineman D’Antre Robinson combined to stop Kyle Wickersham on a quarterback keeper at UNC’s one-yard line — forcing another turnover on downs.

Although the Spiders didn’t score, they extended an impressive possession streak. If you combine those two long drives in the second and third quarters, Richmond controlled the ball for 26 of 32 offensive plays and held possession for more than 15 minutes, while North Carolina had the ball for about one minute during that span.

“We just gotta win on third downs and just be more physical,” Gbayor said. “It’s nothing that they do. It’s on us. So this week we gotta work on stopping the run.”

There were some highlights, of course: Gbayor’s 62-yard fumble return and a strip sack that defensive lineman Melkart Abou-Jaoude recovered. The two defenders also combined for three sacks.

Still, Richmond’s ability to dominate possession time should raise a red flag — one of several that emerged for UNC on Saturday.

This story was originally published September 13, 2025 at 6:49 PM.