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North Carolina

Tar Heels · ACC

Head coach Bill Belichick Year 1 with North Carolina

Year-1 HCs (2015-2024) averaged -0.19 W vs SP+ expected · n=83

Season Projection · 2026 W0

10,000 sims
3.2
Expected wins
3-8
Proj record
1 to 6
Win range (90%)
#101 (79–119)
Final rank (90%)
0%
Make playoff
0%
Win conference

Path to Glory

Tap a win or a loss on each pivotal game to see how the playoff probability shifts. Leave any game unset to average across both outcomes.

Make the playoff

0%

Baseline projection.

  • at TCU
    Neutral site · Aug 29
  • vs East Tennessee State
    Home · Sep 12
  • vs Syracuse
    Home · Oct 24
  • vs Louisville
    Home · Nov 14
  • vs NC State
    Home · Nov 28

Pivotal games are the 5 with the largest playoff-probability swing, ranked by the model. Math: chained Bayesian log-odds update from the conditional simulation set; gets the directionally right answer but won't perfectly capture cross-game correlations until the full Monte Carlo pipeline lands.

Returning production · 2025

32 PCI
  • Quarterback 38% (3/8 players)
  • Offensive line 24% (5/21 players)
  • Skill (RB/WR/TE) 35% (12/34 players)
  • Front 7 (DL/LB) 18% (5/28 players)
  • Secondary 48% (11/23 players)
  • Special teams 29% (2/7 players)

PCI weights returning production by position group (QB/OL heaviest). 70%+ is healthy continuity; 45-70% is a normal rebuild; below 45% is a meaningful turnover.

If QB1 is out (Giovanni Lopez)

GIE projects a -4.1 rating drop and a -16.3pp shift in playoff probability if North Carolina loses its QB1 for an extended stretch. (n=1 historical samples; pooled across recent seasons.)

Situational efficiency · 2025

FBS percentile rank
  • 3rd-down conversion 33.9% 32th — below avg
  • Red-zone TD rate 13.9% 40th — below avg
  • 4th-down aggression 35.3% 46th — average
  • Late & close 4.4 yds/play 29th — below avg

Percentile is across all FBS teams with play-by-play data for the season. "Late & close" is yards per play in Q4+ with a one-score margin — a proxy for clutch offensive performance.

Schedule

Full 2026 slate. Tap a row for the matchup breakdown.

Latest Stories

  • Recap

    North Carolina: 2025 Week 16 recap

    North Carolina sits at 4–8 after a 42–19 road loss to NC State in Week 14, a result that underscores the Tar Heels' struggles this season. The team's GIE rating of –6.6 places them at 91st nationally—a reflection of inconsistency on both…

More coming

Per-team pages get the full treatment in Phase 3: current rating, season projection histogram, schedule with win probabilities, and live overlays on Pylon stream days. For now, this page exists so stories and news have a permanent home as content rolls in.