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And wetzel
The 2025 college football offseason was dominated by a couple names out of recent NFL glory.
Manning. Belichick.
The combination of coach Bill Belichick and quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning won 10 of the 18 Super Bowls from 2001-2019, often going through each other to get there.
Now Belichick, 73, was trying to reinvent himself as a college coach at North Carolina. Meanwhile, Arch Manning — Eli and Peyton’s 21-year-old nephew — was set to take over at Texas as the next generation of the family business, quarterbacking.
The hype was breathless. The expectations were considerable.
Then reality hit across Labor Day weekend, leaving the fawning media and preseason predictions to deal with incompletions, interceptions and an avalanche of public scorn.
On Saturday, Manning and his Longhorns ran into the brick wall of an Ohio State defense (led by a Belichick protégé, defensive coordinator Matt Patricia). The Buckeyes won 14-7, and Manning went just 17-of-30 passing, often looking confused and uncertain on the field — although still smooth and polished in television commercials during the game.
Monday night it was Belichick’s turn; his Tar Heels were humbled by TCU at home 48-14. What began as an electric, star-studded (even Michael Jordan was there) event ended with empty stares and emptier grandstands.
Neither tried to evade responsibility.
“Not good enough …,” Manning said after his loss. “That starts with me. I’ve got to play better for us to win.”
“They outplayed us, outcoached us, and they were just better than we were tonight,” Belichick said.
Both men were correct. Neither was good enough. More precisely, neither was close to as good as the summer of attention suggested.
Manning wasn’t terrible, but he certainly didn’t look like the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy and become the No. 1 pick in next spring’s NFL draft. He was just another college quarterback with a ton to learn.
Belichick, meanwhile, wasn’t some magician who could just wave a wand and make Carolina into an overnight juggernaut. Anyone who expected that was a fool; coaching matters, but not as much as talent. Despite bringing in 70 new players, UNC doesn’t have enough of it yet. None, for example, were named Tom Brady.
That doesn’t excuse the performance. Belichick inherited a middling program from Mack Brown, but not one that ever looked this bad. This was a humiliation.
So now comes the hard work for the old coach and the young quarterback, generations apart but somehow in similar positions. They come off a weekend of social media taunts into a week of mainstream questions about whether they are anything more than products of their bygone names.
Fair? Of course not, especially for Arch. His grandfather and uncles were NFL stars, not him. This is his first season as a full-time starter. He has always said the right things, was patient for two seasons and, for the most part, tried to just blend into the team despite his family’s fame.
That said, those commercials for Warby Parker and Vuori airing while he was struggling on the field, all but assured backlash from fans who are always eager to scream about nepotism.
The good news is the upcoming Longhorn schedule — home games against San José State, UTEP and Sam Houston followed by an off week. SEC play doesn’t ramp up until October.
Manning showed flashes of potential against a dominant, talented and clever Ohio State defense — likely the best he’ll face all season. Give him some time to settle in while lying low, and the opener can be overcome.
“The growth throughout the game for Arch was really encouraging,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “We are going to be fine. For Arch, the expectations were out of control on the outside. I’d say let’s finish the book before we judge him. That’s one chapter.”
For Belichick, altering the story may be more challenging.
TCU is an excellent program playing with an experienced quarterback (Josh Hoover) and a chip on its shoulder from the lack of pregame attention — the Horned Frogs won nine games last season, after all.
The Heels won’t always look this bad — they are favorites against Charlotte this weekend and then host Richmond before a trip to rebuilding UCF. September can be salvaged.
Still, Carolina didn’t show much talent. The transfer portal allows for teams to reboot a roster quickly, but it isn’t easy. When you are trying to prove that the school’s big investment in the program — and weathering of so much media attention on your young girlfriend — was worth it, getting blown out on opening night isn’t ideal.
This is going to be a process — a multiyear one. Belichick has promised to be in Chapel Hill for the long haul, which actually seems more likely now. It’s doubtful any NFL owner tuned in Monday and thought of hiring him.
Can he still coach them up to a bowl berth or more? Of course. That’s a more realistic goal for UNC.
Can Arch Manning prove to be a good quarterback on a title-contending team this season? Of course. That needs to be the objective for him.
It’s the only way to forget a long weekend where offseason hype met the real world.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Belichick said. “We’ll get at it.”
There’s no other option now.
