Week 0: The Return of Belichick

Bill Belichick might be back, Virginia kicked NC State's ass, and the first Bantrym Board is officially in the books.

College football is back, and Week 0 gave us plenty to talk about.

The biggest thing that stood out to me was UNC.

After how bad last year went, I really didn't know what to expect from Bill Belichick going into Year 2. But beating TCU 15-10 in Ireland was a pretty damn good start.

And more than anything, the defense looked like a Bill Belichick defense.

TCU scored 10 points on its first two drives and then didn't score again. UNC forced them into mistakes, got stops when they needed them and just looked way more disciplined than the team we watched last year.

Maybe Jordon Hudson finally figured out how to turn the clock back about 10 years, because for one Saturday at least, this looked a little more like Patriots Belichick.

Billy Edwards looked good too.

He's already 23, has bounced around college football and dealt with injuries, so I'm not going to pretend we're watching the next great UNC quarterback after one game. But he looked comfortable. He finished with 232 yards through the air and, in a game where neither offense was exactly lighting it up, did enough to win.

And then there's TCU.

They looked like shit.

Eleven penalties for 100 yards. A snap over the punter's head for a safety. Zero points after their second drive.

Meanwhile Sonny Dykes spent half the game looking like he wanted to fight the refs.

Maybe worry about the team committing 11 penalties first.

It was also just a ridiculous week for TCU before they even got to Ireland. Projected starting safety Jacob Fields was dismissed from the team after an alleged locker-room altercation with a teammate, and the school then got into it with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram over its reporting on the situation.

Then they flew across the Atlantic and lost to the team they beat 48-14 last year.

Hell of a week.

The other team that really impressed me was Virginia.

I was completely wrong on this one.

I had NC State +4 on the first Bantrym Board and thought they would at least keep it close.

They lost 34-8.

Virginia kicked their ass.

Beau Pribula was probably the biggest surprise for me. I remembered him from Missouri, but I didn't expect him to come out in his first game at UVA and look this comfortable.

He only threw the ball 11 times, completing nine of them for 155 yards and two touchdowns.

But the bigger thing was his legs.

110 rushing yards.

For a quarterback.

That's a problem.

And UVA's defense might have been even more impressive.

They held NC State to 168 total yards and made CJ Bailey look absolutely terrible.

There's really no other way to put it:

Bailey sucked ass.

12/23.

84 yards.

No passing touchdowns.

An interception.

And a lost fumble.

That's an insane stat line for a quarterback who came into the season with legitimate expectations.

Maybe Virginia's defense is just that good. It's Week 0, so I'm not ready to go that far yet.

But after watching them completely shut down NC State while Pribula ran all over them on the other side, UVA definitely has my attention.

And that brings us to our first ever Bantrym Board.

UNC +9.5 ✅Memphis ML ✅NC State +4 ❌

Week 0: 2-1.

UNC and Memphis didn't even need the points. Both won outright.

NC State lost by 26.

Yeah...we missed that one.

Our Week 0 Best Bet was literally STAY AWAY FROM WEEK 0, so we're not going to bullshit you and count that as a win.

Best Bet: 0-0.

That starts for real in Week 1.

For now, I'll take 2-1.

Bill Belichick might be back. TCU looks like a mess. Virginia might actually be good. And CJ Bailey should probably burn that game tape.

College football is officially back.