The North Carolina Tar Heels came so close to their first conference win on Friday night, but they wound up losing in heartbreaking fashion late. That opened the door for their opponents to rub some salt in the wound.
North Carolina suffered a devastating 21-18 loss to the Cal Golden Bears on Friday at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif. With less than four minutes to go, the Tar Heels fumbled at the Cal goal line to blow a chance at taking the lead and winning the game.
Immediately after the game-changing fumble, the Cal scoreboard went all-in on taunting Tar Heels coach Bill Belichick. It flashed up a fake statement from Cal athletics that parodied the statement North Carolina put out to try and quiet speculation regarding Belichick’s future. The joke statement placed Cal mascot Oski the Bear in Belichick’s role.
“Oski has our full support. No, really, we mean it. Why else would we make this statement?” the scoreboard read, attributing the quote to “Cal executives.”
UNC’s Nathan Leacock fumbles in the final minutes. Cal puts this on the scoreboard as the win seems imminent for the Golden Bears: pic.twitter.com/4P5ex7OWBK
— Shelby Swanson (@shelbymswanson) October 18, 2025
The wording of the statement is no coincidence. Aside from the joking statements at the end of each quote, the comments are lifted word-for-word from the joint statement Belichick and North Carolina put out last week. That statement was meant to address widespread rumors that Belichick and North Carolina were negotiating his exit.
To be fair to North Carolina, Friday’s game was the closest they have come to beating a Power 4 opponent under Belichick. On the other hand, they are now 2-4 with a game against No. 18 Virginia looming. As long as they continue losing, the taunting will continue, no matter how competitive those losses become.
