Bill Belichick couldn’t have asked for a better way to begin his second season at North Carolina. The Tar Heels beat TCU 15-10 on Saturday in Dublin, giving the 74-year-old coach his first victory of the new season after his defense completely shut down the Horned Frogs in the second half.

It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t easy, but when it was over, Belichick was 1-0. And the opponent made this one mean a little more.

One year later, Bill Belichick finally had his answer

Exactly one year earlier, TCU had welcomed the six-time Super Bowl champion to college football in the worst possible way. Belichick’s highly anticipated North Carolina debut ended in a brutal 48-14 loss, and the Tar Heels eventually finished his first season 4-8.

This time, even with North Carolina leading 12-10 at halftime, Belichick wasn’t interested in talking. An ESPN reporter tried to stop him as he headed toward the locker room and eventually stepped directly into his path.

Belichick briefly slowed down, moved around her and kept walking without saying a word.

By the end of the game, his mood looked very different. When North Carolina was awarded an automatic first down that effectively clinched the victory, Belichick enthusiastically threw his arm forward to make the first-down signal himself.

The normally stone-faced coach smiled as he celebrated from the sideline, knowing his team was finally about to finish the job.

North Carolina’s defense didn’t allow TCU to score a single point in the second half, a major change from the unit that was overwhelmed by the Horned Frogs a year ago. TCU was also stopped on all three of its fourth-down attempts, while the Tar Heels committed just two penalties for 15 yards compared with TCU’s 10 for 85. It wasn’t a dominant offensive performance, but it was a much more disciplined team when it mattered.

Belichick now gets a week off before North Carolina returns home to face East Tennessee State on Sept. 12 at Kenan Stadium. But the first real test of how much this team has changed comes one week later, when the Tar Heels travel to face Clemson on Sept. 19. Notre Dame follows in Chapel Hill on Oct. 3, with ACC games against Pitt, Duke, Syracuse and Miami waiting later in October.

For now, Belichick gets to leave Dublin 1-0. A year after TCU gave him a brutal introduction to college football, his second season couldn’t have started much better.