East Tennessee State coach Will Healy doesn’t have to do a deep dive into game footage or analytics to identify what it will take to hang as his Bucs (1-1) head to play at North Carolina on Saturday (Noon, ACC Network). All he has to do is cue up his second game as Bucs coach, last September.
That’s when Healy and the Bucs traveled to Knoxville to open their 2025 slate against Tennessee at Neyland Stadium. The Vols completely dominated, hanging a 72-17 blowout on ETSU.
North Carolina (1-0) isn’t ranked right now like that Tennessee team was, but the gap in talent (on paper), financial resources, and coaching exploits – especially Super Bowl wins in the case of Tar Heels coach Bill Belichick – is vast.
“The reality of it is we have to fix the things that have cost us in the first two weeks and we cannot give them any gifts, right?” Healy said Monday at his weekly press conference. “If we turn a guy loose in the secondary to this quarterback, his sixth year of playing college football, he’ll find them. And so if we don’t tackle, then these 225-pound running backs will run over us and expose us. If we have the quarterback wrapped up and we don’t get him on the ground, he will extend the play, expose it. … If we don’t cover well in the kicking game, they will expose us. So to me it’s not going in with the fear of ‘Oh my gosh, what if.’ No, I’m telling you that if you don’t do your job, it will not be pretty.”
Wide receiver Suderian Harrison, who has established himself through two games as the most reliable big-play target for quarterback Mason Mims in the passing game (8 catches, 213 yards, 21.3 yard avg), has experienced games at Keenan Stadium. He transferred to ETSU from Virginia, which has played a lengthy football series with North Carolina dating back more than a century.
“Yeah, I think the biggest thing would just be winning your matchup,” Harrison said, adding, “They’re gonna look down on us. I also think they’re not gonna take the prep as serious, knowing that we’re an FCS team. The biggest thing is winning your matchups, winning your one on ones.”
Winning one-on-one matchups has been a mixed bag for ETSU through two games. The Bucs had several blown pass coverages in their 49-37 loss to Campbell in Week 0, and two more busts – one in pass defense and one in just making sound, fundamental tackles – led to long plays that either saw Tusculum score or led to a touchdown shortly thereafter.
Healy noted Monday that ETSU gave up four explosive plays against Tusculum for 147 total yards, nearly half of the Pioneers’ total output.
Healy spoke at length about North Carolina and lauded its roster, covering seemingly every position from the quarterback – Billy Edwards Jr. – to Aeron Burrell, who handles the placekicking and kickoffs for the Tar Heels and hit two field goals in the 15-10 win against TCU in Ireland. Carolina also is favored by a staggering 35.5 points.
Then there’s the coaching matchup between Healy and Belichick, who has won eight Super Bowls: six as head coach of the New England Patriots and two more previously as an assistant for the New York Giants.
“Obviously, if you want to talk about a mismatch, talk about Bill Belichick versus Bill Healy. And I get it, you know, and I am excited about the opportunity,” Healy said. “I’m excited about the sense of urgency it creates by the football team. We’ve got a lot of stuff we’ve got to get better and we’ll be able to hone in on that. We’ve got our guys’ attention and, you know, fortunate to have this opportunity to go to Chapel Hill.”
Healy also spoke about the challenge of going against the Tar Heel offense, where the playcaller is now Bobby Petrino, most known for his time as the head coach at Louisville but also having rather tumultuous tenures at Arkansas and in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons.
“The pictures that Coach Petrino gives you: shifts, motions, all those different things. He’s going to find ways to be able to create,” Healy said. “Create numbers and angles. And he’s got a quarterback who can expose some of those and skilled players who can do it.”
Look for the kicking game to be a focal point in this matchup. Healy pointed to it even in the immediate aftermath of the Tusculum game, and its significance for the UNC matchup. To be fair, he might still be a little frazzled by memories of seeing Boo Carter run amok on punt returns for the Vols last September. Carter had 94 yards returning punts in that game, with three of his trips into ETSU territory to set up short fields or, in the case of one return where he was forced out of bounds at the 5-yard-line, a very short field
“In this game you cannot blink and be out of a lane,” Healy said. “In the punt game you don’t get down and go cover and make sure that our coverage lanes are where they need to be, they will expose that. You have got to punt the ball well. We’ve got to protect well. They’ll put some pressure on our shield in the punt game. All of those things we’ve got to do well, again, to have a shot. If you don’t then that’s when it can get out of hand.”
ETSU has beaten FCS opponents before, most recently in 2021 at Vanderbilt en route to the Southern Conference championship and a stirring run in the FCS playoffs. That Commodore team, however, was at one of the lowest points of a rather dismal history of football until recent years.
UNC is a different challenge, led by a singular coach, even if the program remains wracked by controversy after the recent resignation of Michael Lombardi as general manager of the program; Belichick’s son, Steve Belichick, going on medical leave; and a recruiting violation that will not allow the Tar Heels to host any recruits this weekend.
“The odds are against, the salaries are against us, the stadium is against us,” Healy said. “The six-time Super Bowl winning head coach versus the little dude from Ooltewah, Tennessee, that’s against us. I get all that stuff. I believe we have a lot of players in our room who can play at this level.”
Buc Bits
For the third straight week, the depth chart released by ETSU stayed the same. … The Bucs will wear navy helmets, white jerseys, and gold pants. … ETSU LB Dre Delinois leads the Southern Conference in tackles, with 22 total stops. … Mims, with two starts under his belt at QB for the Bucs, ranks in the top 10 among FCS signal callers in passing yards, yards per attempt, passing touchdowns, passing efficiency, and completion percentage. … ETSU RB TJ Peyton, after running for 121 yards and a score against Tusculum, leads the SoCon in yards per carry (7.7) and rushing TDs (3). He’s got 201 rushing yards through two games, ninth among all FCS backs. … Dave Clawson, Healy’s former coach at Richmond and, among other roles, the offensive coordinator at Tennessee in 2008 during Phillip Fulmer’s final season, will be part of the broadcast team for the ACC Network.