When North Carolina hired Bill Belichick as its coach, it put the college football spotlight squarely on Chapel Hill. Unfortunately, the excitement surrounding the huge hire has faded, as most of the news surrounding Belichick this offseason hasn’t been about football; instead, it’s been regarding his relationship with his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.
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And if there’s one thing bettors are looking for before getting down some wagers, it’s a good angle.
“Bettors are locked into the UNC offseason drama,” said Hal Egeland, trading manager at BetMGM. “Before recent interviews and news, BetMGM was taking a majority of bets on UNC’s win total over, but has seen a sharp decline since then, with almost every ticket on the under now.”
Belichick’s relationship with Hudson started gaining national attention around April 15, including The Athletic’s Matt Baker writing a story about Hudson’s role with North Carolina on that day. BetMGM told The Athletic that among all bets on North Carolina’s 7.5 win total before April 15, 79 percent of bets were on the over. Since April 15, however, a whopping 89 percent of bets on North Carolina’s 7.5 win total at BetMGM have come in on the under.
North Carolina under 7.5 wins is at -135, and the Tar Heels have received the most under bets among all college football regular-season win totals at the sportsbook. Besides North Carolina receiving the most under bets so far (number of bet tickets), the Tar Heels have also attracted the third-most under money (total amount of the bets), only behind Florida State under 7.5 and Ohio State under 10.5.
Similarly, DraftKings Sportsbook opened North Carolina’s regular-season win total at 6.5, with early action on the over (seven or more wins) pushing the number up to 7.5. Even at 7.5, the over was as heavy as a -140 (bet $140 to win $100) favorite, with bettors at first still happy to back Belichick leading this team to at least eight wins.
But the tables have turned. Under 7.5 is now favored at -130 on DraftKings, and over 7.5 is positioned at +110 (bet $100 to win $110).
The turning point came late in April, when Belichick’s interview with “CBS Mornings” went viral, with video of Hudson interjecting “We’re not talking about this” when Belichick was asked about how the couple met.
That’s when the North Carolina under action really started showing up at Hard Rock Bet.
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“Even with one of the best coaches of all time, there hasn’t been much action on UNC — until Belichick’s CBS interview clip went viral,” said Neil Walsh, SVP-Sportsbook at Hard Rock Bet. “Since then, we’ve had a flurry of activity on their season-long win total, but with a pessimistic view: 75 percent of wagers have been on the under (7.5). Belichick’s Patriots were famous for being able to block out the noise, but with a distracted UNC team, our bettors are expecting a performance more reminiscent of Belichick’s Browns.”
Even with that early action on the over and recent surge on the under at BetMGM, North Carolina does not rank in the top three for most-bet win totals overall. Ohio State currently leads the way, followed by Michigan (8.5) and Colorado (6.5).
Colorado continues to draw strong action with Deion Sanders at the helm. So are sportsbooks expecting a similar effect with North Carolina after hiring a huge name in Belichick?
“[Sanders] wasn’t as proven as Belichick as a coach, but he was bringing in a lot of players that were successful with his prior team,” said Johnny Avello, race and sports operations director at DraftKings. “With Colorado, bettors would bet every game they played. We’d go in with a ton of money on them on the moneyline, especially when they were a dog. That’s probably what we’ll see with UNC and Belichick, at least early on. Between Belichick and Coach Prime, I’m not sure who will be getting more action on the college circuit.”
So far at BetMGM, it’s clear that Sanders’ first offseason at Colorado has generated much more betting interest than Belichick at North Carolina. Colorado’s win total in the 2023 offseason drew three times more wagers than any other college football team.
When looking at BetMGM’s 2023 national title action from opening odds to May 14, Colorado, as a major +25000 long shot, had brought in the fourth-most tickets and the sixth-most money. Using that same date range for 2025 national title action, North Carolina at +12500 is 20th in tickets (1.3 percent) and 27th in money (0.4 percent).
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The national title action on North Carolina also started to slow down once Belichick’s relationship with Hudson started getting headlines. At BetMGM, 83 percent of all national title wagers on the Tar Heels were placed before April 15.
(Photo of Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
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