{"id":90981,"date":"2025-10-20T23:07:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T23:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/90981\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T23:07:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T23:07:15","slug":"the-monday-morning-huddle-something-to-build-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/90981\/","title":{"rendered":"The Monday Morning Huddle: Something to Build On"},"content":{"rendered":"

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UNC football general manager Michael Lombardi joined 97.9 The Hill\u2019s Aaron Keck this morning for \u201cThe Monday Morning Huddle,\u201d presented by Chapel Hill Tire.<\/p>\n

The Tar Heels suffered a gut-wrenching loss at Cal Friday night, as a late fumble on the goal line nullified what would have been a go-ahead touchdown for UNC in the final minutes. The 21-18 defeat<\/a> dropped Carolina to 2-4 overall on the season and 0-2 in ACC play. Up next is another difficult test, as No. 16 Virginia visits Kenan Stadium Saturday.<\/p>\n

Here are a few of Lombardi\u2019s answers on various topics:<\/p>\n

On the loss at Cal:\u00a0I think our team was committed to the game. It started out not the way we wanted with a fumble and giving up a touchdown early in the game, but I thought we had resolve and fight in our team and our team hung together late at night in a different time zone and competed its tail off into the fourth quarter. Ultimately disappointing. One play never is the reason why you lose a game, but I think we certainly showed improvement. It\u2019s something to build on as we get ready for Virginia.<\/p>\n

On what positives have shown themselves: Our team has been focused all year in spite of the noise on the outside. Our team has really bought into the program. I think one of the reasons you keep people interested is improvement, right? It\u2019s no different than when you go on a diet and you lose five pounds. You can\u2019t wait to continue the diet, right? You want to get going. What stops people from losing weight is they can\u2019t lose the first three pounds and all of a sudden they give up. Whereas our team has made incredible strides in terms of conditioning, in terms of their ability to improve their footwork, their fundamentals, and the players see it. I think if you were in our locker room after the game, there wasn\u2019t a sense of \u201cOh well, we were close.\u201d No, there was a sense of, \u201cWe should have won,\u201d which carries over into the next week and then we have to have a good week of practice this week. So we\u2019re excited about getting back to work. That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing. We\u2019re building a program here, and programs don\u2019t happen overnight. But what happens day by day is the resolve and the commitment that each player brings to the table when you work and put time and effort in.<\/p>\n

On the Virginia game this weekend:\u00a0Virginia has played really well this year. They had a really tough win against Washington State. Washington State led the entire game until the final two minutes of the game where they were able to record a safety late in the game and won the game 22-20. So there will be a great challenge for our players. Yesterday we had a very spirited practice, and we\u2019ll get ready this week for them and meet the challenge that awaits us. That\u2019s the best thing about ACC competition, is we get to learn more about our team every single week and we\u2019re gonna go out there and compete and improve. And I think what we saw on Friday night needs to carry over into Saturday afternoon and we\u2019ll get the fans out and show them that there\u2019s something to be proud of here at North Carolina.<\/p>\n

On his message to the fans: Look, everybody\u2019s frustrated with not winning, but we\u2019re building something that is sustainable and it\u2019s gonna continue to grow. And ultimately, to have the fans\u2019 engagement is important and we wanna win as much as anybody, and we need the fans\u2019 support there as much as the players do to help us create momentum moving forward. We\u2019re going to build this program the right way and the fans are gonna buy in because we\u2019re eventually gonna win.<\/p>\n

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Listen below for the full conversation with Michael Lombardi, and tune in to hear the segment live on Monday mornings each game week!<\/p>\n

https:\/\/chapelboroaudio.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/2025\/10%20-%20October\/20\/MICHAEL%20LOMBARDI%20-%20102025.mp3<\/a><\/p>\n

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Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications\/Jeffrey A. Camarati<\/p>\n

Chapelboro.com<\/a>\u00a0does not charge subscription fees, and you can\u00a0directly support our efforts in local journalism\u00a0here<\/a>. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by\u00a0signing up for our newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/a>The Monday Morning Huddle: Something to Build On<\/p>\n

UNC football general manager Michael Lombardi joined 97.9 The Hill\u2019s Aaron Keck this morning for \u201cThe Monday Morning Huddle,\u201d presented by Chapel Hill Tire. The Tar Heels suffered a gut-wrenching loss at Cal Friday night, as a late fumble on the goal line nullified what would have been a go-ahead touchdown for UNC in the [\u2026]<\/p>\n

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