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Just beyond the logjam of College Football Playoff hopefuls vying for a spot in the ACC Championship sit Bill Belichick and North Carolina, left for dead after a blowout loss to Clemson that sparked locker room turmoil reports and job security questions.

However, on the heels of Saturday's 20-15 win over Stanford, the Tar Heels are now 4-5 overall entering the season-ending stretch against in-state rivals Wake Forest, NC State and Duke that determines whether Belichick's team gets to bowl season or begins its offseason early.

This opportunity is a far cry from where this program sat coming out of a heartbreaking 17-16 overtime loss to Virginia. Belichick elected to roll the dice with a two-point conversion, and it cost UNC the game. That loss put the Tar Heels at 2-5 overall as irrelevancy grew and the house lights dimmed in Chapel Hill with basketball season soon to begin.

Consecutive ACC wins were the much-needed serum injection to show this team Belichick's process was working despite the disappointing first half. Now, the Tar Heels could end November in a very different setting than once projected.

"In the end, it's a damn good win all the way around," Belichick said after North Carolina held off Stanford. "We're going to keep building on that one — We've got the three games in North Carolina now. This is the heart of our schedule, we need to play our best football, have our best week of practice, play our best football on Saturday.

"Get ready to get Wake here. Get ready to get Wake. Let's keep grinding now. We can't stop. We've got to keep grinding, keep getting better, keep believing in ourselves — believing in the process. Let's make it three in a row."

Belichick recognized improvements

Previously pressed to identify the problem before a three-point loss at Cal, Belichick didn't mince words and pointed to his track record of success as a coach.

"It's a learning curve, we're all in it together, but we're making a lot of progress," Belichick said. "The process will eventually produce the results that we want it to produce like they have everywhere else I've been, so I'm very confident in that. Players are working hard and they're getting better, and we're going to continue to do that and improve."

Since that setback, North Carolina won two of its last three games thanks to leadership and improved play out of quarterback Gio Lopez, who threw four touchdown passes without an interception during wins over Syracuse and Stanford.

The UNC offensive line made positive strides in pass protection. Defensively, North Carolina is not giving up the explosive plays that critically-affected this team's progress during the first half of the season.

Big opportunities are upcoming against the Demon Deacons, Wolfpack and Blue Devils.

With two wins to close out the month, the Tar Heels would become the ACC's ninth bowl-eligible team. Wake Forest's coming off a win at Virginia that pushed the Demon Deacons to 6-3 under first-year coach Jake Dickert while NC State piled up more than 600 yards in last week's win over Georgia Tech.

NC State and Duke are both 5-4, but the Blue Devils still have a shot to play in the conference title game since they're 4-1 against league competition.