All of the preseason talking is basically done, and it’s time for the product on the field to actually meet expectations.
While the 2026 college football season started on Thursday night, for all intents and purposes today Carolina—along with their opponent from last year—will truly open the college football season in what has become the annual Aer Lingus Classic in Dublin, Ireland. It’s Week 0 football action, and like last year when the played, they’ll be the only college football game going on.
The eyes of the college football world that has been starved for seven months since Indiana took the CFP title will be on Dublin watching these two meet.
The mood around UNC is day and night compared to this game last year. Last year there was a summer full of bad stories around the program, all while a flower of hope was planted about the best coach in professional football come to the college ranks. The money pumped into the program and all of the bluster about UNC being the 33rd NFL team, plus ESPN rolling out the red carpet on that Labor Day contest led to season tickets being sold out and an odd feeling of hope around everything as the game kicked off.
Then the game happened.
Now, the general manager is gone, one of the coach’s family members is on a medical leave since at least the beginning of summer camp, the roster has been completely revamped, there’s another new offensive coordinator—Carolina’s third in three years—and there is more buzz with the other former professional coach coming to the college ranks than the guy leading the football program. On the bright side, the noise around UNC this summer has been significantly quieter—not dead quiet but significantly less than last year—and there are once again reasons for cautious optimism about this team.
There is easily more pressure on this staff for this opener than last year’s, as Bill Belichick is on the second year of his five year deal—but most importantly only the first three years were guaranteed. Ending this experiment after last year just wasn’t something they could do, and while it would still be expensive when this season it’s complete, it’s at least doable. So if Belichick and his family doesn’t want his glorious career to end in one of the worst ways possible, it has to start today.
If you aren’t in Dublin reading this and catching the game in person—and if you are here’s hoping no matter how today goes you had a fabulous time in an amazing place to visit—here’s how you can catch the action:
Time: Noon ET
Location: Aviva Stadium — Dublin, Ireland
TV: ESPN—Mike Monaco with play-by-play, Jordan Rogers handles color, and Dana Boyle will report from the sidelines. A special edition of College Football Countdown also will air on the network starting at 10 AM providing reporting before the game.
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network with Jones Angell doing play-by-play, Joe Jauch with color, and Bryn Renner roaming the sidelines. Here’s a list of affiliates airing the THSN broadcast. You can also listen to them on GoHeels.com, The Varsity Network, Tune In, and Sirius XM on channel 82.
Streaming: Watch ESPN—You’ll need either an ESPN cable subscription or ESPN Ultimate Subscription to watch
Lines: UNC +9.5 Moneyline +280/ TCU -9.5, Moneyline -355, Over/Under 47.5 (-105/-115)
