Do you enjoy noon kickoff times on a Saturday afternoon? If so, UNC football's 2026 season is perfect for you!
The Atlantic Coast Conference and its television partners announced the game times and networks for Week 6 of the college football season, a result that has UNC playing at noon for a fifth consecutive week! The Tar Heels' road trip to Pittsburgh will start around lunchtime and air on ESPN or ESPN2.
UNC simply can't get away from noon kickoffs!
Our game time at Pitt is set for noon ET – network designation will be announced after the games of 10/3 pic.twitter.com/yauNHclRdA
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) September 28, 2026
At this point, noon kickoffs have essentially become a weekly tradition for the Tar Heels.
UNC opened the season with each of its first five games scheduled for noon starts, making the matchup against Pitt yet another early afternoon affair for Bill Belichick’s squad.
The good news is that, at least, the Tar Heels are used to it by now!
Before we even get to Pittsburgh next weekend, this weekend's clash with Notre Dame is one where a noon kickoff could very well benefit the Tar Heels. With familiarity to preparing for games in this time slot, UNC might be able to use it to its advantage when the No. 3-ranked Fighting Irish visit Chapel Hill.
Hey, we always have to look for the bright side, right?
Don't worry, there is at least one more game that UNC will play in this time slot before the 2026 season comes to a close!
North Carolina’s matchup with UConn on November 7 is also scheduled for a noon kickoff. At this point, maybe the Tar Heels should just try to set a new record for the most games in a single time slot in an entire season.
There's got to be some type of historic record about this type of thing, we are in 2026, the era of everything being documented and accessible through the internet and AI!
Of course, television networks play a major role in setting kickoff times throughout the college football season, and there are certainly worse problems than appearing regularly on national television.
For home games, Tar Heel fans likely hate the early start time. With so much to do in Chapel Hill before the game begins, a noon kickoff jams everything together and doesn't give fans a chance to enjoy the pregame festivities.
When road games start earlier in the day, we all absolutely love it. No need to wait around all day for your team to play when there's plenty of fun games to watch elsewhere.
At this point, Tar Heel fans should get used to this new "norm" of noon kickoffs. Who knows, maybe one of the upcoming games against Duke, Syracuse or Miami will draw a later time slot.
If not, we need someone to step up and create some creative shirts with a catchy name for this year's team.
How about, "Noon Kickoff Guys?"
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