Sure, everyone was itching to watch some college football.
HOWEVER, we're going to take the ratings from UNC's Week 0 victory as a sign that millions of people were locked in to see the Tar Heels handle business in Ireland.
Don't judge!
The Ireland opener between UNC and TCU draws fantastic viewer ratings
Following Week 0 action of the 2026 college football season, ESPN revealed the viewership numbers for the games they televised.
To no surprise, UNC drew the highest number of viewers!
Week 0 of @ESPNCFB kicked off in a big way this past Saturday
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 1, 2026
🏈 @cfbireland scored 4.9M avg. viewers on ESPN to win the week
🏈 @PackFootball-@UVAFootball delivered 3.2M avg. viewers
🏈 2nd most-watched @MEAC_SWAC on record pic.twitter.com/AzN7mStS5s
It was projected that 4.9 million viewers tuned in to see Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels start the 2026 season on a strong note, as the game peaked at 5.8 million viewers. This is a 10% year-over-year increase, and it serves as the second most-watched Week 0 game since the 2019 season.
Sure, there were likely some haters (such as Paul Finebaum) who tuned in hoping to see UNC get embarrassed by TCU again, but the Tar Heels had other plans!
Not only did UNC vs. TCU set the tone in terms of viewers, but they also crushed the competition. Of the three games mentioned, NC State vs. Virginia was the closest in terms of ratings, drawing 3.2 million viewers.
That's a 1.7 million gap between the two games!
Now, those 3.2 million people got the utter enjoyment of watching NC State get slapped around in their season opener,
Make all the arguments you want, such as:
"Fans just wanted to watch college football"
"The ratings were high because there were no other games on to compete against it"
"No one cares about UNC football"
Your arguments are invalid, because obviously a lot of people are still very much locked in to see the Tar Heels compete on the gridiron.
A pair of Tar Heel defenders start the 2026 season by earning ACC weekly honors
It just goes to show that people are still very much interested in Bill Belichick, especially wanting to see what he's able to do in his second season at the college ranks. While many expected North Carolina to get slapped around, the Tar Heels did the complete opposite, finding a way to carve out a win in Ireland while stringing together an elite performance on the defensive side of the football.
Men lie, women lie, but the ratings don't. Whether people tuned in because of UNC, the matchup, curiosity, or everything surrounding the program, they still tuned in to see what this year's squad has to offer.
If UNC continues winning games, there's going to be plenty of attention to what is brewing in Chapel Hill, whether you like it or not!
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