The official schedule for Bill Belichick's second season at UNC has been revealed

We already knew the opponents for the 2026 North Carolina football schedule, and we even had the non-conference dates already penciled in. Now, one week after the College Football National Championship game concluded, the Atlantic Coast Conference officially released the dates for next season.

The Tar Heels will have a very challenging schedule using 2025 as a baseline with very notable programs headlining the 2026 schedule.

Not only is it a tough opponent schedule based on opponent record, but 10 of the 12 teams on the 2026 schedule played in a bowl game in 2025, and it includes nine programs that won at least eight games last year.

Bill Belichick & Co. will kick off 2026 in 215 on August 29th, when they travel to Ireland for a rematch of the 2025 season opener against TCU.

North Carolina will have one home game in September against East Tennessee State before opening ACC play on the road at Clemson on September 19th. With the Ireland trip on the schedule, the Tar Heels will have two bye weeks in September, one on September 5th and the other following the Clemson game on September 26th.

The good news here? Notre Dame comes to Kenan Memorial Stadium on October 3rd. And then, the race to the finish line in ACC play will be on from there. Road games at Pittsburgh and Duke follow on October 10th and 17th, respectively, before back-to-back home games finish out October.

UNC will host Syracuse on October 24th, and then the College Football Playoff National Runner-Up Miami Hurricanes will enter Chapel Hill on Halloween.

The schedule lines up to alternate away/home games through the month of November. A non-conference road trip up north in a rematch of the 2024 Wasabi Fenway Bowl versus the UConn Huskies awaits on November 7th, before Louisville comes to town on November 14th.

The schedule rounds out with back-to-back rivalry games and hopeful revenge games from the results in 2025 with a trip to Charlottesville to face the Virginia Cavaliers on November 21st, and the annual matchup with NC State the weekend after Thanksgiving on November 28th. This year, the Wolfpack will come to Chapel Hill.

All in all, six home games, five road games, and one neutral site game summarizes the schedule.

Official Schedule

August 29th: TCU (Dublin, Ireland)
September 12th: East Tennessee State (Chapel Hill, NC)
September 19th: @ Clemson (Clemson, SC)
October 3rd: Notre Dame (Chapel Hill, NC)
October 10th: @ Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA)
October 17th: @ Duke (Durham, NC)
October 24th: Syracuse (Chapel Hill, NC)
October 31st: Miami (Chapel Hill, NC)
Novmeber 7th: @ UConn (East Hartford, CT)
November 14th: Louisville (Chapel Hill, NC)
November 21st: @ Virginia (Charlottesville, VA)
November 28th: NC State (Chapel Hill, NC)