North Carolina Hosts Notre Dame at Noon ET Saturday on ESPN
The short version
- Kickoff is Saturday, Oct. 3 at noon ET at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill; TV coverage on ESPN, radio on SiriusXM channels 85 and 129.
- Notre Dame (4-0) is a 21.5-point favorite; the forecast calls for 76 degrees and rain showers.
- Notre Dame leads the FBS in total defense at 199.3 yards allowed per game and ranks second in scoring defense at 8.3 points per game.
- UNC is 2-1 (0-1 ACC) after wins over TCU and ETSU and a 28-20 loss at Clemson.
- Notre Dame leads the all-time series 21-1, including a 45-32 win in Chapel Hill in 2022.
The 4-0 Fighting Irish bring the FBS leaders in total defense to Kenan Stadium for a noon ET kickoff against a UNC team coming off its first loss of the season.
North Carolina returns to Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Saturday, Oct. 3, to host Notre Dame in a noon ET kickoff. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN. Radio coverage is available on SiriusXM, with the North Carolina broadcast on channel 85 and the Notre Dame feed on channel 129.
Conditions are expected to be unsettled, with a forecast of 76 degrees and rain showers in Chapel Hill. Notre Dame enters as a heavy favorite, laying 21.5 points on the betting line.
The Tar Heels are 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the ACC. They opened the season by upsetting TCU 15-10 in Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 29 and handled ETSU 35-3 on Sept. 12 before fading in the second half of a 28-20 loss at Clemson on Sept. 19. The Tigers moved to 3-1 and 2-0 in the ACC with that comeback, handing North Carolina its first loss despite a UNC defense that ranks among the nation's top units.
Notre Dame arrives unbeaten at 4-0 behind quarterback CJ Carr, who has completed 67 of 95 passes for 963 yards with nine touchdowns and one interception. Aneyas Williams leads the running back room with 52 carries for 224 yards and four touchdowns. Micah Gilbert (15 receptions, 334 yards, two touchdowns) and Jordan Faison give Carr a productive receiving pairing.
Defense is the Fighting Irish's foundation. Notre Dame allows 199.3 yards per game, the best figure in the FBS, and 8.3 points per game, second nationally behind Iowa. Wisconsin's 13 points in Week One remain the most scored against the Irish by a 2026 opponent, and the offensive line has surrendered only two sacks across four games.
North Carolina's offense has taken a step forward from 2025 under playcaller Bobby Petrino, though consistency remains a work in progress after the Tar Heels stalled following halftime at Clemson. Billy Edwards Jr. has completed 44 of 78 passes for 611 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, and has looked more comfortable at quarterback than Gio Lopez. Benjamin Hall paces the ground game with 215 yards on 33 carries, while Jelani Thurman leads the receivers with 11 catches for 183 yards and a score.
The preview points to sustained offensive aggression as UNC's key to victory, an approach the Tar Heels moved away from in the second half at Clemson. A matchup to watch is North Carolina's pass rush against Notre Dame's protection: the Tar Heels have generated 10 sacks in three games, with Xavier Lewis, Leroy Jackson, Jaylen Harvey and Melkart Abou-Jaoude among those pursuing Carr.
History leans heavily toward the visitor. Notre Dame leads the all-time series 21-1 and won the most recent meeting 45-32 at Kenan Stadium on Sept. 24, 2022. The original preview projects a 27-16 Notre Dame win on Saturday.
After Saturday, North Carolina visits Pitt on Oct. 10 at noon, then travels to Duke on Oct. 17. Home dates with Syracuse (Oct. 24) and Miami (Oct. 31) follow, ahead of a Nov. 7 trip to UConn, a Nov. 14 home game against Louisville, a Nov. 21 visit to Virginia and the regular-season finale against NC State on Nov. 28.
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