by: D’Andre McKenzie

8/30/26

College football is officially back, and this year the season kicked off with a little Irish pizzazz.

I made the trip to Dublin, Ireland, for the 2026 Aer Lingus College Football Classic at Aviva Stadium. The matchup featured the TCU Horned Frogs and North Carolina Tar Heels.

This was the second straight season these two teams opened the year against each other. TCU represented the Big 12, while North Carolina represented the ACC.

Their first meeting could not have gone much worse for UNC. TCU traveled to Chapel Hill last season and handed the Tar Heels a 48 to 14 loss in Bill Belichick’s college coaching debut. A year later, UNC had an opportunity to get some revenge. This time, they had to travel across the Atlantic to do it.

A Different Kind of Season Opener

Playing in Dublin brings a completely different feel to the beginning of a college football season.

Instead of dealing with the August heat found in many parts of the United States, the teams were greeted by cooler temperatures. Clouds and rain were also present throughout their time in Ireland.

There was also a five hour time difference from the East Coast. Both teams arrived only a few days before the game, so adjusting quickly was important.

That was one area where I thought North Carolina might have an advantage because of its head coach.

I attended Bill Belichick’s press conference before the game, and he seemed calm, cool and collected about the trip. Belichick had already coached overseas multiple times during his years with the New England Patriots. Preparing a football team for an international game was not exactly new territory for him.

Obviously, college football is different from the NFL. However, many of the challenges that come with an international trip are similar. Players still have to travel overseas, adjust to a new time zone and remain focused on football.

Having a coach who has been through that experience certainly does not hurt.

Belichick was also entering this game in a much different position than he was a year ago. His first season at North Carolina was not particularly successful, with the Tar Heels finishing 4 and 8. He now had an entire year to adjust to college football and continue building his roster.

TCU came to Ireland from a much different position. The Horned Frogs were coming off a 9 and 4 season and entered 2026 expecting to compete near the top of the Big 12.

Still, the transfer portal creates plenty of roster turnover in college football. These were two very different teams from the ones that met in Chapel Hill a year ago.

That became obvious once the game started.

TCU Takes Control Early

This was not exactly the prettiest football game you will ever see. The rain and wet conditions played a role, and neither offense consistently put together scoring drives.

North Carolina struck first when Aeron Burrell connected on a 20 yard field goal. TCU’s Kyle Lemmermann answered with a field goal of his own to tie the game at three.

TCU then scored the first touchdown of the afternoon. Jon Denman punched it in from two yards out to give the Horned Frogs a 10 to 3 advantage.

At that point, TCU appeared to be gaining momentum.

Those ended up being the final points the Horned Frogs would score all afternoon.

North Carolina responded with a nine yard touchdown run from Jaylen McGill to tie the game at 10. Then came one of the biggest and strangest plays of the afternoon.

TCU was backed up near its own end zone and preparing to punt. The snap sailed over the punter’s head and toward the back of the end zone. The punter knocked the football out of bounds, resulting in a safety.

Suddenly, North Carolina had a 12 to 10 lead.

That mistake proved massive in a game where every point mattered.

UNC Makes the Plays That Matter

Burrell added another field goal in the third quarter, this time from 28 yards. That extended UNC’s lead to 15 to 10.

From there, the game turned into a defensive battle.

TCU had opportunities to regain the lead, but North Carolina continued finding ways to keep the Horned Frogs out of the end zone. After scoring its touchdown in the first quarter, TCU did not score again.

The Horned Frogs still had an opportunity to win late in the fourth quarter. They moved into North Carolina territory, but once again the Tar Heels’ defense came through when it mattered.

UNC eventually got the football back with 4:05 remaining.

TCU never touched it again.

The Tar Heels ran out the rest of the clock and secured a 15 to 10 victory. After everything that happened in last year’s matchup, North Carolina had officially gotten its revenge.

A Close Game on the Stat Sheet

Billy Edwards Jr. finished with 232 passing yards in his first start at quarterback for North Carolina. TCU quarterback Jaden Craig threw for 175 yards.

The Horned Frogs had plenty of success on the ground, particularly with Jeremy Payne. He rushed for 142 yards on 25 carries.

UNC tight end Jelani Thurman delivered one of the best receiving performances of the afternoon. He finished with four catches for 94 yards. Ed Small led TCU through the air with nine receptions for 65 yards.

When you look at the game statistically, there was not an enormous difference between these teams.

North Carolina finished with 322 total yards compared to TCU’s 281. The Horned Frogs had their opportunities and moved the football at different points throughout the afternoon.

The biggest difference was mistakes.

UNC simply made fewer of them. More importantly, the Tar Heels capitalized when TCU made its mistakes.

In a wet, low scoring game, that was enough.

Two Fanbases With Very Different Expectations

One of my favorite parts of covering this game was seeing how differently the two fanbases approached it.

Going into the game, the UNC fans I talked to were not necessarily expecting to come to Dublin and watch their team dominate TCU. After everything that happened last season, a lot of them simply wanted to see progress.

TCU fans seemed to have a completely different level of confidence.

The Horned Frogs were favored by more than a touchdown. They had beaten UNC by 34 points the previous year and were coming off a nine win season. There was not much reason for their fans to expect a different result.

TCU also seemed to have the home field advantage despite playing at a neutral site. Horned Frogs fans came to Dublin in droves, and there was a noticeable confidence around them before kickoff.

By the end of the game, those emotions had completely flipped.

UNC fans were celebrating, but some still seemed surprised by what they had just watched. I talked to one North Carolina fan afterward who admitted he did not expect the Tar Heels to win.

TCU fans, meanwhile, looked shell shocked.

They had traveled to Ireland expecting to begin another promising season with a victory. Instead, they left Aviva Stadium 0 and 1 after scoring only 10 points against a team they had blown out one year earlier.

For a program that played for a national championship just a few years ago, this was a tough way to start the season. TCU has established a certain level of expectation around its program. This was definitely not the beginning the Horned Frogs wanted.

A Much Different Start for Bill Belichick

For North Carolina, it was almost the exact opposite.

This was not a dominant performance, and it definitely was not a pretty one. I also do not think Bill Belichick cares much about style points here.

A year ago, his first college football game ended with TCU walking into Chapel Hill and beating North Carolina 48 to 14.

One year later, the Tar Heels traveled across the Atlantic and found a way to beat that same program.

That is progress.

For a UNC team coming off a 4 and 8 season, this was about as good of a way to start Year Two of the Belichick era as they could have asked for.

What’s Next?

Both teams will now get some time to recover from the overseas trip before returning to action on September 12.

North Carolina will host East Tennessee State with an opportunity to start the season 2 and 0. TCU will host Grambling State while looking to get its first win on the board.

Both teams should be heavily favored, but they will enter those games with completely different feelings about how their seasons started.

As for Dublin, the Aer Lingus College Football Classic is not going anywhere. College football will return to Aviva Stadium next year when Wisconsin and Pittsburgh meet in Week Zero.

For me, this was definitely a different way to kick off a college football season. There was the rain, the Irish atmosphere and two fanbases taking over parts of Dublin. Then we got a game that remained undecided until the final minutes.

It did not feel like your normal Week Zero matchup.

UNC came to Ireland as the underdog looking for progress and maybe a little revenge. They left with both.

Week Zero is officially in the books, and now it is on to Atlanta for Week One.

College football season is off to a pretty amazing start.