UNC’s October 10 road game at Pitt will kick off at noon ET on ESPN or ESPN2, meaning all five of the Tar Heels’ first five games of the 2026 season will have started at noon ET.
If you are a North Carolina football fan who enjoys sleeping in on Saturdays, the 2026 season has not exactly been accommodating.
The ACC announced Monday that UNC’s road matchup with Pittsburgh on Saturday, October 10, will kick off at noon ET at Acrisure Stadium. The game will air on either ESPN or ESPN2, with the final network designation coming after the October 3 games.
That announcement means something rather remarkable: each of North Carolina’s first five games of the 2026 season will have kicked off at exactly noon Eastern.
Five games. Five noon kicks.
Carolina’s season began August 29 against TCU in Dublin, Ireland. While that meant a much more reasonable 5 p.m. local kickoff for those in attendance at Aviva Stadium, it was noon back home on the East Coast. UNC followed that with another noon game in its home opener against East Tennessee State on September 12 and yet another noon start at Clemson on September 19.
After the Tar Heels’ second bye week of the young season, the pattern will continue when No. 3 Notre Dame comes to Kenan Stadium on October 3 for a noon kickoff on ESPN.
And now Pitt makes five.
There is at least some variety in location. Carolina has played a neutral-site game overseas, a home game and a road game already, while Notre Dame brings another noon contest to Chapel Hill before the Tar Heels head north to Pittsburgh.
But when it comes to the clock? Nothing changes.
The sheer volume of early starts is notable. According to Tar Heel Tribune, UNC had five noon kickoffs during the entire 2024 season. Carolina’s highest total of early starts in the last 40 years came in 2007, when seven Tar Heel games kicked off around noon.
North Carolina could conceivably approach that number rather quickly depending on television selections later in the season.
For the Tar Heels themselves, there is at least something to be said for routine. Bill Belichick’s team does not have to continually adjust its weekly schedule to accommodate afternoon or primetime kickoffs. By the time Carolina arrives in Pittsburgh, noon will quite literally be business as usual.
The Pitt matchup will also represent another important ACC road test. After opening conference play with a 28-20 loss at Clemson, Carolina will have opportunities against Notre Dame and Pitt to show how much progress it has made heading into the heart of October.
But whatever happens, Tar Heel fans already know one part of the itinerary.
Set the alarm. Get the coffee ready.
Carolina football starts at noon. Again.
