The 3rd-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-0) take on the North Carolina Tar Heels (2-1) this afternoon inside of Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The Irish look to advance to 5-0 for the first time in Marcus Freeman's tenure while Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels look to pick up a program defining win and snap a five-game losing streak to the Fighting Irish. This has been a series that's been dominated by Notre Dame dating back to 1949 in their first meeting. This is the second road test in a row for Freeman and the Irish and they will look to keep their win streak alive. 

Where: Chapel Hill, N.C. - Kenan Stadium 
When: 12:00 PM ET
Television: ESPN - Wes Durham (play-by-play), Dusty Dvoracek (analyst), Taylor McGregor (sideline) 
Radio: Tony Simeone (play-by-play), Mike Golic Sr. (analyst); SiriusXM 85
Line: Notre Dame -21.5; O/U 47.5 

Notre Dame is riding high on a 14-game win streak dating back to September of 2025 after beating Purdue in South Bend 56-30. Since then, the Irish have won every game by double digits and are looking to do so once again on the road against the Tar Heels. The bulk of their schedule is still to come with matchups against BYU, Miami and SMU looming in the near future, but right now, the Irish are one of the hottest teams in college football. 

Offensively, there's still room for improvement, but that hasn't stopped them from winning games 41-13, 52-0, 27-10 and 49-10 to kick off the season. Quarterback CJ Carr has been 'as advertised' this season and will be facing a quality pass defense this afternoon. Defensively, this team is one of the best in the country and will be going against an offense under new management. Notre Dame's defense is building a strong reputation so far this season and will look to continue dominating inside of Kenan Stadium.  

It's year two of the Belichick-era in Chapel Hill and it's off to a significantly better start that his first year at the helm. North Carolina is 2-1 on the season and is closer to 3-0 than what some might think. If not for a weather delay against Clemson in Week 3, this could be a matchup between two undefeated teams. Having said that, this won't be the final opportunity for Belichick to pick up a signature win. They still have matchups with Pitt on the road, Miami, Louisville and Virginia on the road coming down the stretch. 

Offensively, they've been taken over by former Arkansas offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino who has had a bigger impact on this unit that what some of the statistics may indicated. Defensively, Belichick is in the driver's seat after some backhouse drama with former defensive coordinator Steve Belichick. This is a scrappy defense that hasn't given up many points this season, something to be expected of a Belichick-led team. 

This is the 23rd all-time meeting between Notre Dame and North Carolina. The Irish have dominated this series and have an all-time series lead of 21-2. They have won the last five meetings including their last meeting in 2022 which the Irish won 42-35 in Chapel Hill. 

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