Texas Christian University, which played its way into the College Football Playoff this past season – beating Michigan in the semifinals before falling to Georgia – will appear on North Carolina’s schedule as a non-conference opponent later this decade.
Carolina will host the Horned Frogs in the season opener in 2025 and will travel to Fort Worth for a rematch in early September 2026.
TCU is one of a number of intriguing non-conference opponents on future UNC football schedules. The school released its updated future opponents’ list March 1.
In 2024, Carolina will host Charlotte, North Carolina Central and James Madison, and play a return game at Minnesota (which comes to Chapel Hill this September). The 2025 non-ACC slate includes games against Charlotte and UCF, which will join TCU in the Big 12 Conference this fall. It’s likely UNC will add a fourth non-conference game at some point.
Notre Dame will return to the schedule in 2026, playing in Chapel Hill that October. Carolina will travel to Connecticut in mid-September. UNC will face UConn and Purdue in 2027, and will open the ’28 and ’29 seasons against South Carolina, once in Chapel Hill and once in Columbia. A home game against Purdue is set for 2031 in September.
While future football opponents are subject to change as the college landscape continues to evolve, UNC’s 2023 gridiron schedule, released by the ACC in February, is set in stone. A rematch of the 2021 Duke’s Mayo Bowl, a docket front-loaded with home games and a pair of rivalry road trips in late November headline the upcoming campaign.
The Tar Heels, fresh off a nine-win season and an ACC Coastal Division championship, will open 2023 against South Carolina in Charlotte on Sept. 2. The Tar Heels last met the Gamecocks in Charlotte, falling in the 2021 Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
From there, UNC will play five of the next six games in the friendly confines of Kenan Stadium in Chapel – and seven of the next nine.
Non-conference home games come against Appalachian State, Minnesota and Campbell. The Heels will entertain ACC foes Syracuse, Miami, Virginia and Duke, while visiting Pitt, Georgia Tech, Clemson and NC State. The games at Clemson and NCSU come on the final two weekends of the regular season.
UNC’s Complete 2023 Schedule
Sept. 2 vs. South Carolina (at Charlotte, NC)
Sept. 9 APPALACHIAN STATE
Sept. 16 MINNESOTA
Sept. 23 at Pittsburgh*
Oct. 7 SYRACUSE*
Oct. 14 MIAMI*
Oct. 21 VIRGINIA*
Oct. 28 at Georgia Tech*
Nov. 4 CAMPBELL
Nov. 11 DUKE*
Nov. 18 at Clemson*
Nov. 25 at NC State*
* denotes ACC game
UNC’s Future Opponents (subject to change)
2024:
Home: Charlotte (Sept. 7), North Carolina Central (Sept. 14), James Madison (Sept. 21), Boston College, NC State, Pitt, Virginia Tech
Away: Minnesota (Aug. 31), Duke, Florida State, Louisville, Virginia
2025:
Home: TCU (Aug. 30), Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Virginia
Away: Charlotte (Sept. 6), UCF (Sept. 20), Miami, NC State, Syracuse, Wake Forest
2026:
Home: Notre Dame (Oct. 3), Florida State, Louisville, NC State, Wake Forest
Away: TCU (Sept. 5), UConn (Sept. 19), Boston College, Duke, Virginia, Virginia Tech
2027:
Home: UConn (Sept. 18)
Away: Purdue (Sept. 11)
2028:
Away: South Carolina (Sept. 2)
2029:
Home: South Carolina (Sept. 1)
2031:
Home: Purdue (Sept. 13)
