Notre Dame Football Gets Early Kickoff at North Carolina This Weekend
Notre Dame will play at North Carolina on October 3 at noon ET (11:00 a.m. CT), with ESPN carrying the game from Kenan Stadium. The time came out late Saturday night from the ACC and its network partners.
With the Tar Heels hosting, the kickoff was an ACC and ESPN decision, not an NBC one. The networks had held the slot open since Monday so they could see how this weekend played out before committing.
North Carolina won’t be thrown off by the early start. Every game the Tar Heels have played this fall has started at noon Eastern, including the opener in Dublin, where the local clock read 5:00 p.m. Bill Belichick’s team is 2-1 and sat out this weekend after losing 28-20 at Clemson on September 19. Both of its open dates are now spent, but North Carolina gets two weeks to get ready for the Irish.
Notre Dame gets the usual seven days. The Irish are 4-0 and ranked third after beating Purdue 49-10 in West Lafayette on Saturday, a game in which CJ Carr accounted for four touchdowns, three through the air and one on the ground. It is the first time since 2021 that Notre Dame will open October without a loss.
Only the Navy game in Foxborough on October 31 matches this one as the earliest start on the Irish schedule.
The teams last met in 2022, a 45-32 Notre Dame win in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels have beaten the Irish only twice ever, and the most recent of those came in 2008.
Kickoff times are still pending for two games: at BYU on October 17 and at Syracuse on November 28.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
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