North Carolina’s 2027 ACC slate is set, and it gives Bill Belichick’s team a little bit of everything: familiar in-state trips, a cross-country haul to Stanford and a home schedule that should keep Kenan Stadium busy.
The Atlantic Coast Conference unveiled next year’s conference matchups on Wednesday, and under the league’s new nine-game format, UNC will play nine ACC opponents for the first time since the scheduling model changed to account for the additions of Cal, SMU and Stanford. Clemson is the lone exception in the league this season, playing eight conference games.
For North Carolina, the setup is straightforward: seven games at Kenan Stadium, with four of those coming against ACC teams.
The Tar Heels’ home conference dates will come against Duke, Florida State, Virginia and Virginia Tech. On the road, UNC will head to Louisville, NC State, Stanford, Syracuse and Wake Forest.
That means some recognizable names are back on the calendar. Virginia Tech will face UNC for the first time since 2022, and Florida State returns after the teams last met in 2024.
The road list also comes with a couple of convenient trips. Visits to NC State and Wake Forest are both in-state games, which makes those weeks a little easier from a travel standpoint. Stanford is the outlier, of course, with the long trek across the country, but the rest of the slate helps balance it out.
North Carolina’s non-conference home games are set for North Alabama, UCF and UConn.
One wrinkle to watch: it looks like the Tar Heels’ previously scheduled home-and-home with Purdue may not begin in 2027 after all. Purdue was not included in the school’s official release listing next year’s non-conference opponents, which suggests the series could be delayed or canceled.
For now, though, UNC has its 2027 ACC map in place.
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For the Tar Heels, it means the upcoming Clemson game carries more than the usual ACC weight. Swinney made clear he wants to beat Belichicks team, which is exactly the kind of backdrop that gives this matchup extra juice. North Carolina is getting the benefit of a national spotlight, and Belichicks presence alone has turned a conference game into something that feels a little bigger than the calendar would normally suggest. [Read more 🡒]
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Bill Belichick's Viral UNC Interview Just Added To A Growing Problem
Bill Belichicks arrival at North Carolina brought instant attention and a whole different level of scrutiny to Chapel Hill, but the on-field results have been uneven enough already. He came in on a five-year contract and managed only a 4-8 debut season, and while the Tar Heels have opened the next year with two wins, including a recent victory over East Tennessee State, the program has not exactly settled into quiet routine.
The bigger concern now is everything happening around the team. North Carolina is dealing with an ongoing internal human resources investigation, and the ripple effects have already been felt in the staff structure with general manager Michael Lombardi resigning and defensive coordinator Steve Belichick on medical leave. For a program trying to build momentum under a high-profile coach, the off-field churn has become its own storyline, and it is one that still does not look close to being resolved. [Read more 🡒]