For the second consecutive year, Carolina will open its football season against TCU on national television. The Tar Heels and Horned Frogs are set to face off Saturday at 12 p.m. in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland, the second of a two-game series between the programs.
TCU finished the 2025 season 9-4 overall and 5-4 in the Big 12, capping the year with an overtime win against USC in the Alamo Bowl. Sonny Dykes is entering his fifth season coaching the Horned Frogs, and three of the previous four saw his team finish with at least nine wins and win a bowl game. Dykes’ first season in Fort Worth was historic, as TCU finished the regular season 12-0 on its way to a national runner-up finish in the College Football Playoff. Dykes earned several National Coach of the Year honors for his accomplishments that year.
TCU head coach Sonny Dykes watches during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Kansas State, Oct. 11, 2025, in Manhattan, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
What’s the history?
UNC and TCU have met four times before, with the Tar Heels winning three of those meetings. The most recent meeting, of course, saw the Horned Frogs walk into a frenzied Kenan Stadium last September and bludgeon Carolina 48-14 in Bill Belichick’s first collegiate game. TCU scored 48 consecutive points after trailing 7-0 early. UNC’s last win came in 1997 in Fort Worth. Saturday’s game will be the first time the two teams have played on a neutral field.
New look offense
The TCU offense which marched up and down the Kenan Stadium grass last September is not the one which will take the field in Ireland. Quarterback Josh Hoover, who spent four seasons with the Horned Frogs and threw for 284 yards and two touchdowns in the win against the Tar Heels, has since transferred to reigning national champions Indiana (imagine reading that sentence five years ago!). Hoover’s likely replacement is graduate transfer Jaden Craig, who is coming off two prolific seasons as the full-time starter at Harvard. Craig was named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award (given to the most outstanding offensive player in FCS college football) in both 2024 and 2025, and last fall he set the Harvard single season record for completions, touchdown passes and yards. He is also the Crimson’s all-time leader in both yards and touchdowns. Craig is the only non-freshman quarterback listed on TCU’s roster.
QB Jaden Craig was a two-time Walter Payton Award finalist at Harvard. (Image via Harvard Athletics)
In addition to the new quarterback, TCU also features a new offensive coordinator. Kendal Briles, who helped the Horned Frogs score 30 or more points seven times in 13 games last season, took the same position at South Carolina in December. TCU has replaced him with Gordon Sammis, who served as offensive coordinator at UConn in 2024 and 2025. Under his leadership, the Huskies scored 30 or more points nine times in 13 games in 2025, including four games of 40 or more. Notably, Sammis also coordinated the UConn offense when the Huskies beat the Tar Heels 27-14 in the 2024 Fenway Bowl — a game played after Belichick was hired at UNC but before he had stepped onto the sidelines. Freddie Kitchens, who would go on to serve as Carolina’s offensive coordinator in 2025, was UNC’s interim coach that day.
The ground game
TCU tore up the UNC defense on the ground during the 2025 meeting: the Horned Frogs amassed 258 yards and two touchdowns on 35 rushing attempts. That would be the high watermark for the TCU ground game that season, as the team finished 100th out of 134 total FBS teams in rushing offense (UNC was even worse at 120th). The Frogs’ leading rusher from the game in Chapel Hill, Kevorian Barnes, is gone, but look for TCU to still try and establish the run: under Sammis’ leadership, UConn averaged almost 161 yards per game on the ground.
Turnover troubles
UNC allowed two defensive touchdowns to TCU during the game in Chapel Hill last year: an interception returned for a touchdown in the first half and a fumble returned for a touchdown in the second. The two Horned Frog defenders who scored those touchdowns – Devean Deal and Bud Clark – are both gone, but defensive coordinator Andy Avalos is back in the saddle and will look to continue to swarm the UNC offense. That opening night letdown was just the beginning of a long struggle in the turnover department for the Tar Heels: their nine fumbles lost in 2025 tied for 112th in FBS college football. On the other hand, if TCU’s offense is anything like Sammis’ last unit at UConn, turnovers will be hard to come by for the UNC defense: the Huskies lost only one fumble all year, tied with Indiana for the fewest in the nation. Their turnover margin of +15 tied for third in FBS.
Across the pond
The Tar Heels have certainly made long road trips before; last season, Carolina traveled all the way to Berkeley for a game at Cal in the newfangled ACC. But Saturday will mark the first time UNC will ever have played a game outside the borders of the United States. Dublin, Ireland’s Aviva Stadium – which normally hosts rugby and soccer – first hosted college football in 2012. Since then, the stadium has hosted five more games as part of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic, and the game has been an annual fixture since 2022. UNC will be the fourth different ACC team (not including Notre Dame) which has played in the contest.
What are the odds?
At the time of publication, TCU is a 7.5-point favorite in the game.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
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