⚡ CFB Dashboard

CHAPEL HILL – Week one of the college football season kicked off this past weekend, and fans were given a full slate of games to enjoy. Well, almost a full slate anyway. North Carolina was not part of that debut group, having already earned its first win of the season in college football's week zero against TCU in Dublin, Ireland. Instead, the Tar Heels utilized the earliest bye possible to focus another week of practice toward the home opener against East Tennessee State on Saturday. With the extra travel constraints, the early-season open week may have benefited the squad by preventing a quick turnaround. On the other hand, such an early gap means potentially halting some of the momentum built from an opening game win. Head coach Bill Belichick was asked how he weighs the pros and cons of the situation during the team's media availability on Monday. "Certainly, it's good to have a little extra time, especially early in a year, to correct some of the mistakes from TCU before we moved on so quickly to ETSU," he said. "Overall, you take advantage of whatever time you have. If you have a long week, then eventually you're going to have a short week and vice versa." Linebacker Derek McDonald chimed in with his own thoughts during the same press conference. With 11 total tackles in the season opener, he is certainly a player benefiting from the extra rest and recovery. "I think it would've been tough to come back from Ireland and play a game last week," he said. "It was just long travel and readjusting to the time zones." On a positive note, the Heels are just one of six squads with multiple bye weeks during the season. On a negative note, that second bye comes just two weeks after the first, following a trip to Clemson. UNC returns to host Notre Dame on October 3 and will have no breaks for the remainder of the schedule. That stretch includes matchups against three ranked squads and two in-state rivalries. McDonald remains confident that the team can handle the hefty back-half workload. "It will be interesting to see how the early bye week in the season goes with us having so many games, but we'll be ready to go," he said. "Our strength staff will have us in good shape." The Heels contended with two early byes in the 2025 slate as well. Last year, a pair of open dates sandwiched a week six contest against the Clemson Tigers, and the squad pushed through the latter seven games without a break, going 2-5. The entire program will be looking for better results this go-round. "When they schedule them, we play them," Belichick puts it plainly. North Carolina returns from its first bye week against ETSU, with kickoff slated for noon on Saturday.