UNC’s 2027 Football Opponents Are Set: Seven Home Games, Nine ACC Matchups

North Carolina now knows all 12 opponents on its 2027 football schedule, even if the order and dates remain unsettled.

The ACC announced Wednesday that Carolina will play nine conference games for the first time, with four at Kenan Stadium and five on the road. The Tar Heels’ three announced nonconference games will all be played in Chapel Hill, creating a seven-game home schedule.

THE COMPLETE OPPONENT LIST

Carolina’s home ACC opponents are Duke, Florida State, Virginia and Virginia Tech. Its road conference games will be played at Louisville, NC State, Stanford, Syracuse and Wake Forest.

The three announced nonconference opponents are UCF, UConn and North Alabama. All three games will be played at Kenan Stadium.

Carolina has not faced Virginia Tech since 2022 or Florida State since 2024. The five-game ACC road schedule includes three regional trips but also sends the Tar Heels across the country to Stanford.

UNC ENTERS THE NINE-GAME ACC ERA

The 2026 season is serving as a transition year for the ACC’s expanded schedule. Twelve programs are playing nine league games this season, while five are playing eight. Beginning in 2027, 16 ACC programs will play nine conference games.

For North Carolina, the change means one fewer nonconference opening and an additional game inside the league. UCF is the lone Power Four program in UNC’s announced nonconference slate. UConn is an FBS independent, while North Alabama competes in the FCS.

A PURDUE SCHEDULING NOTE

Purdue is not listed among UNC’s 2027 opponents.

UNC and Purdue announced a home-and-home series in December 2020. Carolina was scheduled to travel to West Lafayette on September 11, 2027, with Purdue making the return trip to Chapel Hill on September 13, 2031. The programs have never met in football.

UNC’s current release instead identifies UCF, UConn and North Alabama as its three nonconference opponents. Combined with nine ACC games, those three complete the 12-game lineup. Inside Carolina reports that the Purdue series has been moved. Neither UNC nor Purdue has publicly announced revised dates, so Tar Heel Nation is treating the change as reported rather than confirmed.

WHAT REMAINS UNKNOWN

UNC has announced opponents—not a finished calendar. The school says the complete 2027 schedule will be released in late January, when fans should learn the dates and order of the nine ACC games. Kickoff times and television assignments will follow later.

Previous schedule listings attached tentative September dates to several nonconference games, but those should not be treated as final until the ACC and UNC publish the complete schedule.

For now, the shape of Carolina’s season is clear: seven games at Kenan, five on the road and the program’s first nine-game ACC schedule.