Saturday, August 29, 2026

The wait is over: UNC and TCU kick off 2026 in Dublin

College football is back. North Carolina and TCU open the FBS season in Dublin today, with Bill Belichick calling the Tar Heels' defense and one very long offseason finally headed for the bench.

The lede

North Carolina gets the first snap of 2026 and an immediate measuring stick. The Tar Heels meet TCU in a rematch of last year's 48-14 Horned Frogs win, and Belichick will call the defensive plays while Steve Belichick is away. Year 2 follows a 4-8 debut, so this isn't a gentle opening act.

TCU has its own question under center. Former Harvard quarterback Jaden Craig made the jump from the Ivy League, and the Horned Frogs are counting on him to make the same leap on the field. Purple shamrocks on the helmets, pressure on both sidelines.

Scoreboard

• Louisiana Christian 42, Northwestern State 37. The NAIA program delivered opening weekend's first jolt.
• Cal Poly 38, Idaho 34. The Mustangs finished a back-and-forth win with 17 points in the fourth quarter.
• William & Mary 35, Villanova 32. Cade Ellis sealed it with an interception with five seconds left.

Quick hits

• The SEC's ex-pro rule is on hold. A temporary restraining order blocks the conference from punishing teams that use players who previously signed NFL, NBA, or WNBA contracts.
• The Big Ten wants more status reports. Teams must now submit four player availability reports each week before conference games. The league had required one weekly report since 2023.
• New Mexico loses its starting quarterback. Jack Layne will miss the season while preparing for a second surgery on his throwing elbow.
• The calendar is moving again. The FBS oversight committee approved changes for 2027 that move the season start into today's Week 0 slot, split spring practice into two periods, and shrink the January portal window to 10 days.

The carousel

Kalani Sitake will no longer report to BYU athletic director Brian Santiago. The football coach now answers to a university vice president, while Santiago continues to oversee the school's other sports.

Fan pulse

• After Indiana became the sport's latest first-time national champion, fans are debating which program could be next.
• Another annual argument arrived right on schedule: should the Coaches Poll be replaced by a ballot of former coaches who have time to watch the games?

The Observer's Call

Week 0 should disappear by getting bigger. Eight games sit on today's slate, and an NCAA committee has approved moving the regular season start into this slot in 2027. Good. Eight games feel like a sample tray after eight quiet months. Fill the board, retire the awkward label, and make the first Saturday count. Why keep calling opening day a preview when the scoreboards are already lit? Disagree? Tell me what the perfect opening Saturday should look like.

The first Saturday is here. What took it so long?