College Football Predictions: Notre Dame vs North Carolina

One month into the 2026 season and Notre Dame is performing as it was expected to, looking like a steamroller as it has just crushed opponents to date.

A compelling test comes Saturday as Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish hit the road to take on 2-1 North Carolina.

Is it more of the same for Notre Dame this weekend, or will Bill Belichick do what he did successfully so long in the NFL, and dirty things up enough to scare the Irish?

Here is how the Notre Dame OnSI staff sees things shaking out Saturday in Chapel Hill.

Jared Shlensky

Notre Dame might be coming off its best offensive performance of the season but North Carolina’s defense is legit. ND’s ground game has had its fair share of struggles, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Irish struggle to move the ball on the ground. Hence, expect CJ Carr to get an opportunity to let it rip on Saturday. Ultimately though, Notre Dame’s defense is going to dictate the result in this game. North Carolina’s offense is a lot better than it was last year but they haven’t faced a defense like ND’s yet. I can see UNC making some field goals in this one, but I don’t have them finding the end zone on Saturday.

Notre Dame 33, North Carolina 9

John Kennedy

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think Notre Dame would square off with Bill Belichick, but here we are. The most fascinating part of this matchup is Belichick's elite defensive brain power against CJ Carr. With that in mind, I do moderately respect North Carolina's defense and expect it to challenge the Irish at times early. But eventually Notre Dame will wear the Tar Heels down in the second half as more run lanes will open and CJ Carr carefully picks his spots in the pass game. Defensively, the Irish dominate the line of scrimmage yet again, making it hard on North Carolina to sustain drives.

Notre Dame 32, North Carolina 10

Jeff Feyerer

Call me old fashioned (or just old), but I believe one of these weeks the dam is going to break and Notre Dame will be able to run the ball at will. The team is still finding their offensive identity after relying on Love and Price, but I believe North Carolina will beg the Irish to run the ball and they will have their best rushing output of the year going over 200 yards total and grinding out a workman like double-digit victory. If you can explain to me how the Tar Heels are going to score enough points to keep up, I’m willing to listen.

Notre Dame 31 North Carolina 10

Pete Fiutak

The problem is the Bill Belichick defensive front that knows how to gear up a pass rush. I’m still not sold that Notre Dame can consistently run the ball well, and if the Tar Heels are able to get to CJ Carr and beat him up a bit, this could get tricky.However, I don’t have the slightest faith in the Tar Heel offense doing anything against the Irish defense. This might not be the most aesthetically pleasing win, but throw another double-digit victory onto the pile.

Notre Dame 34, North Carolina 13

Nick Shepkowski

This is going to be a typical Notre Dame game in that it seems to start somewhat slow, before pulling away early in the second half. I am most curious to see how much run Jonaz Walton gets in the backfield, as he has a level that neither Aneyas Williams or Nolan James, Jr. appear to have. The defense does its thing, holding yet another opponent to less than two touchdowns.

Notre Dame 31, North Carolina 7

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