← Matchups

Notre Dame

IND · 2-0 · power +35.6 · #1
Our numberND -20.9 no book has priced this game

North Carolina

ACC · 2-0 · power +13.1 · #65
Our side
MoneylineND to win ours 10%
Projected score 35–14 ND – UNC
2026-10-03 · kickoff TBD Kenan Stadium · Chapel Hill, NC Early season

The books 1 account books · tap any price — the ticket builds at that book

Book ND spreadUNC spread OverUnder ND winUNC win ND TT overND TT under UNC TT overUNC TT under
DraftKings

The gold price is the best available on that side; a gold marks the side our number implies — a read, not a pick. TT is a team total — that team’s own points, not the game’s; columns are empty where no book hangs one. Send to book opens whichever book you tapped, not the one we would have picked. Prices are the books’ own.

Series Notre Dame lead 21–2 · 23 meetings since 1949
2025 unit ranks — last completed season, from games actually played
Run game edge Notre Dame Fighting Irish 170 ranks
Notre Dame Fighting Irish #1 rush offense North Carolina Tar Heels #171 run defense
Pass game edge Notre Dame Fighting Irish 88 ranks
Notre Dame Fighting Irish #10 pass offense North Carolina Tar Heels #98 pass defense
Run game edge Notre Dame Fighting Irish 182 ranks
North Carolina Tar Heels #236 rush offense Notre Dame Fighting Irish #54 run defense
Pass game edge Notre Dame Fighting Irish 155 ranks
North Carolina Tar Heels #161 pass offense Notre Dame Fighting Irish #6 pass defense
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Balanced · 58% run Ball-control North Carolina Tar Heels Balanced · 53% run Ball-control
Marcus Freeman · 43-12 Bill Belichick · 4-8

Ranked by team-unit strength (rush & pass offense vs. run & pass defense) across all 265 D1 teams, not by individual players. Identity, tempo and unit strength are measured from the 2025 season.

The evidence 2025 production and power ratings · supporting the number above

Who carried each team in 2025
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
QB CJ Carr 492 pass yds · 6 TD · 0 INT #6 QB
K Spencer Porath 3 FG · 12 XP · 21 pts #11 K
RB Nolan James Jr. 48 rush yds · 2 TD · 5 rec #47 RB
WR Jordan Faison 8 rec · 135 yds · 2 TD #79 WR
North Carolina Tar Heels
DL Xavier Lewis 12 tkl · 4.0 sacks · 6.5 TFL #1 DL
DL Jaylen Harvey 8 tkl · 2.0 sacks · 2.0 TFL #59 DL
TE Jelani Thurman 8 rec · 165 yds · 1 TD #15 TE
DB Greg Smith 9 tkl · 1 PD · 1 INT #255 DB

Top-rated players from last season, ranked within their position across D1. A grade measures what a player produced, and no 2026 game has been played yet — so this is who produced for these programs in 2025, not a claim about who is on the field this year.

Power breakdown
TeamPowerOffDefRank
Notre Dame Fighting IrishIND +35.6 +22.4 +13.2 #1
North Carolina Tar HeelsACC +13.1 -1.9 +15.0 #65

Def is higher = better. The projection assumes a 2.4-pt home edge (0 at neutral sites).

Where the number comes from
Notre Dame offense vs North Carolina defense+7.4 pts
North Carolina offense vs Notre Dame defense-15.1 pts
Travel · context onlyAway team travels 556 mi
Rest · context onlyHome team on 7 more days rest

An efficiency adjustment from season-to-date EPA and success rate applies once teams have played enough games; before then it is 0 and the number is the power rating alone.

Situational spots are shown for context, not baked in: travel, altitude and rest were tested against 6,000+ games and the power and efficiency ratings already account for them. Adding them again would double-count.