Aug. 28 (UPI) — The TCU Horned Frogs and North Carolina Tar Heels will launch an eight-game Week 0 FBS slate, kicking off the 2026 college football season Saturday in Dublin, Ireland.

Coach Bill Belichick’s Tar Heels will meet the favored Horned Frogs at noon EDT at Aviva Stadium. The matchup will air on ESPN.

“I think everybody is starting to get that feeling that we’re in a game week and we’re all ready to go and we’re excited,” Horned Frogs quarterback Jaden Craig told reporters.

The Horned Frogs are 9.5-point favorites in the FBS opener. They were 9-4 each of the last two seasons, which they ended with bowl victories. They went 36-17 in coach Sonny Dykes’ first five seasons, including a run to the national title game in his first year.

Meanwhile, the Tar Heels will look to rebound from their 4-8 start under Belichick in 2025-26.

“Opening day is always a tough game to prepare for because there are so many unknowns,” Belichick said. “There are unknowns on our team, there are unknowns on our opponents. Even though we practice things, we haven’t seen them in road game situations and how we’ll react and how quickly we’ll react to those things.

“It’s the same for both teams, but it’s always a little bit of an unknown. … It’s always different when the real lights come on.”

No. 14 USC will be the only ranked team in action of Saturday’s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision competitors. The Trojans will host the San Jose State Spartans in the second matchup of the day at 3 p.m. in Los Angeles. The game will air on NBC.

The Trojans are 38.5-point favorites in what is projected to be Week 0’s biggest blowout. Outside of the Ireland game, home teams are favored in each of Saturday’s matchups.

N.C. State will meet Virginia in the third FBS game this season, kicking off at 3:30 p.m. in Charlottesville, Va., and airing on ESPN. The Cavaliers are 3.5-point favorites.

North Dakota State (-6.5) will host Jacksonville State at 5:30 p.m. EDT on CBS Sports Network. Eastern Michigan (10.5) will host Sacramento State at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+. Stanford (-3.5) will host Hawaii at 7 p.m. on ACC Network.

Florida State (-31.5) will host New Mexico State at 7 p.m. on The CW. UNLV (-3.5) will host Memphis in the final FBS game of the day at 10 p.m. on Fox.

Saturday’s slate also features 11 Football Championship Subdivision games — competitions for the second-highest level of college football.

The majority of FBS season openers will be held next week, with dozens of matchups held from Thursday through Sept. 7. The reigning champion (No. 6) Indiana Hoosiers will host North Texas in their first game Sept. 5 in Bloomington. The runner-up No. 7 Miami Hurricanes will launch their campaign against the Stanford Cardinal Sept. 4 in Stanford, Calif.

The top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes will host Ball State on Sept. 5 in Columbus. Week 1’s full schedule of FBS matchups can be found here.