To start his second year as North Carolina head coach, Bill Belichick got a signature win over TCU. The matchup in Ireland also brought strong TV ratings to kick off the 2026 college football season, ESPN announced.
UNC's victory in Dublin averaged 4.9 million viewers on ESPN, the network said Tuesday evening. That includes a peak audience of 5.8 million viewers to make it the second most-watched Week 0 game since 2019. It's important to note last year's Dublin game, which averaged 3.2 million, was just before Nielsen implemented its Big Data + Panel metric to measure viewership.
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Still, Saturday's game was the most-watched game of the week, ESPN said. Full viewership data for Week 0 was not yet available at the time of publication, but the network also had a strong showing in the afternoon slot.
UNC and TCU sat tied at 10-10 after the first quarter on a rainy day in Ireland. It turned into a grind-it-out affair, which the Tar Heels held on to win 15-10 for a big-time win under Belichick. Billy Edwards Jr. went 16 of 28 for 232 yards in the effort and Jelani Thurman hauled in four catches for 94 yards to lead UNC.
#espn #million
UNC's victory in Dublin averaged 4.9 million viewers on ESPN, the network said Tuesday evening. That includes a peak audience of 5.8 million viewers to make it the second most-watched Week 0 game since 2019. It's important to note last year's Dublin game, which averaged 3.2 million, was just before Nielsen implemented its Big Data + Panel metric to measure viewership.
$19.99 gets you a FULL year of On3 | Rivals national coverage
Still, Saturday's game was the most-watched game of the week, ESPN said. Full viewership data for Week 0 was not yet available at the time of publication, but the network also had a strong showing in the afternoon slot.
UNC and TCU sat tied at 10-10 after the first quarter on a rainy day in Ireland. It turned into a grind-it-out affair, which the Tar Heels held on to win 15-10 for a big-time win under Belichick. Billy Edwards Jr. went 16 of 28 for 232 yards in the effort and Jelani Thurman hauled in four catches for 94 yards to lead UNC.
#espn #million
26 days ago
