UNC looks for different result in Dublin game vs. TCU
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- North Carolina faces TCU in the Dublin game, which has become a Week Zero staple and is just two years removed from Georgia Tech's win in Ireland against No. 10 Florida State.
It's a rematch of last year's season opener, when the Horned Frogs thumped the Tar Heels 48-14 in Kenan Stadium, spoiling Bill Belichick's ballyhooed debut.
"There is cachet in playing in Ireland, having an international game," UNC athletic director Steve Newmark told The AP. "It just draws intrigue, kind of curious onlookers to see Carolina blue and TCU purple playing in Dublin, and everything that goes with it."
Horned Frogs coach Sonny Dykes expressed concern, though, about schedule disruption. He cited last year's bruiser between Iowa State and Kansas State.
"Neither team probably had the kind of season they thought they were going to coming into the game and especially right after the game," Dykes said. "Both teams did a tremendous job of recovering and playing well at the end of the season, but you could tell it took a toll on both teams."
Dykes, who expects UNC to make "a tremendous jump" in year two under Belichick, said getting a week off following Dublin was key.
Belichick's tenure at UNC began last year with immense hope for a wildly successful future, but it fell far short in a tumultuous year
There's little more to rely on than Belichick's word that this season will be different.
"We made a lot of progress, and we continue to do that," Belichick said at the start of fall camp. "The program is headed in a positive direction."
What Belichick has delivered so far, however, has been a miserable 4-8 record in his first season and a culture inside the football building that various current and former athletics department staff members called "a circus," "a mess" and "a disaster."
"We didn't live up to expectations, but there's no expectation that a reporter or some article can put on us," UNC wide receiver Jordan Shipp said. "We're doing all we can within our building to be as good and push each other as much as we can. If somebody who's never picked up a football a day in their life is saying, 'Oh, you let me down' -- boo-hoo. We don't care. We're doing as much as we can daily to push each other."
Kickoff is at noon Saturday on ESPN.
Read more from ESPN's David Hale.
