UNC football has toughest schedule per this metric

With spring football practice in the books, the countdown to the new season rolls on. The North Carolina Tar Heels are hoping year two is better than the first year under Bill Belichick.

To say that the 2025 season was a disappointment is an understatement. However, this will be the first full offseason Belichick and the staff will have together in terms of recruiting. He also hired a new offensive coordinator in Bobby Petrino.

As North Carolina continues to prepare for this upcoming season, there's a stat that doesn't favor the Tar Heels in terms of the schedule.

College football expert Phil Steele tweeted out a stat that shows the toughest schedules for the 2026 season, with North Carolina on top of that list. And that's not a good thing.

Here's how Steele breaks down the stat:

The most used method is to combine opponents’ records from the previous season. Using this metric the toughest 2026 schedule belongs to North Carolina, whose opponents won 65.2% of their games in 2025.Who plays the most teams that had a winning record last year? Well, that method came up with North Carolina #1 on that list as they face 11 teams that had winning record in 2025.

Now, things will certainly change as the season goes on. Rosters are different than last year and there's some parity, especially in the ACC. However, UNC's schedule is pretty tough as it features games at Clemson, vs. Notre Dame and vs Miami. Those three games will be the toughest on the schedule with the Fighting Irish and Hurricanes projected to be in the College Football Playoff mix.

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