University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points: A Hundred Ways
September 11, 2026 | Football, Extra Points
Span the 360 degrees of Kenan Stadium on the eve of the 2026 home opener and you'll find the latest and greatest of technology, spectator conveniences and creature comforts as the facility begins its 100th season of operation.
On the west and east sides above the Kenan Football Center and Loudermilk Center respectively are positioned two Daktronics videoboards that stretch 35 yards wide and offer triple the vibrancy and resolution of older models. All around the stadium are LED ribbon boards that will flicker throughout the game with scores, statistics and game-day content. These visual elements will be married with clear and resolute sound emanating from new state-of-the-art speakers.
On the south side is the 38-year-old press box that this summer received a massive makeover that includes new display graphics telling the century-long story of the stadium, updated technology throughout and a flooring and workspace makeover.
On the concourses around the stadium remain some of the tried-and-true concessionaires—Merritt's BLTs and Alpaca Peruvian Chicken among them—with some newcomers offering fare ranging from beef brisket sandwiches from Best Blue BBQ and Walkin' Tacos from Modelo Crunch Cantina.
And in the center of it all at midfield of the Bermuda grass playing field is the throwback "stair-step UNC" logo worn by Carolina's last ACC championship team—the 1980 Tar Heels that featured Lawrence Taylor on defense and "Famous Amos" Lawrence on offense in compiling an 11-1 record.
That logo along with a throwback set of uniforms to be worn by the Tar Heels for their noon kick-off against East Tennessee State are among the gestures from second-year head coach Bill Belichick to recognize and pay homage to the program's history. The helmets feature that same UNC logo on each side, and the jerseys have the CAROLINA name stitched above the front jersey number. That latter feature was adopted from Taylor's preseason publicity photo from his senior year in 1980, but it turns out the Tar Heels never actually wore that version in a game.
"There have been a lot of great players come through this program," says Belichick, who coached a handful of them in the NFL from LT to Don McCauley to Alge Crumpler. "There have been some good teams but not as many great teams as you'd like to have seen. That's our goal now."
The early 1980s logo was developed by Dick Crum, the head coach from 1978-87, with the idea of giving the football program a distinctive look from other teams on the Chapel Hill campus. Via the fact that Belichick's father was an assistant coach at Carolina in mid-1950s and that Belichick himself is a history buff on a variety of subjects, he dug into the Tar Heels' past upon taking the head coaching job in December 2024. He first wore a coaching fleece with the early 1980s UNC logo for the game at Charlotte, the Tar Heels' second outing of the 2025 season.
"It's gratifying to see that logo and makes me feel good that Coach Belichick respects that team and what it accomplished," says Rod Elkins, the starting quarterback on that 1980 squad. "I think it's a fantastic gesture on his part and one that's much appreciated by the guys on that team."
Adds Steve Newmark, who will christen his first football season as Carolina's athletics director on Saturday, "I really like the fact that Coach Belichick and the current staff take a lot of pride in leaning into our history. That's part of what makes UNC so special."
Outside of Kenan Stadium, the Tar Heels will continue their Old Well Walk at 9:30 a.m. across Polk Place, with Belichick have reinstituted that tradition for the 2025 season. Fans can turn their attention from the Tar Heels making their way toward the stadium to the stage set up in front Wilson Library, where the Chapel Thrill Game Day concert series will commence two hours before kickoff. DJ Diesel is the performer this week.
DJ Diesel? The DJ is short for "disc jockey" and "Diesel" is the nickname for a certain humongous basketball prodigy living in the state Texas back in the 1980s. Shaquille O'Neal has turned his passion for music and entertainment into a "second act" following his two-decades of NBA stardom. He'll be on stage beginning at 10 a.m. on a campus where he took an official visit to in 1988 (in the end, LSU Coach Dale Brown won a hotly contested recruiting battle over Dean Smith and the Tar Heels).
And the Kenan experience in 2026 includes expanded opportunities for tailgating and enjoying the pre-, post- and in-game entertaining and viewing experiences. The fifth floor of the Kenan Football Center is now the Kenan SkyBox, where fans purchasing this special access will enjoy an array of food and beverage and an outstanding view of the playing field. REVELxp will once again be the university's Fan Experience Partner, providing fans with full-service tailgate set-ups and catering and beverage options in nooks and crannies around the stadium.
It all adds up in year two of the Belichick regime to a team planning to build off a season-opening win over TCU in Ireland and a game-day experience that plays off Carolina's strengths—having an historic, picturesque and fan-friendly venue in the heart of a campus that dates back to the late 1700s.
"Having an excellent football program is important for our community with the ballgames at Kenan and trying to bring in everybody together," Newmark says. "It serves the university extremely well when we are relevant and good and competing for wins and ACC championships."
Kenan Stadium opened on Thanksgiving Day 1927 with the Tar Heels dispatching their biggest rival of the day, the University of Virginia, by a 14-13 score with 30,000 fans filling the new venue. Over 99 seasons, there have been remarkable players, teams and victories that will be celebrated over the next three months.
One of the most memorable triumphs occurred 25 years ago in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy. The Tar Heels were set to face SMU in Kenan Stadium on Sept. 15, 2001, but the game was postponed until December as America mourned and recovered from the terrorist attacks on New York City. Next up on the schedule for Sept. 22 was the No. 6-ranked juggernaut from Florida State to face an 0-3 Tar Heel squad in Coach John Bunting's first year as Carolina's head coach.
After a 9-7 first-half stalemate with the Seminoles holding a slight edge, the Tar Heels exploded in the second half, piling up 34 unanswered points with QB Darian Durant leading the onslaught on offense and defensive end Julius Peppers harassing the Seminoles on defense. The 41-9 final score left Seminole Coach Bobby Bowden with no answers: "I ain't even got a speech for this. I ain't used to making these kind of speeches," he said.
The stage is set for the 2026 Tar Heels to write their own chapter for a century of football in Kenan Stadium.
Lee Pace (Carolina '79) has written about Tar Heel football under the "Extra Points" banner since 1990 and is the author of "Football in a Forest—The Life and Times of Kenan Stadium."
On the west and east sides above the Kenan Football Center and Loudermilk Center respectively are positioned two Daktronics videoboards that stretch 35 yards wide and offer triple the vibrancy and resolution of older models. All around the stadium are LED ribbon boards that will flicker throughout the game with scores, statistics and game-day content. These visual elements will be married with clear and resolute sound emanating from new state-of-the-art speakers.
On the south side is the 38-year-old press box that this summer received a massive makeover that includes new display graphics telling the century-long story of the stadium, updated technology throughout and a flooring and workspace makeover.
On the concourses around the stadium remain some of the tried-and-true concessionaires—Merritt's BLTs and Alpaca Peruvian Chicken among them—with some newcomers offering fare ranging from beef brisket sandwiches from Best Blue BBQ and Walkin' Tacos from Modelo Crunch Cantina.
And in the center of it all at midfield of the Bermuda grass playing field is the throwback "stair-step UNC" logo worn by Carolina's last ACC championship team—the 1980 Tar Heels that featured Lawrence Taylor on defense and "Famous Amos" Lawrence on offense in compiling an 11-1 record.
That logo along with a throwback set of uniforms to be worn by the Tar Heels for their noon kick-off against East Tennessee State are among the gestures from second-year head coach Bill Belichick to recognize and pay homage to the program's history. The helmets feature that same UNC logo on each side, and the jerseys have the CAROLINA name stitched above the front jersey number. That latter feature was adopted from Taylor's preseason publicity photo from his senior year in 1980, but it turns out the Tar Heels never actually wore that version in a game.
"There have been a lot of great players come through this program," says Belichick, who coached a handful of them in the NFL from LT to Don McCauley to Alge Crumpler. "There have been some good teams but not as many great teams as you'd like to have seen. That's our goal now."
The early 1980s logo was developed by Dick Crum, the head coach from 1978-87, with the idea of giving the football program a distinctive look from other teams on the Chapel Hill campus. Via the fact that Belichick's father was an assistant coach at Carolina in mid-1950s and that Belichick himself is a history buff on a variety of subjects, he dug into the Tar Heels' past upon taking the head coaching job in December 2024. He first wore a coaching fleece with the early 1980s UNC logo for the game at Charlotte, the Tar Heels' second outing of the 2025 season.
"It's gratifying to see that logo and makes me feel good that Coach Belichick respects that team and what it accomplished," says Rod Elkins, the starting quarterback on that 1980 squad. "I think it's a fantastic gesture on his part and one that's much appreciated by the guys on that team."
Adds Steve Newmark, who will christen his first football season as Carolina's athletics director on Saturday, "I really like the fact that Coach Belichick and the current staff take a lot of pride in leaning into our history. That's part of what makes UNC so special."
Outside of Kenan Stadium, the Tar Heels will continue their Old Well Walk at 9:30 a.m. across Polk Place, with Belichick have reinstituted that tradition for the 2025 season. Fans can turn their attention from the Tar Heels making their way toward the stadium to the stage set up in front Wilson Library, where the Chapel Thrill Game Day concert series will commence two hours before kickoff. DJ Diesel is the performer this week.
DJ Diesel? The DJ is short for "disc jockey" and "Diesel" is the nickname for a certain humongous basketball prodigy living in the state Texas back in the 1980s. Shaquille O'Neal has turned his passion for music and entertainment into a "second act" following his two-decades of NBA stardom. He'll be on stage beginning at 10 a.m. on a campus where he took an official visit to in 1988 (in the end, LSU Coach Dale Brown won a hotly contested recruiting battle over Dean Smith and the Tar Heels).
And the Kenan experience in 2026 includes expanded opportunities for tailgating and enjoying the pre-, post- and in-game entertaining and viewing experiences. The fifth floor of the Kenan Football Center is now the Kenan SkyBox, where fans purchasing this special access will enjoy an array of food and beverage and an outstanding view of the playing field. REVELxp will once again be the university's Fan Experience Partner, providing fans with full-service tailgate set-ups and catering and beverage options in nooks and crannies around the stadium.
It all adds up in year two of the Belichick regime to a team planning to build off a season-opening win over TCU in Ireland and a game-day experience that plays off Carolina's strengths—having an historic, picturesque and fan-friendly venue in the heart of a campus that dates back to the late 1700s.
"Having an excellent football program is important for our community with the ballgames at Kenan and trying to bring in everybody together," Newmark says. "It serves the university extremely well when we are relevant and good and competing for wins and ACC championships."
Kenan Stadium opened on Thanksgiving Day 1927 with the Tar Heels dispatching their biggest rival of the day, the University of Virginia, by a 14-13 score with 30,000 fans filling the new venue. Over 99 seasons, there have been remarkable players, teams and victories that will be celebrated over the next three months.
One of the most memorable triumphs occurred 25 years ago in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy. The Tar Heels were set to face SMU in Kenan Stadium on Sept. 15, 2001, but the game was postponed until December as America mourned and recovered from the terrorist attacks on New York City. Next up on the schedule for Sept. 22 was the No. 6-ranked juggernaut from Florida State to face an 0-3 Tar Heel squad in Coach John Bunting's first year as Carolina's head coach.
After a 9-7 first-half stalemate with the Seminoles holding a slight edge, the Tar Heels exploded in the second half, piling up 34 unanswered points with QB Darian Durant leading the onslaught on offense and defensive end Julius Peppers harassing the Seminoles on defense. The 41-9 final score left Seminole Coach Bobby Bowden with no answers: "I ain't even got a speech for this. I ain't used to making these kind of speeches," he said.
The stage is set for the 2026 Tar Heels to write their own chapter for a century of football in Kenan Stadium.
Lee Pace (Carolina '79) has written about Tar Heel football under the "Extra Points" banner since 1990 and is the author of "Football in a Forest—The Life and Times of Kenan Stadium."
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