North Carolina, South Carolina Cancel Football Series - And Fans Aren't Happy

Despite the massive impending expansion to the College Football Playoff field, college teams don't seem any more eager to schedule potentially tough non-conference games than they were before. The latest casualty of this changing mindset is the North Carolina vs. South Carolina series.

On Friday, the Tar Heels football team announced that their home-and-home series against South Carolina has been scrapped. The teams were initially schedule to face off in Columbia in 2028 and in Chapel Hill in 2029. In their statement, the Tar Heels cited the change in the number of non-conference games as the reason behind the decision.

"The upcoming North Carolina and South Carolina home-and-home football series slated for 2028 in Columbia and 2029 in Chapel Hill, has been canceled," the team said. "Last year, the SEC and ACC announced the move to a nine-game conference schedule, resulting in changes to future nonconference schedules."

"Ruining the sport"

North Carolina vs. South Carolina may not be an annual rivalry in same vein as the Iron Bowl or The Game, but the two programs squared off 60 times between 1903 and 2023, mostly as members of the ACC.

That and the fact that they are among the very rare power conference opponents even on their non-conference slate, fans feel that the move is just another cowardly act that's destroying the sport.

"More lameness. How does any of this get better with a 24 team format? Oh wait, we will just play all the games at NeUtRaL sItE," one user lamented.

"We need more of these matchups and less cupcake games," another declared.

"SEC expanding to 9 games is going to kill so many fun and unique matchups. May never see a South Carolina-UNC game again and that's a shame," a third wrote.

"This sport just gets worse and worse."

"Fans keep footing the bill and keep getting screwed!"

It isn't even as though either team had a glut of non-conference opponents that were clogging the schedule either.

The only other non-conference games North Carolina has in 2028 or 2029 are games against James Madison and Kennesaw State, both in 2028. South Carolina plays longtime rival Clemson and Wofford in 2028, then Clemson and Appalachian State in 2029.

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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 4:03 PM.