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CHAPEL HILL -- Butch Davis still walks the straight and narrow path to success, and North Carolina has a football team that will follow him.

That hasn't been the case here in recent seasons, about a decade's worth in fact, an eternity in college football. In the 10 seasons since Carolina bid farewell to Mack Brown and the big time, UNC has managed three winning seasons, fired two coaches (one twice), hired three (one who didn't come) and seen several rebuilding projects collapse on otherwise perfect Saturdays.

Here under the pine trees around Kenan Stadium, where people have walked the same paths for more than 80 years, we're once again struck by the patience and the beauty of a program standing still. Pretty as a picture.

So is this season different? Is this the one they've been waiting for, the one Davis talked about when he came out of retirement to lead the next great push to success at North Carolina?

We might find out Saturday when Virginia Tech comes to town (3:30, WXLV-45).

The developing themes outside Carolina are twofold: one, Virginia Tech might not be that good; and two, UNC might finally have the athletes to compete with the national programs that haven't been standing still for 10 years.

Davis isn't about to make this game any bigger than any other on the schedule.

"This is the next game," he said Monday.

And the next season.

Last year, UNC went through still another rebuilding year, losing six times by a touchdown or less on the way to 4-8 in the first season under Davis. He endured it and won the respect of his players by not changing plans in midseason, by not blaming his players or the school's history or the strength of the schedule. Davis went 4-8 and took it like a football coach.

He is 2-0 this year in Chapel Hill, a dangerous place to be judging from history. Hopes have been raised quickly, and expectations are suddenly rising. The stadium will be filled Saturday, and most everyone inside it will be expecting a Carolina win.

Coming off the Thursday night 44-12 dismantling of Rutgers, it's suddenly football season in Carolina.

Davis knows his team is close. He knows he has the athletes, and he knows the athletes can play.

"We'll be good when the players take ownership of the team," Davis said. "It's so important for the players to understand this is their football team. It's not mine. They, to a large extent, decide how good they want to be."

That means working hard and preparing hard and staying out of trouble, something the Heels have managed better in recent seasons without seeing results on the field. The players themselves have said they sense something different this time. All the switching of positions and failure to recognize talent put the players in a bad frame of mind in past seasons. This year, with record-setting quarterback T.J. Yates surrounded by speed and talent, and the young defense finally buying into the scheme of relentless pursuit, the Tar Heels actually look like they're having a good time.

"We're having fun," wide receiver Hakeem Nicks said. "Guys are out there flying around making plays. The environment is different. The guys actually want to go out there and practice. In the past it hasn't always been like that."

In the past, players believed they weren't given a chance to fly around. In the past, they believed their positions were never locked in. In the past, the team seemed content to let its best athletes waste away. Thursday night's performance by receiver Brandon Tate might've changed everything. The senior from Burlington had been nothing more than a special-teams player for two years before Davis and the coaches looked at each other last year and saw what they had.

The under-recruited player from Cummings has the look of a big-time talent, and now that he's being used as a wideout, his return skills give him an aura. Davis hasn't spent a lot of time wondering why the previous coaching staff missed it. He knows Tate is a game-breaker, and there aren't many of those anywhere.

"He's just a football player," Davis said. "He carried the label, prior to me arriving, that he was just a special-teams, kick-return guy."

The players knew all along that Tate was much more.

Now everyone knows it, including the Hokies coming in and the 60,000 fans who will walk the paths into Kenan Stadium this weekend. This isn't another rebuilding season at Carolina, and an old feeling is in the air.

Have the Tar Heels finally figured it out? Time will tell. Carolina plays Virginia Tech this weekend, the last weekend of summer and the first weekend of football here in a long time.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com