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CHAPEL HILL — The long, slow rebuilding project at North Carolina continued Saturday, and another muttering retreat continued for East Carolina.

The intermittent rivalry that is UNC-ECU turned another page with Carolina winning 31-17 and moving onto bigger games, while the BCS hopes and aspirations of the Pirates took a broadside hit. The 3-0 Heels will try to go national now, and 1-2 ECU will try not to disappear into conference play.

The 12th game between the in-state neighbors was only the fourth in 28 years, and the seats at Kenan Stadium were packed. For almost three quarters, it was worth the wait. But then a blocked field goal and a controversial penalty against the visitors doomed the Pirates in the end.

North Carolina had more talent, and that was ultimately the difference in the game, but ECU lamented two second half drives that totaled 27 plays and three points. Butch Davis said afterward he appreciated a 3-0 record for what it is, and Skip Holtz knew the Pirates' 1-2 record would sting even more with no more rivals on the schedule.

"We have to turn and regroup and bring it back together and get into conference play," he said.

That means Central Florida, Marshall, SMU and Rice in the coming weeks of a season that began with such high hopes.

"It's frustrating, and it's hard to lose for a football team that had such lofty goals and aspirations," Holtz said.

The wildest hopes of the Tar Heels are in tact with Georgia Tech looming for the first Carolina team since 1997 to win its first three games.

"We still have a long ways to go," Davis warned.

He's been saying that since he arrived three years ago, and the roster reflects the coach's sentiments. Only three seniors started Saturday, and only six were listed on the two-deep chart. One of those is not named Robert Quinn. The sophomore defensive end disrupted most of ECU's game plan all by himself, forcing the Pirates to alter plays and blocking schemes and convincing Holtz the 6-5, 270-pound pass rusher out of Ladson, S.C. is better than game film suggests.

"He's a pro right now," Holtz said.

"Robert Quinn was spectacular," Davis said.

ECU gave up on running plays to his side and eventually had to give up running at all to keep pace with a Carolina offense that also altered its game plan. With a pieced-together offensive line, using spare parts from the defense, UNC quickened its pace and ran a slew of short passing plays that got the team to the line of scrimmage in a hurry and got the ball out of quarterback T.J. Yates' hands in a hurry.

The pace frustrated ECU and kept the Carolina defense rested well into the fourth quarter. UNC punted only four times, and not once in the second half. Along the way, the Heels threw only five incompletions all day, ran up almost 450 yards in offense and kept ECU at arms length with big plays the Pirates couldn't reproduce. ECU took a 7-0 lead then was outscored 31-10 over the course of a long afternoon in front of 58,000 fans, some of whom saw this as the game of the year.

The talk back and forth between the schools heightened the anticipation and probably led to officials trying too hard to keep emotions under control. Unsportsmanlike penalties were called after each team's first touchdown, which took some of the emotion out of the game but confused everyone else. And then in the final minutes, a penalty for a late hit out of bounds rekindled the emotions of the confused and the ECU coaches.

With the score 24-17 and Carolina facing a second-and-12 deep in East Carolina territory, Yates ran to the sideline and threw incomplete. He was then buried under a pile of purple and Carolina blue jerseys as the momentum of the play carried the UNC quarterback out of bounds along with several other players. A flag was thrown, Carolina was given a first down at the 7, and Holtz went nuts.

While the ECU fans howled from the stands and the ECU coach defiantly stood on the playing field, Carolina scored again to end all ECU hopes and aspirations for a post-season invitation to the inner circle of college football — the BCS bowls.

Holtz wasn't given much of an explanation, and ECU now doesn't have much of a prayer for parlaying even a second Conference USA championship into an improbable dream. Carolina might not get there either. The 3-0 Heels have a long ways to go, and the future looks to be another year away. The 1-2 Pirates have a long ways to go, too, but the future is always now in Greenville.

In the end, the 12th game of a reluctant rivalry infuriated ECU again and sent UNC on to bigger games of consequence. That's true for the Pirates, too, but it probably didn't feel that way walking away from the biggest game of the season with a lot less to look forward to.

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