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They're 3-0 and ranked No. 22 in the country, and they hit the road this weekend to play a team they beat 28-7 last season.

Cake walk, right? Wrong.

Listen to North Carolina coach Butch Davis, and you can hear the tone of caution in his voice when it comes to his Tar Heels playing at Georgia Tech (2-1) after the Yellow Jackets' first loss of the season.

"This is the biggest challenge that our football team has faced this season," Davis said. " ... They are executing and running their offense much better a year later than they did in that very first year."

Georgia Tech's triple-option offense features fullback Jonathan Dwyer, last season's ACC player of the year. Dwyer has been limited by a shoulder injury this season, but Davis said the Jackets' offense still starts with the dive.

"You almost hold your breath every single play because there's so many moving parts to it," Davis said. " ... When the play starts: Is it the fullback? Is it the quarterback? Is it the pitch? Is it play-action or a reverse? There's about five things that can happen once the ball's snapped, and it puts a tremendous amount of responsibility on your defense to play structurally and fundamentally sound."

N.C. STATE: The Wolfpack is coming off back-to-back victories over FCS programs. Now the Pack plays host to the preseason favorite in the Big East: Pitt.

"This will be a great test to see who and what we are," N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien said.

Sophomore quarterback Russell Wilson set the NCAA record for most consecutive pass attempts without an interception last week. But he's playing behind a patchwork offensive line and facing a Pitt team with 15 sacks in three games.

"We could be starting our fourth different offensive line in the fourth game of the year," O'Brien said. "We've got a lot of work to do up front. (Pitt's) front four is very formidable."

Wilson will have another option in the passing game: wide receiver Donald Bowens returned from an injury and played briefly in the Pack's win over Gardner-Webb.

"He was noticeably rusty on Saturday," O'Brien said. "But we wanted to get him in the game and throw him the ball and have him tackled — do those things we needed to see out of him. I think he'll get better each week."

WAKE FOREST: Wake's 35-7 victory over Elon in Week 3 was the first between match between those schools since 1939. But for two of the players, it was a rematch of 2006.

Wake defensive back Kenny Okoro, a redshirt freshman, and Elon junior quarterback Scott Riddle were both News & Record players of the year as high school seniors.

In his senior year, Riddle led Eastern Randolph to a state championship. Along the way, the Wildcats beat a Dudley team led by a junior named Okoro.

"We knew (Elon) had a good quarterback in Scott Riddle," Okoro said. "I remember facing him in high school in my 11th-grade year. He put us out of the playoffs, and I'm still pretty bitter about that. I knew he was coming in here, and I was ready to go."

Okoro, the Deacs' nickel back, got the better of this matchup. He finished with three solo tackles and a pass breakup, spending much of his night matched up against All-America wideout Terrell Hudgins.

Okoro will likely see even more playing time: Wake suspended sophomore safety Junior Petit-Jean for the rest of the season Wednesday for a violation of team rules.

DUKE: If the Blue Devils still have postseason dreams, this is a must-win game.

Duke (1-2) plays its homecoming game Saturday evening against N.C. Central, an FCS opponent 5 miles from the Duke campus.

"Our players know each other," Duke coach David Cutcliffe said, "so it should be an interesting night in Wallace Wade (Stadium).

"Central (is) a very athletic team very capable of making a lot of plays. &ellipses; We're not a very good football team right now. We have to totally focus on making Duke a better football team this week."

Duke is coming off a 44-16 loss at No. 20 Kansas, and the Blue Devils already have lost to an FCS opponent (Richmond, the top-ranked team in the world once known as Division I-AA).

Many of the Blue Devils' struggles have come at the line of scrimmage, where Duke lost three starters from last season's offensive line. Replacing those guys has been difficult.

"It's just the intricacies of playing," Cutcliffe said, "the development of the cohesion — the glue it takes — much less the talent. It's hard to bring that together."

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com