To get to the post-game news conference at Carolina, I always walk from the press box down through the stands at Kenan Stadium to field level and then go through the tunnel that leads into the Kenan Field House area.

As I walked through the big double doors on Saturday, I heard a tremendous roar coming from the Carolina locker-room. It was loud, exuberant and full of emotion. It was the happy cheering of a football team that had finally won a close game. Four of the Tar Heels' six losses had been by a total of just 18 points. You bet the 16-13 win over Maryland was sweet for this young football team.

Coach Butch Davis said he had told his team how proud he was of their perseverance, the way they kept fighting.

"When you go through adversity," Davis said, "it shows an awful lot and tells an awful lot about the character of this team."

Coming off a horrible effort the week before at Wake Forest, the Tar Heels' victory was no thing of beauty against banged up Maryland, but it was a great effort by a team that is hungry to keep getting better and seriously believes it still can become bowl-eligible.

"It was an overall great win," defensive tackle Kentwan Balmer said ."No one deserves it more than we do."

After the drubbing in Winston-Salem, big senior defensive lineman Hilee Taylor called the team out for its lack of effort. Taylor said Saturday that as a senior, he had to do that, that the seniors had to look at themselves and that other players had to as well.

Taylor and the rest of the UNC defense came up big. On a day when Carolina's offense totaled just 259 yards, the defense controlled Maryland's patched-up offensive line, limiting the Terps' running game to under 100 yards while keeping constant pressure on quarterback Chris Turner. Taylor says the effort from one week to the next was like the difference between summer and winter.

"A team effort," Taylor calls it. "It's a real big confidence booster."

So through nine games, Carolina is 3-6 but the Maryland win gives them every confidence they can win their next three and become bowl-eligible.

Quarterback T.J. Yates, who has become just the seventh freshman in ACC history to throw for over 2,000 yards, says that's the goal. "We're going to try and run the table, but we're going to take it one win at a time."

And the first chance comes in Raleigh against archrival N.C. State, a team that has won three in a row, the latest the 19-16 overtime thriller over Miami in the historic but run-down Orange Bowl. Beating Miami isn't what it used to be, but don't tell that to State, which has now clicked off two straight ACC wins and has fought through quite a bit of adversity of their own.

What was a terrible team through its first six games is all of a sudden 4-5. And the Pack is also thinking if they can win their next three and that 7-5 and a bowl game is a darn good first season for coach Tom O'Brien.

So State and Carolina are playing for more than just bragging rights. The Wolfpack has lost three straight to very beatable Tar Heel teams, which has just galled Wolfpack nation. Carter-Finley Stadium will be howling on Saturday.

Only a few will notice this game outside of North Carolina, but very much is at stake. Both schools have first-year coaches who are building programs. Recruits who are considering either Carolina or State will be watching – you can bet on that. Whoever wins could determine the choice of schools.

State has fought through so many injuries to so many key players, but they never quit even when it looked so bleak just a month ago. Carolina has had to overcome the inexperience of youth and the heartbreak of losing games they could have won to keep improving. Now, they're no easy game for anybody.

Both believe they can win out. They really do. To do so would be quite an accomplishment for each program. Of course that dream will die for this Saturday's loser.

State and Carolina are maybe not even average football teams now, but the future is not now. Two veteran coaches with proven track records almost guarantee these programs will get a whole lot better as more building blocks are laid, but neither has given up on this season, and that's evident by how hard their teams are playing.

For instant gratification it all comes down to this Saturday. It may be two mediocre teams, but for the many State and Carolina fans that doesn't matter.

In any given year, this game means it all to those who wear the red or the light blue. But win on this coming Saturday and another positive step is taken. A respectable season will still be possible. The right to brag is there for an entire year.

And this year, the winner can also say, they've taken the lead to the future.