Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network (WCHL-1360 AM & WRDU 106.1 FM locally)

The Teams: No. 23 North Carolina (8-3 overall, 4-3 ACC) Tar Heels & the North Carolina State (4-7, 1-6 ACC) Wolfpack.

The Coaches: UNC's Butch Davis (20-16 in his third year at UNC, and 71-36 in nine years overall) & NCSU's Tom O'Brien (15-21 in third year at NCSU; 91-63 in his 11th year overall). ... It what has to be stunning new for the 'Pack, NCSU offensive coordinaator Dana Bible, who has worked for head coach Tom O'Brien for the last 11 years at Boston College and N.C. State, announced this week he has been diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia and will be undergoing treatment for the next 30 days at UNC Hospitals Cancer Center in Chapel Hill. ... Davis and O'Brien met four times from 1997 to 2000 while coaches in the Big East Conference. Davis's Miami Hurricanes won all four games against O'Brien's Boston College Eagles.

The Series: North Carolina leads, 63-29-6; UNC is 5-2 in the last seven games. Last NCSU win: (2008), 41-10 in Chapel Hill. Last UNC win: (2006), 23-9. Last time they playd in Raleigh: NCSU 31, UNC 27. Last UNC win in Raleigh: (2005), 31-24.

Noteworthy: Saturday marks just the third time the Carolina-State game has been played on the final weekend of the regular season and first since 1998 when the game was played in Charlotte. (Carolina won that game 37-34 in overtime.) ... Carolina is back in the top 25 of both the AP (No. 23) writers poll and USA Today Coaches Poll (No. 24). It is the first time the Tar Heels have been ranked in both polls since the third week of the season (Sept. 20). ... NCSU lost its second straight game and for the sixth time in seven games when the Wolfpack fell 38-10 at Virginia tech last weekend. ... The Wolfpack allowed at least 30 points for the eighth game in a row, and struggled on offense, turning the ball over four times and allowing five sacks of usually nimble QB Russell Wilson... . UNC's four-game win streak is the team's longest since the 2001 season. ... A win over N.C. State would give the Tar Heels nine wins for the first time since going 11-1 in 1997. Carolina has won nine games just 15 times in its 118-year history. ... North Carolina has 14 takeaways and nine interceptions in its current four-game win streak, including six T.O.s taken in a 31-13 win last weekend at Boston College. ... The team that has held the rushing advantage has won 16 of the last 17 meetings between NCSU and Carolina. The lone exception was in 2004 when Carolina won 30-24, but was outgained on the ground, 304-164.