North Carolina football coach Butch Davis is correct in that every game on the schedule is big, particularly given a football team only plays 12 regular season games and eight of those are in conference.

But this is also true: With each victory in a tight race, every game grows in importance.

This is why, after UNC dominated Georgia Tech 28-7 in the Tar Heels' most impressive defensive performance of the season to date, Carolina will now play a game that surpasses that contest. This Saturday, Carolina (7-2, 3-2) will play at Maryland (6-3, 3-2) at 3:30 p.m. on ABC locally and ESPN nationally.

Last Saturday in Kenan Stadium, UNC managed to eliminate one of the contenders in the battle to see who will play in Tampa, Fla., on Dec. 6. Georgia Tech now has three conference losses.

Virginia Tech (6-3, 3-2 in the ACC) will play at Miami (6-3, 3-2) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in the weekly ESPN game.

By Saturday night, there will be two teams in the Coastal Division tied with two losses in the race to see who plays in the ACC title game. Unfortunately for Carolina, UNC had the Hokies beaten 17-3 earlier this year in Chapel Hill, but lost 20-17 after starting quarterback T.J. Yates was knocked from the game with a broken ankle.

Conversely, just as fortuitously, the next week redshirt junior quarterback Cameron Sexton came on to lead the Tar Heels to a dramatic 28-24 victory at Miami. And Sexton has been superb ever since.

(Sexton and the offense got some help from the game-saving interception by Trimane Goddard at Miami. UNC is tied with Boston College for the lead in the nation in interceptions with 18. Goddard is tied for the individual lead with six for the season. He picked off one against Georgia Tech on Saturday.)

Now, the dreams Carolina football fans entertained, when Butch Davis was hired as head coach nearly two years ago, are coming true -- quickly. UNC is a contender in football again.

The Tar Heels are for real. They're the only ACC team ranked in the AP 25. Just ask Georgia Tech, which came to Chapel Hill after defeating Florida State 31-28 the week before.

UNC's defense nearly shut out the Yellow Jackets, with a late 85-yard run by Jonathan Dwyer ruining the moment. But the Yellow Jackets could not spoil the day.

"This game was really big," junior defensive end E.J. Wilson of Virginia said, "because this game was pivotal in the ACC race. We're taking the season week by week, game by game, but our ultimate goal is to be in the ACC championship game.

"We took strides toward that with this game. When he came here, coach Davis said that everyone should want to play in meaningful games. This is one of the most meaningful games here this season."

The Tar Heels' speed and their strength along the defensive line proved to be way too much for Georgia Tech. By day's end, the Yellow Jackets' 'flex-bone' offense had run out of options.

"We wanted to make a statement that we know what you're doing, and you're going to have to do something pretty special for us not to stop you," Wilson said. "For the last two weeks now, we've been hearing everybody talking, 'triple option this, triple option this.' If you get down to it and play football the way we know how to play football, we can stop them."

Some bad news did come out of the victory against Tech. Tight end Zack Pianalto fractured a leg scoring the game's first touchdown.

"Zack had a fracture of the fibula, which is the non-weight-bearing bone of the lower leg," Davis said. "The timetable for that, we don't really know anything for that right now. It's going to take some time to mend, and we don't know how long that will be to mend right now."

But that was about the only bad news in an impressive victory against a strong defensive team, not to mention a club that had been prolific on offense until the Tar Heels virtually shut off the end zone.

"Today is probably one of the best days that I have had on this campus," senior middle linebacker Mark Paschal said. "It's not that we've succeeded and completed our goal, but that we're working toward it and the great things that lie ahead of this football team, whether it is in Tampa or wherever. We're just excited to be winning and getting better every week."

Eddy Landreth can be reached at chnsports@nando.com.