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You've got to feel a little sorry for the North Carolina football team.

The Tar Heels went 8-5 last fall, their first winning season since 2001. So they must have been the toast of campus for the whole school year, right? Not exactly. Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and the rest of the men's basketball team topped them in a big way, winning the NCAA tournament.

Now, what happened during football season again?

"It gets a little old. ... We're supposed to be a basketball school and all," quarterback T.J. Yates said at the ACC's preseason media gathering in Greensboro, N.C., last week. "The basketball players on campus are like gods. ... We've got the helmets on. People don't know what we look like."

Still, UNC fans should have an interesting fall as they wait for Roy Williams' bunch to tip off. Year 3 of the Butch Davis era looks promising. Six starters return on offense, while there are nine starters back on defense.

"We can challenge for the conference title," defensive end E.J. Wilson said. "The confidence level is actually higher than it's been in a long time."

The Tar Heels won twice as many games last year as they did in Davis' first year at the helm. But they have not reached double digits in victories since 1997, the last year Mack Brown was running the show in Chapel Hill.

Davis knows improving from good to great will be a tougher challenge than going from poor to good.

"Sometimes it's easier to go from no wins to four wins, and four wins to six or seven wins," said Davis, a former coach at the University of Miami. "As you climb the mountain, it gets harder. The years at Miami, we had a couple of 9-3 seasons and then went 11-1. And every year that you tried to win that one or two more games, it's not just about winning one or two more games. You've got to go back and win the first eight that you won with the team the year before."

Davis is concerned about the receiving corps. Yates will no longer have NFL Draft picks Hakeem Nicks, Brooks Foster and Brandon Tate among his targets.

But Yates said UNC can "absolutely" win the ACC title.

"We're so much better offensively and defensively," Yates said. "We didn't tone down our offense at all during spring ball. ... We're going to be structured a little bit differently, but we're still going to have the big plays."

Unlike with the offense, there are no worries with the defense. Three UNC defensive players -- defensive tackle Marvin Austin, linebacker Quan Sturdivant and cornerback Kendric Burney -- made the preseason All-ACC team last week.

"There's no limit to how good this defense can be," Wilson said. "We could possibly be one of the best defenses in the country.

"We're going to be a really fast defense this year. If you're running to the ball, that's when plays happen, that's when fumbles happen. Our team speed will allow us to have more turnovers."