By Briana Gorman

bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668

CHAPEL HILL -- Four days after a stunning victory over Virginia Tech, North Carolina quarterback T.J. Yates said Monday he could sense a different mood around the Tar Heels.

The junior signal caller said the team is brimming with confidence, unlike a week ago when UNC blew an 18-point lead in a disappointing loss to Florida State.

"We have a little bit different excitement at practice, a little bit different energy," Yates said. "A big win like that is definitely going to help you out in everything -- just confidence, energy, kind of just going through practicing and making everything run a little bit smoother."

And it's that kind of attitude that will help the Tar Heels as they prepare for a critical matchup with rival Duke this week.

On Saturday at Kenan Stadium, both schools will be fighting for a chance to play in the postseason as UNC and Duke are 5-3 overall. Both programs need to win at least two of their remaining four games to be considered for a bowl, and Saturday's winner would have the obvious upper hand.

This arguably is the first meaningful -- in terms of postseason ramifications for both -- Duke-UNC football matchup since 1994, the most recent time each program had a winning record entering the game.

The Tar Heels have been to bowl games since then, but 1994 was the Blue Devils most recent winning season and bowl game.

"Sometimes it's not as hard to handle adversity ... as it is success," UNC coach Butch Davis said.

"I said after Friday when we got back from Virginia Tech, 'You've got 10 hours to enjoy that victory. You got to put that behind you and move on. This is a very critical and important stretch down the rest of the season, and this will be a big game.' "

Yates said it was hard not taking more time to savor the victory over Virginia Tech, which he called his biggest win in a UNC uniform, but he understood dwelling on last week wouldn't help the Tar Heels this week.

"Coach kind of reiterated to us that the win we just had doesn't really mean anything if we don't win this next game," Yates said. "It doesn't really matter if you can't back it up with another win."

Yates said the team has shown it can respond to adversity, but the Tar Heels will need to focus on channeling their success into back-to-back ACC games -- something they haven't done this season.

Junior safety Deunta Williams said when a team is winning, mistakes tend to get overlooked because everyone is in a good mood.

"That is one of the hardest things to handle, success, because everybody pats you on your back and your mistakes kind of get a little Band-Aid over," Williams said. "When you lose, it's all raw."

Williams said the win over the Hokies was a confidence booster, but he thought the defense could've played better and been more dominant.

"I think everybody's going to have to look at themselves in the mirror and get over [the Virginia Tech win]," Williams said. "It's over now, so there's no need to keep thinking about it and patting yourselves on the back."