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CHAPEL HILL – The only way the national landscape pays much attention to the South’s Oldest Rivalry this weekend is if something really crazy happens.

North Carolina is only favored by a touchdown over offensively challenged Virginia, but anyone that has seen either team play knows UNC should roll to a victory. So, a UVA victory will resonate outside this region.

So will Drake Maye or someone posting ridiculous numbers, which is surely possible. It’s the upset factor, however, for which Carolina must be on alert, because it very well could happen.

North Carolina football has a history of losing games like this. A “trap game” if you will. Not a fan of that term because it’s only a trap if the favored team allows that to happen. So, the question begs: Will UNC allow it to happen?

Perhaps the Tar Heels will reveal more about where they are as a team in 2022, and where the program is in game nine of year four, by how they approach and perform Saturday in Charlottesville. Mack Brown says his team has matured, it has grown, and it is player-led.

If that’s the case, shouldn’t the Tar Heels be ready to go at high noon when the ball is kicked off? Shouldn’t UNC show UVA a great deal of respect, and enter with the mindset of putting away the Wahoos early?

Carolina is playing for plenty of significant stuff right now, and it gets more so as each week passes and win is notched.

As it stands, UNC is No. 17 in the College Football Playoff poll, it also has a two-game lead in the loss column of the ACC’s Coastal Division over Miami and Duke, and the Heels own the tiebreaker versus both as well. One more Carolina win and loss by the Hurricanes and Blue Devils, and another loss by Georgia Tech, and UNC will be in Charlotte in December playing for a conference championship. Likely against Clemson.

Its position in the CFP is something that could become quite interesting if the Heels take care of business, a reason this weekend’s game is so fascinating and crucial.

Fascinating because the Heels must show they can generate their own energy. Noon start, 20,000 empty seats (UVA fans have grown apathetic about the team), an opponent that has struggled scoring points, and a team UNC clobbered a year ago.

This sets up perfectly for a Carolina collapse. And it wouldn’t be the first time.

Just in recent memory, the 2020 team was No. 5 in the nation heading into Tallahassee and got rocked out of the gate by Florida State. That team lost a couple of weeks later in Charlottesville, too.

A year ago, the Heels were No. 10 opening the season and Sam Howell was a major Heisman candidate, and the Heels were awful losing the opener. Three weeks later, they were destroyed by a bad Georgia Tech team on the road.

Brown recognizes the danger in this game, and what he could learn about his club and program.

“I’ve told our team, ‘You are who you are, not who you say you are. So, put it on video. Show me, don’t tell me,’” he said earlier this week. “I’ve also told them it’s hard to be a great team. You can be a good team; we’re a good team. But it’s hard to be a great team, and to do that, you’ve got to step up every week.”

He gets it. He knows with the Heels heading to Wake Forest next week, his young team could overlook the woeful Wahoos, but he also knows UVA is good enough to win if the Tar Heels allow it to happen.