CHAPEL HILL -- The goals for North Carolina's football team flash across the sleek 40-inch flat-screen televisions on the fifth floor of the Kenan Center.
The sequence of pictures starts with the ACC championship trophy, followed by the Orange Bowl trophy and finally, the crystal football atop the BCS national championship trophy.
The Tar Heels, ranked No. 18 in the country, are thinking big in 2010. Even with the uncertainty surrounding two investigations, the Heels are determined to take another step forward as a program.
"This is our last go-round. You can never go back and do this again," senior safety Deunta Williams said. "As a senior, you want to go out with a bang."
That's why the same TV screens in the Kenan Center include this message: "If eight wins are all that you want, keep doing the same things."
Since coach Butch Davis took over after UNC went a 3-9 in 2006, the Tar Heels have been building toward this season.
These seniors, 21 in all, took their lumps in 2007. Williams, defensive tackle Marvin Austin, linebacker Bruce Carter, linebacker Quan Sturdivant, cornerback Kendric Burney, tight end Zach Pianalto and receiver Greg Little played extensively as freshmen and endured the learning process of a 4-8 season.
Led by that core group, UNC broke through in 2008 with an 8-5 record and Meineke Car Care Bowl appearance in Charlotte after going six seasons without a winning record.
Despite a series of injuries, and an 0-3 ACC start, the Heels went 8-5 in 2009 with another Charlotte bowl trip.
But another 8-5 season won't be good enough, Pianalto said, not with 17 eligible returning starters.
"I don't even think 8-5 was good enough last year," Pianalto said. "So this year, that's not acceptable with the senior leadership we have and the talent that we have back."
That senior group already has taken a hit, though, with the suspension of Austin, a massive run-stopper in the heart of UNC's defense, which ranked No. 6 in the country in total defense in 2009 and statistically was the best unit in the ACC.
The NCAA investigation into possible improper contact with sports agents and the school probe into possible academic misconduct could claim more players before Saturday's opener against No. 21 Louisiana State in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff in Atlanta.
Little, the team's leading receiver, was interviewed by the NCAA as part of its agent investigation, according to his father. Still, Pianalto said, there's nobody that "we can't win without."
"We're at point in our program, that we can take a hit," said Pianalto, who had a career-best 33 catches in 2009 and is quarterback T.J. Yates' go-to target. "There's enough depth on this team where guys can step in and fill that role and we can still get to where we want to be."
Regardless of personnel issues, for the Tar Heels to take a step from eight wins to their first 10-win season since 1997, the offense has to get better.
The Heels ranked No. 79 in rushing offense (132.8 yards per game), No. 102 in passing offense (174.9 ypg), No. 108 in total offense (307.7 ypg) and No. 83 in scoring offense (23.7 points per game).
Davis pinpoints the problems on offense to the offensive line, which in early August he called the program's Achilles heel.
UNC used 10 starting combinations in 13 games last season. Injuries, especially in a late September stretch, forced coaches to patch together a line.
"All the musical chairs we played on the offensive line, we never got to the point where we were comfortable with the five guys we had out there," Davis said.
In a two-game valley against Georgia Tech and Virginia, UNC combined to rush for 56 yards on 41 attempts and scored one touchdown in two ACC losses.
"That's about as low as it has been since I've been here," Yates said. "We were just scrambling to get a line together."
With three returning starters, renewed health - including the return of junior tackle Carl Gaskins from a serious knee injury - and the addition of high school All-American James Hurst, the line is in the best shape it has been under Davis.
Yates, who has 37 interceptions in 32 career games, still has to make better decisions, and the running game, which might have to rely on senior Johnny White, has to be more consistent. But Davis believes the offense will improve with a healthy, stable line.
If the offense can catch up to the defense, the Heels feel they can accomplish their goals, or at least contend for their first ACC title since 1980.
"Everybody's No. 1 goal is to win the ACC," Williams said. "I didn't come here to go 8-5. Nobody did."
With all the uncertainty surrounding the program, there is one thing Williams and UNC's other seniors know for sure: This is their last shot at an ACC title.
