North Carolina and Duke will renew their historic rivalry Saturday night in Durham with major ACC title implications on the line.

Nothing new, right?

Well, things do look a little different this time around. The hallowed halls of Cameron Indoor Stadium will be exchanged for the lights of Wallace Wade Stadium, as the 5-1 Tar Heels football team takes on the 4-2 Blue Devils in a Battle for the Victory Bell that feels a little more important than it often does.

The ACC season is in its early stages, but Carolina has emerged as a favorite in the Coastal Division. The Tar Heels are 2-0 in conference play after a big road win at Miami, and they’ll look to carry that momentum into a rivalry setting against Duke.

The Blue Devils, under first-year coach Mike Elko, have had a surprising start. Duke started the year 3-0 before losing to a legitimately good Kansas team on the road. The Devils opened ACC play with a dominant win at Virginia, but then they fell to 1-1 with a really surprising overtime loss at Georgia Tech.

Still, Duke is better than most people thought it would be. There were questions about whether the Blue Devils even would be able to win an ACC game let alone compete in the conference, but early on Duke has shown it’s at the very least a team that can make some noise in the always-whacky Coastal.

So now the Tar Heels and Blue Devils will square off, as they have done so many times, with the stakes a little higher. Since the ACC went to football divisions in 2005, there has not been a single season when both schools finished above .500 in conference play.

That could keep true this year – there’s so much season to be played – but at least here in early October it’s looking like both might be competitive. The last time both finished above .500 in the ACC, not a single player on either roster was born. Duke and UNC both were 5-3 back in 1994.

During the division era of the ACC, the Blue Devils and Tar Heels have combined to win the Coastal just 3 times. Carolina won in 2012 and 2015, and Duke finished 5th and 4th in the division. The Devils topped the Coastal in 2013, and Carolina finished 5th.

But now in October, Duke and Carolina are playing with strong footing in the Coastal on the line. Yes, Georgia Tech currently is sandwiched between the 2 North Carolina schools at the top of the standings, but the Yellow Jackets’ post-Geoff Collins explosion feels like its days are limited with UNC, Florida State and Miami still left on the schedule.

If Duke can find a way to spoil UNC’s party, like the Heels did to the Devils in men’s basketball back during March, then both teams would be 2-1. If Carolina proves it is the better team and beats the Blue Devils, the Heels will be 3-0 in ACC play and firmly in the driver’s seat in the crazy Coastal.

Either way, Duke and UNC are playing a football game with implications other than just the rivalry on the line. That hasn’t happened all that often over the years, and it should make for some fun prime-time viewing Saturday.