Updated 10:05 p.m.

CHAPEL HILL – Bryn Renner didn’t let the moment escape.

After everything the Tar Heels had been through this year – the nine NCAA violations, their coach being fired before the season began, and losing four ACC games in a little more than a month – Renner wanted to thank his leader, the man who he said pushed the Tar Heels to another win: coach Everett Withers.

UNC’s 37-21 victory over rival Duke on Saturday afternoon at Kenan Stadium increased the Tar Heels' postseason bowl prospects, and it allowed them to keep the Victory Bell. But this win also allowed Renner to thank Withers and give him a game ball in front of his teammates in the locker room.

CHAPEL HILL — Everett Withers, the North Carolina coach, met with reporters on Monday for his weekly press conference. He spoke on a variety of topics – from the status of Giovani Bernard after he suffered a concussion to the challenges his team will face here on Saturday against Duke on Senior Day to the Tar Heels’ Thanksgiving plans.

Here’s the recap:

CHAPEL HILL — During an answer to a question he received during his weekly press conference on Monday, North Carolina coach Everett Withers used the word “hopefully” to describe his thoughts on the Tar Heels’ bowl status.

As in: “Hopefully [we will] be going to four straight bowls,” Withers said.

With six victories, the Tar Heels are, of course, bowl eligible. But Withers’ words – particularly his use of “hopefully” – caused some in the media corps to wonder whether UNC might turn down a bowl bid. After all, Miami recently announced that it would turn down any invitation to a bowl game because of the school’s ongoing NCAA investigation.

Update: Post corrected to mention that UVa must lose this weekend for Virginia Tech to clinch a spot in the ACC championship game with a win Thursday.

With a victory against North Carolina on Thursday night, Virginia Tech would clinch the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division. Which means, of course, that the Tar Heels could play the role of spoiler.

CHAPEL HILL – Just when North Carolina’s defense is preparing to face one of its toughest opponents of the season -- undefeated and eighth-ranked Clemson, which is second in the ACC in total offense and points scored – the Tar Heels lose a starting linebacker.

Senior Ebele Okakpu has been dismissed for “conduct detrimental to the team,’’ interim head coach Everett Withers announced at his Monday news conference. Asked if the punishment was because of something that had happened during Saturday’s loss to Miami, Withers refused to elaborate on the reasons for Okakpu’s dismissal. But he said the linebacker from Roswell, Ga., will remain on scholarship and have a chance to graduate in the spring.

CHAPEL HILL -- From the beginning of the season, North Carolina’s football players insisted they’d let their play do the talking, focus on one game at a time, and wait until the end of the season to judge their overall performance.

But now one victory away from bowl eligibility entering Saturday’s game against Miami, cornerback Jabari Price on Monday apparently forgot the memo.

“We’re not really getting no respect,’’ said the sophomore, who missed the first four games of the season because of a hand injury. “As you can see, we’re 5-1, and we’re still not ranked. … In order to make a statement to the world, we have to show up and eat at the end of the season, right here, right now.

“...We talk about it all the time. You see teams like Virginia Tech, they’re 5-1 but they’re ranked. Obviously, being ranked is not a big deal to me, but it shows a sign of disrespect to me, personally. I feel like we’re one of the better teams in the country right now and we’re playing like it.”

CHAPEL HILL – Last weekend, North Carolina faced Georgia Tech’s wear-you-down-with-the-run option. This weekend, it will try to defend East Carolina’s big-play, spread-it-out attack.

The offenses seem like polar opposites, but UNC (3-1) is emphasizing the same thing as it prepares for Saturday’s trip to Greenville: keep the Pirates’ (1-2) playmakers on the sideline, by keeping the Tar Heels’ offense on the field.

“We've got to sustain drives,’’ Carolina interim head coach Everett Withers said Monday. “You can't be in third-and-7-plus as much as we were in last week …. We've got to do a better job of keeping on schedule and getting in third-and-3 or less so we can convert on third down and stay on the field.”

The NCAA’s return visit to North Carolina on Wednesday will not affect any Tar Heel football player’s eligibility this weekend, interim coach Everett Wither said Thursday.

“We’re expecting to have our full allotment of players,’’ when UNC plays Virginia at 3:30 p.m., he said.

All players are practicing as usual.

NCAA personnel visited UNC (2-0) on Wednesday to conduct follow-up work related to the investigation of the school's football program. The NCAA was not in town Thursday, spokesman Kevin Best said.

Details of the reasons for the visit were not disclosed, and Best referred all other questions to the NCAA. In an email Wednesday, NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said that in order to protect the integrity of an investigation, the NCAA cannot comment on an inquiry.

UNC officials are preparing a response to NCAA allegations of nine major violations in the Tar Heels football program involving impermissible benefits and academic fraud.

The school's written response to those allegations - which UNC officials have said they will make public - is due Monday.

“Everybody’s practiced, so there has not been any distractions,’’ Withers said.

CHAPEL HILL – Five days after the University of North Carolina posted its athletic director job, search committee chair Lowry Caudill said this morning he has been pleased with the response.

“For a week into the process formally, I’m very impressed with the quality of the candidates that have been nominated or presented themselves,” Caudill said today after a meeting of the search committee.

The committee met for about 2 ½ hours this morning, and all but the first 30 minutes were conducted privately in executive session while candidates were discussed.

CHAPEL HILL -- As the clock wound down Saturday on North Carolina’s 42-10 victory over James Madison, new quarterback Bryn Renner made it a point to track down interim head coach Everett Withers for a sideline embrace.

“The whole week we preached that we wanted to give this ball to Coach [Butch]Davis,’’ Renner said, referring to the Tar Heels’ head coach who was fired five weeks ago, a year after the NCAA began investigating academic misconduct and impermissible benefits.

“… [Withers] has been saying all week that Coach Davis built this team, and it’s his team -- and I think it was just a little moment where I needed to give him a little hug for his first win and my first start … it was a special moment, and I’ll never forget it.”

Indeed, with Davis in attendance at Kenan Stadium, both Withers – UNC’s defensive coordinator for the previous three seasons – and Renner, taking over for four-year starter T.J. Yates, recorded history-worthy performances.