The Tar Heels played their best game this fall, but it wasn’t enough to avoid three straight regular-season losses for the first time since Mack Brown returned to Carolina in 2019, when they suffered consecutive one-possession defeats to Wake Forest (24-18), App State (34-31) and Clemson (21-20) and went on to finish 7-6 after a 55-13 blowout of Temple in the Military Bowl.
With ACC Rookie of the Year Sam Howell at quarterback, that was Brown’s worst winning record in five years back, and after four straight bowl losses Carolina is in jeopardy of missing the post-season as the schedule toughens over the last half of the season.
After the 34-24 defeat to Pitt, the 3-3 Heels face Georgia Tech at home, Virginia and Florida State on the road and finish with home games against Wake Forest and N.C. State around a trip to Boston College.
The Panthers (who are 5-0 for the first time since 1991) are one of five unbeatens (with Clemson, Miami, SMU and Viginia) at the top of the 17-team ACC standings that find UNC, N.C. State and Cal tied for last place with 0-2 conference records.
Pitt is just another team benefitting from the transfer portal with a quarterback from Alabama and two offensive threats from Western Carolina, where you would think Brown and his staff knew about them. Eli Holstein, a 6-4 freshman who red-shirted in Tuscaloosa, torched the Tar Heels with 457 total yards and four touchdowns (he also threw for another if you count the 84-yard pick six by blossoming sophomore star safety Kaleb Cost in the first quarter that gave Carolina its only lead of an otherwise close game).
Cost’s second interception of the season (the only two for the Tar Heels) awakened a late-arriving crowd due to two wrecks on I-40. With Pitt leading 3-0 and looking to score again, Cost pilfered a sideline pass at his own 16-yard line and beat the pursuing Panthers down the sideline, cutting back beautifully to make Holstein miss at the 35 and racing into the end zone and igniting the celebrating students to put Carolina ahead 7-3.
“Their quarterback is really good,” Brown said afterward. “He’s a guy that came in and made all the difference in the world.”
Jacolby Criswell played almost as well in his third start, passing for 269 yards and a touchdown, but was under heavy pressure behind his thin offensive line, which blocked well enough for Omarian Hampton rush for a hundred-plus yards (106) in the fifth of his six games. Big O also did that last season, trying Carolina icon Don McCauley for the only UNC back to do it twice.
But Holstein and scat-back Desmond Reid (one of the WCU transfers) were too much on this steamy day at Kenan, where the Homecoming crowd was surprisingly sparse, including in the wings of the student section. Reid ran for 55 yards and caught 11 balls for 155 yards and a touchdown, including one reception for 72 in the first half that led to a touchdown two snaps later.
Photo via UNC Athletics Communications.
Carolina’s breakout receiver was Nate McCollum, working his way back from injuries by catching 10 passes to go with the eight split by tight end duo Bryson Nesbit and John Copenhaver, who stretched to pull in Criswell’s pass at the back of the end zone to forge the last tie late in the third quarter.
Pitt held the ball for almost 12 of the final 15 minutes, bludgeoning UNC’s worn-down defense for the go-ahead TD and finalizing field goal for Pitt’s first win in Chapel Hill after losing on seven previous visits.
One good sign for the defense was the return of edge rusher Kaimon Rucker, who had been injured since the opener at Minnesota. He only played on third downs “to make sure he’s totally comfortable before he gets back out,” Brown said. “We need him back in leadership, but also he’s one of the best players in the country.”
The Heels could have been more efficient on offense, going 7 for 21 on third and fourth downs and squandering 81- and 67-yard drives that might have reversed the outcome. “We’ve got to be more consistent,” Brown said. “We knew they would score so we wanted to be more aggressive on fourth down. We were 2-of-6. If we had done those things better, we would have walked out of the game a lot happier.” The biggest stop was Hampton on fourth-and-1 at the Pitt 8 line on a drive that could have tied the score for the fourth time.
Conversely, Pitt went 10 for 17 on third and fourth downs. Carolina improved from committing 43 penalties in the last four games with only five flags, although one offensive holding call stifled an early drive that had reached midfield.
Brown commiserated with his coaching staff, which he said is “Frustrated. They expect to win. They work from 5:30 in the morning until 10:30 at night to get a plan together. Then, when they lose, they are crushed.”
Defensive coordinator Geoff Collins may work even longer this week since the next challenge is Georgia Tech, where he was the head coach for three-plus seasons before getting fired with a 10-28 record.
Collins will try to put a strategy together to stop Jackets quarterback Haynes King and his bevy of elusive running backs and athletic wide receivers. Tech dealt Duke its first loss of the season on Saturday night and will test Carolina’s defense even more than Pitt in another Noon kickoff at Kenan, where fans will try to help their team avoid Brown’s fourth straight loss since his back-to-back 1-10 seasons that began his first tenure 35 years ago.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
I think Mack needs to fire Collins, like he fired Manny Diaz (5&1 this year as head coach), Jay Bateman (5&1 as Defensive Coordinator at Texas A&M who held Missouri to 10 points), and Gene Chizik (who has as many National Championships as Mack).
Maybe Collins could find a better, more successful landing spot.
We don’t need assistant coaches anyway. We already have a “Hall Of Fame” head coach, who is loved by everyone, especially opposing players, coaches, and fans!
I just love Mack’s post-game comments, as he always alludes to assistant coaches and players being to blame, never him!
Bubba better give him a raise or Alabama, Florida State, or Florida will snatch him up!
Mack never I mean never blames his players or coaches to a fault that is just not true. Actually we all see the DC should be gone now not at end of season he should never see the sidelines at Carolina another day. Mack is to nice he is letting his emotions hurt the team hanging on to a coach that was fired at GT because his defenses gave up too many points.
To loose at home but 3 in a row is everyone who plays or are coaches look like they would be tired of losing and we thought they would be better it’s time to get tough losing is no fun
We consistently get beat at the line of scrimmage, our defense can never stop a dual threat QB, we seem to always leave at least one player uncovered, and we are the poorest tackling team I have ever seen. Watching our team, it always seems as if the other team is playing with 12 players and we are playing with 10, and it seems the other team is not only faster, but also, quicker. Thank goodness our penalties were down this week or the score would have been worse. Every team in the ACC seems to be improved, with the exception of NC State, but us. I will always hope we win, but I have no desire to sit through another game and watch us lose to GA Tech again. We have become a bright spot on everyone’s schedule and a homecoming darling. Spending time and money on a sinking ship is becoming more and more difficult.