Editor’s Note: A previous version of this column incorrectly stated Pitt held a ten-point lead in the fourth quarter. The piece has been updated.
Mack Brown had the understatement of the night when he said, “It didn’t look good.”
No kidding. It may have been a layover from the off week or a hangover from their spectacular win at Duke, but the Tar Heels came out looking sluggish and unprepared against a Pitt team that flipped its playbook.
The cheerleaders had brought out the Victory Bell and clanged it at midfield as the video boards showed a Duke highlight package. Those seemed bad omens for the task at hand: beating a Pitt team that had won the last two matchups at what was then called Heinz Field, despite having never won in Chapel Hill.
The Panthers are also the defending ACC champions, although UNC’s stunning 42-24 victory effectively eliminated them from any chance to reach another conference title game. And the Tar Heels had lost their last five games following a bye week — but that also ended in a game Pitt dominated for most of three quarters.
Kenan Stadium was almost lulled to sleep when the visitors, who came in running the ball 57 percent of the time, came out flinging it over and around lost UNC defenders. Their quarterback Kedon Slovis, a transfer from Southern Cal, looked like famous Trojans of yore named Leinart, Palmer and Sanchez.
The Panthers scored with the opening kickoff in 3:30, as Slovis got enough time in the pocket until either Jared Wayne or Bub Means ran away from a Carolina corner or safety. The Tar Heels tied the game (on the first of what would be five Drake Maye touchdown passes) but soon fell behind by 10 points that felt more like 25.
My guess is the capacity Homecoming crowd broke the beer sales record, youngsters and oldsters making constant trips to the concession stand. Pitt still held a 3-point lead in the fourth quarter behind Slovis’ surprising accuracy with the long ball and the expected excellence of the ACC’s leading rusher, Izzy Abanikanda, who finished with 127 yards on the ground to surpass 1,000 for the season in Pitt’s eighth of 12 games.
The Tar Heels missed one opportunity after another to gain control of the game, leading to Brown’s admonition. They had cut the deficit to 17-14 at halftime and were receiving the third quarter kickoff, which they had to punt away after one first down. A second explosive pass from Slovis to Wayne, this one for 50+ yards, set up Abanikanda’s third rushing touchdown to not only pad his ACC lead but also first place in national all-purpose yards (rushing, receiving, kick returns).
Then, almost suddenly, Carolina scored the next 28 points. And the game was over in what looked like a blowout, but was far closer to Pitt dogfights of the recent past. Either the defense awakened the sold-out stadium, or the tipsy Tar Heel fans got to their team.
The fourth quarter began with 50,000 people standing and led by the student section, pounding four raised fingers forward to the blaring music.
Whatever brought the old lady and its team to life, the last 15 minutes were like a premature New Year’s Eve party with hugs and high-fives happening from the playing field to the upper deck.
North Carolina wide receiver Josh Downs (11) pulls in a pass for a touchdown against Pittsburgh defensive back Erick Hallett II (31) during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Chapel Hill, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)
During the rugged battle, Carolina’s flying-around defense got stronger despite losing three stalwarts and Pitt had two players disqualified for targeting tackles.
Brown called it the “toughest game we have won since we’ve been back.” And the toughest kid on his sideline was Maye, who still looks like he hasn’t taken his first shave. The runaway ACC Rookie of the Year threw for 388 yards and his five scoring strikes gives him 29 on the season — tying him with Ohio State’s CJ Stroud, who had only one in the Buckeyes’ win at Penn State. Maye’s 449 yards of total offense and five touchdowns responsible for (now 32) keep him No. 1 in those categories, as well.
Maye did not attempt any heroic hijinks, but he played much of the game with a small cut on his throwing hand, thanks to a late helmet on a slide at the end of one of his 14 carries for a net 61 yards. In a game that had 11 penalties of all sorts, that play was the most obvious, and the fans let the refs know when the replay board showed it from several angles, while under review.
Maye’s 34 completions were spread amongst ten receivers, led by Antoine Green’s 10 for 180 yards and Josh Downs’ 11 for 102. Both snagged two for touchdowns, all of them terrific catches. The fifth went to freshman Kobe Paysour, who just before halftime slipped into the game and hid between two large tight ends before Maye hit him with a quick slant to cut Pitt’s lead to three.
The second-half turnaround was so swift that the Panthers didn’t know what hit them on their way to a 4-4 record and 1-3 in the ACC. The Heels had made 52 percent of their third downs (first in Power 5 football) but went 0-for-6 to start the game that ended with a catch and run by Downs and another to Gavin Blackwell, followed by a Maye keeper on 4th-and-5 after niftily avoiding a sack.
Carolina took its own two-score lead on Abanikanda’s only mistake: a midfield fumble that leading tackler Cedric Gray recovered and went storming to the sideline holding up the pigskin. It took two passes to Downs for 40 yards around another Maye run of 9, and the old ACC champs had their seventh straight loss at Kenan.
After a game Pitt had led for 42 minutes, the Tar Heels finished with more total yards (474 to 367), first downs (26 to 14) and time of possession (by almost three minutes). They are also now 7-1 while wearing all light blue uniforms under Brown.
Top 20 UNC, at 7-1 overall, has now won more games through two thirds of this season than it did in all of 2021. With a 4-0 record in the Coastal Division, the Heels seem like a lock for a date with Clemson in Charlotte for the ACC championship game. It is the best ACC start since 8-0 in 2015, when Larry Fedora’s fourth team gave the eventual CFP runner-up Tigers a good game before losing 45-37.
But Brown will have no talk about that after the last two years of almost-unbearable hype.
“We’re just going to keep our mouths shut,” he said and added they would play every game as it comes. That starts at Virginia (a loser to Miami, 14-12, in an overtime field goal fest earlier in the day); a trip to Wake Forest, which was blown out at Louisville; and home games with lilting Georgia Tech and an N.C. State that is managing to squeeze by bad opponents behind its great defense after losing its starting quarterback.
Carolina, meanwhile, could have its second 10-win season since Brown’s first turn here and a crack at his first ACC championship ever. But shush for now.
Photo via AP Photo/Chris Seward.
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Pitt never had a ten point lead in the 4th quarter. They had a 3 point lead that was erased quickly into the quarter. After they scored right after half time, their offense did nothing. The Heels D shut them down and the offense dominated.
What a terrible biased liberal write up. Carolina never trailed by 10 in the 4th and also didn’t start the 2015 season 8-0. They got beat the first game if the year by the “Gamecocks.” Who is Art suck a doodle doo Chomsky? What a joke of an article.