It’s not easy being green.
Or maybe it is, if you’re a UNC football player. The duo of receiver Antoine Green and running back Elijah Green each scored touchdowns in the fourth quarter to help the No. 21 Tar Heels rally by Pitt at Kenan Stadium Saturday night. Carolina scored 21 points in the final period to run away with a 42-24 victory.
Make it four-straight wins for the Tar Heels!#CarolinaFootball 🏈 @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/UuHPyw09sK
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) October 30, 2022
“I think that’s the toughest game that we’ve had, most physical game that we’ve had that we’ve won since we’ve been here,” said UNC head coach Mack Brown.
Carolina trailed by as many as 10 points during the game, falling behind 17-7 and 24-14. The latter deficit came after star Panthers running back Izzy Abanikanda scampered in for his third rushing touchdown of the night. Staring down a deflating loss in its effort to win a second Coastal Division title, the UNC offense came to life. The Tar Heels scored touchdowns on their next four drives, with Josh Downs (twice), Elijah Green and Antoine Green each finding paydirt.
For Antoine Green, it was a memorable night. His 10 catches and 180 yards were each career bests. His pair of touchdowns included a one-handed snag along the sideline in the first quarter.
“I was excited,” Green said of the play. “I was ecstatic.”
Green and Downs combined for 21 catches, 282 yards and four touchdowns. Downs roared to life after halftime, catching just two passes for two yards in the first half but hauling in nine for 100 and two scores in the second.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Maye was once again outstanding, completing 34 of 44 passes for 288 yards and five touchdowns. He also rushed 14 times for 61 yards, ending the night as Carolina’s leading rusher. Maye completed passes to 10 different receivers on the night, though it was clear Green and Downs were his favorite targets.
“They’re phenomenal playmakers” Maye said of Green and Downs. “Definition of a dynamic duo, those two. My job is to get them the ball and watch them do their thing.”
The UNC defense, which allowed 17 points and 219 total yards in the first half, bowed its collective neck in the second. After allowing Abanikanda’s third touchdown on the Panthers’ first drive of the third quarter, Carolina pitched a shutout the rest of the way.
The critical play came early in the fourth quarter. Facing a 3rd and 1 from midfield, Pitt gave the ball to Abanikanda. But the potential All-American was met in the backfield by UNC linebacker Cedric Gray, who jarred the ball loose and recovered the loose ball. It was Abanikanda’s first fumble of the season, and Gray’s second forced fumble. UNC made the lone takeaway of the night count, as Maye found Downs deep down the seam for Carolina’s fifth touchdown of the night.
“I think it was really the difference in the ballgame,” Brown said of the Abanikanda fumble. “They still had a chance to score. Our defense has been so inconsistent. That game wasn’t over.”
Going back to late in the second quarter, Pitt’s offensive drives ended as follows: punt, punt, touchdown, punt, fumble, punt, and a turnover on downs. Carolina allowed just seven points in the second half and none in the fourth quarter. The Tar Heels have allowed just 28 points in the second halves of their four ACC games, with 14 of those points coming against Duke.
“When we’re down, it doesn’t mean we’re out,” junior defensive lineman Kaimon Rucker said. “We find that surge that we need not from the crowd, not from coaches, we find it within ourselves.”
The win snaps a brief two-game losing streak to Pitt since Brown came back to Chapel Hill in 2019. The Panthers are winless all-time in Kenan Stadium.
At 4-0 in conference play and 7-1 overall, Carolina has a stranglehold on the ACC Coastal Division. Every other team in the division has at least two losses, and the Tar Heels hold head-to-head tiebreakers against Pitt, Duke, Miami and Virginia Tech. Carolina is likely to see its ranking in the AP Poll rise, though Tar Heel fans will eagerly await the unveiling of the season’s first College Football Playoff poll on November 1.
“What I will tell [the team] tomorrow is I don’t want to hear Coastal mentioned, I don’t want to hear ACC Championship mentioned, and I don’t want to hear polls mentioned,” Brown said. “Thank you for getting us some recognition… but let’s don’t be stupid. Let’s don’t talk about things that are very unimportant.”
UNC will play at Virginia next Saturday at noon.
Featured image via UNC Football on Twitter
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