CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — As his team made its way off the field Saturday evening at Kenan Stadium, Pat Narduzzi couldn’t be blamed if he were to have pondered what could’ve been.
About the loss that he just witnessed, and about his team’s season as a whole.
A strong first-half showing on the road against a ranked foe provided reason to believe Pitt had perhaps turned things around. Yet, in the end, the Panthers (4-4, 1-3 ACC) struggles in October continued as they fell to No. 21 North Carolina, 42-24.
“You know, every defeat is tough for our kids,” a deflated Narduzzi said after the loss. “They played hard. They’re playing their tails off, nobody quit. We got beat by a good football team today.”
After taking a 17-14 lead into the locker room at the half, Pitt remained in control throughout the third quarter thanks to steady efforts from Jared Wayne and Israel Abanikanda. However, when the game moved to the fourth quarter, North Carolina took over.
A 2-yard touchdown run from Elijah Green gave the Tar Heels (7-1, 4-0) their first lead with 14:07 left. As was the case in their first three touchdown drives, the Tar Heels’ go-ahead score was set up by the spectacular play of quarterback Drake Maye, who completed 34 of 44 passes for 388 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions.
The redshirt freshman put the game on ice the following possession, when he connected with Josh Downs for a 25-yard touchdown that was set up from an Abanikanda fumble at midfield. Downs had 11 catches for 102 yards and two touchdowns in the game. Fellow North Carolina receiver Antonine Green was even more problematic for Pitt, catching 10 passes for 180 yards and a pair of scores in the victory.
Maye and his receivers’ herculean efforts were combatted throughout most of the evening by a gritty Pitt defense, but a handful of injuries, along with a pair of ejections due to targeting — one of them All-American defensive tackle Calijah Kancey — proved to be too much to overcome. In the end, North Carolina outscored Pitt 21-0 in the final 15 minutes of play.
“We’ve got to find ways to continue to make plays,” Deslin Alexandre said. “There are times where we’ll make a play or they’ll make a play, but we’ve just got to continue playing together and finishing the game.”
Kedon Slovis and the Pitt offense did their best to keep pace with the Tar Heels’ high-scoring squad, but as time went on, the unit slowed down until it ultimately fell to a halt. The Panthers were shutout in the final quarter of play, failing to reach the red zone.
Abanikanda once again had the best stat line for any Pitt offensive player, rushing for 127 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries. Wayne also had a notable evening, hauling in seven passes for a career-best 161 yards in the loss.
Key stat: A big reason Pitt hung around Drake and Co. in the first half was its success on third down. The Panthers held the North Carolina offense to 0-for-5 on third down in the first two quarters.
In the second half, the Tar Heels’ execution on money downs improved drastically, and the scoreboard showed it. A 4-for-6 effort with its back against the wall on key drives allowed North Carolina to keep pressing and eventually break the Pitt defense down.
Quotable: Although it could be argued when North Carolina truly took control, Narduzzi claimed to know the exact moment and made it clear during his opening remarks after the game.
“The turning point was the targeting call on Calijah Kancey,” Narduzzi said. “After he was out we didn’t get any pressure on the quarterback. He was creating havoc in the backfield. [Maye] was allowed to hold on to the ball way too long, which created problems in the secondary.”
Kancey was ejected from the contest mid-way through the second quarter, meaning the struggles on third down in the second half, along with the Tar Heels’ 21-0 onslaught in the fourth quarter came without him on the field.
Up next: In desperate need of a win, Pitt will return home to face another notable foe next weekend as it hosts No. 16 Syracuse at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 5. The game will be televised on the ACC Network.
Following a 6-0 start to the year, the Orange (6-2, 3-1) dropped their second contest in a row Saturday, losing 41-24 at home to Notre Dame.
Recent history shows Syracuse has been a welcome opponent for the Panthers, who’ve come out on top in 17 of their last 20 meetings. Pitt enters the rivalry having won four straight, including last year’s 31-14 road victory. The Panthers last lost at home to the Orange on Oct. 13, 2001.
