Entering the fourth quarter trailing 10 points, the North Carolina football team defeated Pittsburgh 37-36.
What happened?
The Tar Heel offense started rocky, giving up a safety when Ryan Switzer was tackled in UNC’s own end zone. After a drive that resulted in a 50-yard field goal, Pittsburgh forced a fumble by Elijah Hood, setting up the Panthers to score a touchdown and take a 12-0 lead.
The offense connected on the next drive, scoring a touchdown off of a 39-yard pass to Mack Hollins. Pittsburgh answered with a touchdown of its own, and UNC responded with another touchdown drive that culminated with a 19-yard reception by Switzer. M.J. Stewart forced a fumble at the end of the first half to set up UNC to kick a field goal and go into the half trailing 19-16.
UNC and Pittsburgh exchanged punt drives to start the second half, then the game turned into a shootout in the third quarter, with the Panthers scoring two touchdowns and UNC taking on one. But the Tar Heels cracked at the end of the third quarter, as back-to-back incomplete passes by Trubisky forced a missed North Carolina field goal attempt.
Down by 10 points entering the fourth quarter, it looked like UNC wouldn’t be able to close the gap. But North Carolina managed to pull within six of the Panthers, and had one final drive in the game for the chance to pull away with the lead. Trubisky made two fourth-down conversions on passes to Switzer, and the Tar Heels broke into Pittsburgh’s red zone with 46 seconds remaining. Bug Howard closed out the scoring drive with a touchdown catch with 2 seconds left on the clock, giving UNC the win.
Who stood out?
The offense struggled, but Mitch Trubisky certainly didn’t. He threw 453 yards, including five touchdown passes, and ended his streak for consecutive completions at 30 — 11 passes higher than the previous UNC record. With a career-high 35 passes in the game, he also set another UNC record of yards in back-to-back games.
