UNC football falls to Pitt, 34-24, in third-straight loss

The North Carolina football team (3-3, 0-2 ACC) fell to the Pitt Panthers (5-0, 1-0 ACC), 34-24, on Saturday afternoon at Kenan Stadium. 

This victory marks Pitt’s first ever at Kenan Stadium. The inability to convert in the red zone and lapses in defense eventually cost the Tar Heels their third loss in a row. 

"We had our opportunities to get done what we needed to get done,” head coach Mack Brown said. "But [Pitt] has good skill."

Two minutes into the first quarter, Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein completed a 43-yard pass to wide receiver Konata Mumpfield to put Pitt at the 7-yard line. A pass breakup from sophomore linebacker Amare Campbell on third down left the Panthers to settle for a field goal. 

On Pitt’s next possession, sophomore defensive back Kaleb Cost intercepted Holstein’s pass at UNC’s sixteen yard line. At Pitt’s 43-yard line, Cost juked his opponent to find the end zone on the 84 yard return, marking the first pick-six for the Tar Heels since 2019, the seventh longest return ever and the longest since 2014. 

"We had too many times where the ball was just floating in the air," graduate defensive back Alijah Huzzie said. “We gotta make more plays."

After missing the previous four games due to an injury, graduate rush Kaimon Rucker made his return known by pressuring Holstein. The play forced Pitt to punt on fourth down. 

To open up the second quarter, UNC’s 19 play, 81-yard and nine-minute drive proved to be for nothing. Following Criswell’s incomplete pass to Nesbit on fourth-and-two, the Tar Heels failed to produce. 

On the next possession, a Pitt completion for 72 yards put the Panthers at the 7-yard line. Holstein completed a pass to wide receiver Censere Lee to go up on the Tar Heels 10-7. 

Following a 20-yard rush from junior running back Omarion Hampton and another 20-yard pass to senior wide receiver Nate McCollum, UNC charged at Pitt at the 33-yard line. Graduate kicker Noah Burnette’s made the field goal at the 34-yard line. 

A one-minute and sixteen-second Pitt drive allowed the Panthers to score a 30-yard touchdown with five minutes left in the second quarter. A defensive breakup gave the Panthers the ball back a minute later. 

In the final minute of the first half, Hampton rushed into the end zone to tie the game at 17-17 heading into halftime. 

Pitt’s first possession of the half featured a scramble at midfield that ended in a 46-yard completed pass. Holstein then completed a 2-yard pass to go up 24-17. 

The Tar Heels’s next possession ended in an 11-yard touchdown pass to graduate tight end John Copenhaver. 

To begin the fourth quarter, Pitt favored their run game. Holstein rushed for 20 yards to the UNC 25-yard line, then for three into the end zone to go up 31-24. 

In UNC’s next possession, Criswell’s pass to McCollum was completed for 46 yards. After going for it on fourth and down at Pitt’s 8-yard line, the Tar Heels committed a turnover on downs. 

A field goal with two minutes on the clock from redshirt senior Ben Sauls sealed the Tar Heels’ fate, putting Pitt up 32-24. 

"Obviously, you have positives throughout a game, then you have negatives,” Criswell said. "So, the next step is ‘Okay, let’s build on those positives. Obviously, let’s work out these negatives.'"

UNC will look to return to the win column next Saturday at Kenan Stadium when the team takes on Georgia Tech at noon. 

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