UNC plays complimentary football down the stretch to defeat Pitt, 42-24
Four minutes and 53 seconds into the third quarter, Pitt's Israel Abanikanda ran 22 yards to the end zone for his third touchdown of the night and gave the Panthers a 24-14 advantage.
It seemed as if UNC was about to do it again — underperform and lose as soon as it garnered national attention. However, the final 25 minutes of the game proved otherwise.
After falling down 10 points early in the second half, the Tar Heels put together some of their best football of the season. The offense scored 28 unanswered points bolstered by the complimentary football played by the defense in a 42-24 win.
It's been the story all season — UNC scores a lot of points and the defense gives up just as many. Although the Tar Heels were 6-1 coming into Saturday night's showdown, only two wins were in convincing fashion, as the defense has notoriously allowed opponents to stay in reach.
This time around, they took care of business. Following Pitt's last touchdown, the defensive unit gave up only 43 rushing yards, 22 passing yards and three first downs for the rest of the contest. They made much needed plays down the stretch, including their only sack of the game by defensive lineman Kaimon Rucker and linebacker Rara Dillworth late in the third quarter. That sack forced a punt that led to UNC taking the lead in the following possession.
There was also the fumble forced and recovered by Cedric Gray in the fourth quarter that set up the UNC offense in Pitt territory. The Tar Heels went up two scores shortly after, forcing Pitt to abandon its run game completely in an effort close the gap. Making them pass turned into a three-and-out and a turnover on downs in the Panthers' final two drives.
"That's the best defense we've played, and really, we've given up 23 points a game in the ACC. So our defense is getting much better," head coach Mack Brown said. "We've had halves and quarters where we shut people out. What we didn't do tonight, other than (Jared Wayne's) big plays, we didn't give them explosives. I thought that was the difference in the game."
That final stretch of the game confirmed how dangerous UNC can be when both sides of the ball play well. The Tar Heels won by more than three scores for the first time since the Virginia Tech game four weeks ago as a result of the defense keeping its opponent out of the end zone. It's been a rare occasion this season, but if the Tar Heels can figure out how to play complimentary ball consistently, it'll be hard for teams to compete without stopping their high-powered offense.
The UNC defense may be without a key piece for the coming weeks, though, with linebacker Noah Taylor suffering a lower body injury. On the offensive end, running back Caleb Hood suffered an upper body injury that took him out of the game in the first quarter.
