PITTSBURGH — Pitt and North Carolina went to overtime because, of course, they did.
In the recent history between the two teams, there has yet to be a simple, quiet easy game, and this one was no different, with the nationally televised Thursday night battle coming down to the wire.
This time, though, Pitt was able to come out on top, with a 34-27 overtime victory, snapping a six-game losing streak against the Tar Heels and keeping their hopes alive in the ACC Coastal Division.
Pitt led by two touchdowns with 14 minutes left in regulation. The Tar Heels then scored two touchdowns in just 5:01 to tie the game. Both scores were passes thrown by freshman quarterback Sam Howell, who threw for three touchdowns on 27-of-43 passing for 322 yards in the game.
Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett was equally as impressive, as he threw for 359 yards on 24-of-41 passing and one passing touchdown. Pickett completed a pass to nine different Panthers receivers. Pitt’s leading receiver Maurice Ffrench didn’t suit up with an injury.
Pickett also ran in two touchdowns, including a three-yard run in overtime that was the eventual game-winner.
Panthers’ sophomore receiver Shocky Jacques-Louis stepped up in Ffrench’s absence with four catches for 104 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown with 9:41 left in the first half. That connection gave Pitt a 10-point lead.
The Panthers were led on the ground by A.J. Davis, who had 17 carries for 54 yards.
Pitt’s defense sacked Howell five times and picked him off once (Damarri Mathis). UNC had 136 rushing yards on 35 attempts.
A lowlight for Pitt on Thursday was when second-leading tackler, Damar Hamlin, was ejected following a targeting penalty on a helmet-to-helmet hit on a UNC receiver right before halftime.
Pitt will travel to Virginia Tech next Saturday, Nov. 23, for their final ACC road game of the season.
Great game by picket and the offensive ,bad game for the secondary especially stocker he was terrible and the defense gave up to many 3rd down and longs, and finally the officiating was down right horrible
Stocker was the go to guy when Hamlin was ejected. Hope he learned some things tonight. Take the ting off of the toast.
I only saw the second half so I missed the call against Hamlin. Stocker was downright awful, especially late in the 4th quarter. He made multiple mistakes on tying drive. Mercifully, he was taken out for the overtime period. The offensive PI call that wasn’t made on 3rd down in overtime was a joke. Jackson intercepts that pass and seals the game if the receiver doesn’t mug him.
ACC officials are the worst
We can never have a discussion here without talking about the officials. They are always the 12th man for the opponent. If Hamlin does not get ejected that game is over in regulation and they win going away
Agreed
Vincent Davis with one carry for 6 yards. AJ Davis was running the Wildcat later in the game. Any update on if Vincent may have re-aggravated his previous injury that kept him out of a couple games or if there was a new injury on the play? I didn’t notice anything in particular after the carry so it just seemed strange that he wasn’t part of the game plan coming off a game against GT where he finally broke one.Hoping for the best.