Pitt Loses Jurkovec, Melts Down in 41-24 Loss to UNC

PITTSBURGH — You could hear a pin drop inside Acrisure Stadium midway through the fourth quarter Saturday night as a Christian Veilleux deep ball skidded across the grass — 10 yards beyond his receiver.

It summed up a night in which Pitt was just that far away from UNC throughout the majority of the contest. Pitt fans heartily cheered for Veilleux as he jogged onto the field to start the second half, taking over for an injured Phil Jurkovec, but there wasn’t much to cheer about as Pitt melted down in the second half.

It felt lifeless in the stadium as North Carolina ran out a 41-24 win, led by a 296-yard, three-touchdown performance from Drake Maye.

Pitt sorely missed Jurkovec in the loss. What a difference a week makes, huh?

When a quarterback can ward off a 6-foot-4, 250-pound defensive end trying to drag him to the ground, switch the football to his non-dominant hand and flip it to his open receiver in the back of the end zone, it’s gonna be a long night.

It’s gonna be an even longer night if unforced errors give that quarterback second and third chances. And Pitt certainly did its part to help UNC, committing 11 penalties for 83 yards, turning the ball over three times and failing to adjust with Veilleux.

It was a far fall after such a promising start to the game for Pitt.

It was almost as if the boos emboldened Jurkovec early, leading Pitt on its first touchdown drive since the fourth quarter of the Cincinnati loss two weeks prior.

After 60 minutes without a touchdown against West Virginia last week, it took just one drive — one pretty perfect 13-play, 78-yard drive — to find the end zone on the first possession. Rodney Hammond Jr. bounced outside and into the end zone, and Pitt did exactly what it needed to on its opening drive.

But it didn’t take UNC long to respond. Two Pitt penalties, namely a defensive pass interference on 3rd-and-10, helped set up a 3-yard Omarion Hampton touchdown to level the score. And Pitt, riding high off the first touchdown, responded in kind.

A Rodney Hammond scamper up the middle and an acrobatic catch from Gavin Bartholomew (both of whom produced when utilized, shockingly) set up a 1-yard touchdown dive from Daniel Carter to start the second quarter.

It took a little longer for UNC to respond, but after a solid punt return set the Tar Heels up at midfield, a trick play resulted in a 40-yard gain down to the 10-yard line, with five more yards added off a Dayon Hayes’ roughing the passer call. And Maye converted a 4th-and-1 himself to level the score again.

North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye (10) September 23, 2023 David Hague/Pittsburgh Sports Now

A 52-yard punt return touchdown from UNC’s Alijah Huzzie stretched the Tar Heels’ lead to 21-14, and Pitt wasn’t able to claw back.

Ben Sauls nailed a 44-yard field goal to cut the deficit to four but unforced errors continued to hurt Pitt. After a Samuel Okunlola sack pinned the Tar Heels inside the 2-yard line, an illegal substitution penalty moved the ball to the 7, a taunting personal foul helped move the ball to the 41 and a magical Maye touchdown was the end result with a minute left in the half.

Pitt didn’t appear too worried about trying to score on its final possession, but as Jurkovec rolled out with the clock bleeding away, he took a high, hard hit from UNC’s Tayon Holloway — which was called for targeting.

The hit knocked Jurkovec out of the game and ended his best performance of the season early. And it spelled the beginning of the end for the Panthers.

UNC took a commanding lead early in the second half, scoring on three consecutive possessions — a 1-yard walk-in touchdown from Maye and 43- and 48-yard field goals from Noah Burnette. It would’ve been completely one-sided if not for a 100-yard kick return touchdown from Kenny Johnson sandwiched in between the field goals.

Veilleux played poorly in the second half, basically throwing an arm punt that was picked off by UNC’s Alijah Huzzie on his own 2-yard line, fumbling away an attempted handoff to Kenny Johnson in the red zone (failing to capitalize on another blocked punt from Rasheem Biles) and turning the ball over on downs after failing to make a play on 4th down in the fourth quarter.

And perhaps fittingly, Huzzie picked off Veilleux’s final pass attempt of the night — his second interception on the night to seal a 41-24 victory.

Pitt will travel to Blacksburg, Virginia next weekend to take on Virginia Tech in a battle of 1-3 teams, the final game before the bye week mercifully arrived in the first week of October.