Pitt Collapses in Second Half, Loses to North Carolina

The Pitt Panthers were able to generate some offense, but got shut down in the second half in a loss to North Carolina.

CHAPEL HILL -- The Pitt Panthers jumped out to a ten-point lead in the third quarter, but all it took was a 21-point fourth quarter for  North Carolina to snatch a come-from-behind victory. 

Carolina won the toss and deferred their option to the second half. A 40-yard completion from Kedon Slovis to Bub Means put Pitt in business in Carolina territory. The rest of the drive was all Israel Abanikanda, who ran for gains of 10 and seven yards to set up a six-yard score on the ground that gave the Panthers a 7-0 advantage 

Pitt forced a three-and-out thanks to a shoe-string tackle on the scrambling Drake Maye from SirVocea Dennis on third and four. M.J. Devonshire then muffed the ensuing punt and lost 11 yards trying to make something out of nothing. The Panthers couldn't make anything of their poor field position and had to punt it back to the Tar Heels. 

The North Carolina offense woke up after getting the ball a second time. Pitt made them earn it - the Tar Heels only had two gains of 15 yards or more - but the long march featured four first down conversions and ended in a touchdown pass from Drake Maye to Antoine Green. An extra point knotted the game at seven with 4:46 left in the first half. 

The Panthers had some chances to strike back but Slovis was the victim of an uncharacteristic drop by steady receiver Jared Wayne on a deep post route. They had to punt but the defense forced another stop and made up for the missed opportunities on their next drive. 

Devonshire kickstarted the new drive with a 26-yard punt return that moved Pitt into Tar Heel territory and two plays later, Slovis connected with Wayne for a 41-yard gain down inside the Carolina five-yard line. Abanikanda covered the final four yards for his second touchdown of the evening and Pitt led 14-7 at the 13:20 mark of the second half. 

North Carolina was unable to turn their next possession into points after a holding penalty from Asim Richards set them back 10 yards. 

Kedon Slovis continued to find success throwing downfield on play action. He took some hits but was able to hit on completions of 21 and 29 yards to Wayne. Pitt ultimately had to settle for a 48-yard field goal that Ben Sauls knocked through without issue and Pitt led 17-7. 

It didn't take the Tar Heels long to come up with a response. They needed just five plays to drive 75 yards for another touchdown. Maye's arm and Green's hands accounted for 68 of those yards. 

Things continued to go from bad to worse for the Panthers, whose double-digit lead had been trimmed to three with 3:13 left until halftime. They went three-and-out with their next possession and after the ball changed hands, Calijah Kancey committed a targeting penalty that caused referees to eject him from the game. 

Pitt still got a stop but lost one of their best players before heading into halftime up 17-14. 

After holding the Tar Heels to a punt on their first possession of the second half, Pitt went back to work on offense. Another Slovis to Wayne connection for a 50-yard gain got the Panthers into scoring range and Israel Abanikanda scampered into the endzone from 22 yards out for his third score of the game and gave his team a 24-14 lead. 

But yet again, Carolina was quick to the counter punch. In less than four minutes, Maye and company had driven 65 yards to the endzone. They scored on a beautiful throw from Maye to Josh Downs to pull within three points with 6:05 left in the third quarter. 

They made it back-to-back unanswered scores their next time with the ball. After a Pitt punt, more big gains in the passing game from Maye set up a two-yard touchdown run from Elijah Green. Both Bangally Kamara and Dennis missed tackles in the backfield on that play as the Tar Heels took a 28-24 lead just after the turn to the fourth quarter. 

The Panthers leaned on Abanikanda, rushing him five times for 20 yards but he coughed up his first fumble of the season on that fifth rush and North Carolina made them pay immediately. Maye hit Downs for a 25-yard touchdown strike to extend their lead to 35-24 with 10:46 left to play. Erick Hallett was in coverage and wanted an offensive pass interference call, but didn't get it. 

Pitt responded with three straight incompletions and a three-and-out. A 23-yard punt return from Downs set Carolina up nicely at the Panther 35 yard line for their next drive. All it took was two plays for the Tar Heels to add their third consecutive score, a 13-yard pass from Maye to Green, and extend their lead to 42-24 with just 9:07 left to play. 

Pitt turned the ball over on downs one more time before Carolina took over again and knelt out the remainder of their fourth straight win and the Panthers' third loss in four games.  

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