CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- "Nobody's beat us; we've beat ourselves."
Pat Narduzzi referred to Pitt as "undefeated" on Thursday when he met with media members for his final briefing before trekking to face North Carolina.
That comment stemmed from Pitt committing, as Narduzzi referred to, self-inflicted wounds which had amounted to three losses in a season filled with championship expectations that is spiraling into mediocrity.
After Saturday, Pitt will be fortunate to land itself a bowl game, after sustaining its fourth loss with four games to play.
Pitt coughed up 28 consecutive points in the second half and lost any iota of mojo built by the offense in the first half, in sustaining a season-crushing 42-21 defeat to the 21st-ranked Tar Heels at Kenan Memorial Stadium.
Do you wonder if Narduzzi feels the same way that he did on Thursday, after the Panthers utterly and totally collapsed in the second half against North Carolina?
"Undefeated," no more. Pitt got beat.
"In the fourth quarter, yeah," Narduzzi said when I asked him to revisit his comment. "I mean, for three quarters, I thought we played some solid football. It's a 60-minute game, unfortunately. Forty-five minutes is not going to get it done. Again, (UNC is) a good football team, but the fourth quarter was not good. We put the defense in sudden-change situations. Last three drives on the field were at the plus-49, plus-35, and the plus-44. I mean, we gave up 14 points on two short fields at the end, whether it's on downs or the turnover, and you've got to go for it, and we don't convert."
The defeat is the third in four games for Pitt (4-4, 1-3 ACC) after beginning nonconference play 3-1. The latest rendition involved much, much more than just Pitt committing damaging mistakes; it had much, much more to do with North Carolina completely out-playing them in the second half.
And, quite frankly, from North Carolina simply being better than Pitt.
That was all led by Drake Maye.
North Carolina's quarterback was lights-out for the Tar Heels (7-1, 4-0 ACC), and he easily and undoubtedly had the best performance by a quarterback to face Pitt this season.
In total, Maye completed 34 of 44 passes for 388 yards, five touchdowns, and zero interceptions. While Tennessee's Hendon Hooker may be the odds-on favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, he looked relatively limited in his showing against the Panthers in Week 2.
It was Maye who made minced meat out of the Panthers' once-feared defense.
Maye also led the Tar Heels in rushing with 61 yards on 14 carries. North Carolina piled on 474 yards of offense, gained 26 first downs, gassed Pitt for 75 total plays, and did not turn the ball over.
This is the second week in a row in which Pitt's defense was boat raced in the fourth quarter. One week prior, Louisville outscored Pitt 17-0 in the final 15 minutes. On Saturday in Chapel Hill, UNC outscored Pitt 21-0 (as part of its 28-0 scoring run).
The Tar Heels' top two receivers were spectacular in every sense of the word. All-ACC talent Josh Downs caught 11 passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns, while Antoine Green hauled in 10 passes for 180 yards and two scores. Maye spread the ball to 10 different receivers, and he was perfect while throwing to six of those 10 targets.
"I think he's a really good quarterback," Pitt captain and defensive end Deslin Alexandre said. "He did a really good job getting out of the pocket and throwing it and creating extra time and finding guys open. We've just got to be better at keeping them in the pocket and containing him."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• This photo of redshirt senior Haba Baldonado says it all:
Haba Baldonado taking a moment by himself after the game in the #Pitt tunnel. pic.twitter.com/ib4jy7ZKPa
— Corey Crisan (@cdcrisan) October 30, 2022
• Calijah Kancey was ejected for targeting with 2 minutes left in the first half, and that helped swing things to favor the Tar Heels. Maye scrambled and went to slide, and Kancey caught him with the crown of his helmet. Kancey was vital early on as Pitt's defensive line was able to contain the mobile Maye, and the line's ability to apply pressure notably declined upon his exit. Up to that point, Alexandre and tackle Tyler Bentley accrued sacks on Maye. Those were the only two sacks Pitt was able to gather throughout the game. Pitt registered three hits on Maye, all prior to Kancey's ejection.
Narduzzi called the ejection the game's turning point.
"After he was out, we didn't get any pressure on the quarterback," Narduzzi said. "He was creating havoc in the backfield, and we lost that. (Maye was) holding onto the ball way too long, and we're putting our coverage in some issues, and they've got some guys who can run through the secondary. We just couldn't put any pressure, and he's scrambling a couple times on fourth down for first downs."
(UNC went 2-for-3 on fourth downs.)
• The defense's collapse was only mirrored by the offense reverting back to the form we have grown accustomed to seeing, after Kedon Slovis appeared to return to his old self in the opening 30 minutes. The deep balls were flowing, with two 50-yard connections to Jared Wayne and one 40-yard connection to Bub Means at points of the opening half. And, the utilization of play-action turned into success through the air as North Carolina stacked the box early.
Wayne finished with a career-high 161 yards on seven catches for Pitt's first 100-yard receiving game of the season and Wayne's third-career 100-yard game.
• But the dramatic turn in the second half came from problems which Kancey's ejection had no effect on. Slovis played his best game of the season for 30 minutes, then played what is now his new norm in the final 30 minutes.
Slovis in the first half: 8-for-18, 157 yards, zero touchdowns, zero interceptions.
Slovis in the second half: 6-for-13, 79 yards, zero touchdowns, zero interceptions.
Slovis threw for 22 yards in the fourth quarter.
Ew.
"I'll have to go back and watch the video tape to give you a better assessment on Monday as far as what it looked like," Narduzzi said of the second half. "Konata (Mumpfield) had one good catch. We just didn't connect."
• Wayne was impressive to a point, and the play calling appeared to have improved in order to take advantage of holes left by North Carolina in the middle of the field. However, the two deep ones caught by Wayne were from the same designed play. Wayne basically found success from two routes throughout the game: A deep post and a dig. That's all.
• Abanikanda became Pitt's first 1,000-yard rusher since Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall each reached that mark in the 2018 season. Now a candidate for All-American honors at this point in the season, Abanikanda finished with 127 yards on 26 carries with three touchdowns. He has scored Pitt's last 10 touchdowns, dating to the start of the Virginia Tech game, three weeks ago. The last player not named Abanikanda to score a touchdown is no longer on the team: Jaden Bradley (receiving TD against Georgia Tech).
Abanikanda passed the century mark for the sixth time this season. That's the most for Pitt since James Conner had six 100-yard rushing games in 2016.
• But, Abanikanda's first blemish of the season came at the absolute worst time for the Panthers. His fumble with 11:28 to play in the game was also his first turnover of the season, and North Carolina capitalized three plays later on a 25-yard connection from Maye to Downs to take a 35-24 lead with 10:46 remaining. That sequence completely took the wind out of Pitt's sail.
"Great players -- any player -- could fumble at any time," Abanikanda said. "It could happen to anyone, so I really don't leave that on my mind. Just next play; think about the next play. Usually don't happen, yeah, but, next play. They just had a good punch on the ball in the right moment, right time. It just happens. Next play. Don't think about it. Short memory."
Said Slovis: "I think that drive hurt us a lot. And the turnover, even before that, we had -- I think we had two third-down conversions; that was the second one. Whenever you have six plays on the drive and you only get 20 yards, it's definitely tough. I think that drive hurt us, and the one after that, obviously we need to do better, but we're down two scores and in a kind-of-obvious passing situation, so definitely not the most advantageous situation to be in."
• Perhaps Pitt linebacker Tylar Wiltz is now eating his words, after his comments from earlier in the week.
"We're going to hit Maye hard just like we hit (Louisville's) Malik Cunningham," he said on Tuesday. "If he doesn't get up, that's not our problem. We're going to do what we do as a defense. We're going full speed. It will click. Hear me out. Watch."
We watched. It did not click. Wiltz started the game at outside linebacker but accumulated just four total tackles, zero sacks, and zero QB hits.
North Carolina coach Mack Brown considered it bulletin board material for the week.
"A Pitt linebacker called them out this week about toughness," Brown said, "and, I mean, they responded, and they responded at a really high level."
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE ESSENTIALS
• Box score
• Live file
• Top 25 scores
• Schedule
• ACC standings
• Statistics
THE INJURIES
• DID NOT TRAVEL: RB Daniel Carter, C Owen Drexel, WR Gavin Thomson, LB Brandon George, DE Dayon Hayes, P Sam Vander Haar.
• OUT FOR THE SEASON: LT Carter Warren, DB Rashad Battle, DE Nate Temple.
THE SCHEDULE
• Pitt has another top 25 matchup next week (as it sat on Saturday night), with the No. 16 Syracuse Orange (6-2, 3-1 ACC) traveling to Acrisure Stadium for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff. The game will be televised on the ACC Network.
THE CONTENT
• Visit the Pitt team page and my Twitter page for more from Acrisure Stadium. Gary Morgan and I are recording a new H2P Podcast Sunday morning, so check for that on all platforms on Monday.
