Pittsburgh running back Darrin Hall

From the opening kickoff, North Carolina showed that despite its 1-8 record, they were going to put up a fight against the Pittsburgh Panthers. By the end of the night, North Carolina would win it's first ACC game of the year and end Pittsburgh's hopes of becoming bowl eligible.

North Carolina delivered the first blow on the first play of game. Anthony Ratliff-Williams returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown to go up 7-0. On the following possession, Pittsburgh would run 7 plays from their own 25 yard line and go 51 yards before settling for a 42-yard field goal by Alex Kessman to make it a 7-3 game.

On North Carolina’s third possession of the first quarter, quarterback Nathan Elliott would find Ratliff-Williams on a corner route for 40 yards down to Pittsburgh 15-yard line. Two plays later, Elliott would throw a slant pass to tight end Brandon Fritts for an 11-yard touchdown to give North Carolina a 14-3 lead with 6:32 left in the first quarter.

Pittsburgh would open the second quarter on North Carolina’s 37-yard line. On the second player of the quarter, DiNucci would find a wide-open Hall for a 30-yard pass down the left sideline to get Pittsburgh down to North Carolina’s 7-yard line. Hall would run it in from seven yards out to bring Pittsburgh closer and make the score 14-10. Pittsburgh would then score again on their next possession on a 1-yard touchdown by Hall to take a 17-10 lead with 9:58 left in the second quarter.

Just when it seemed Pittsburgh had taken control of the game, North Carolina’s Ratliff-Williams would make another big play for the Tar Heels. Ratliff-Williams would take a pitch and catch the Pittsburgh secondary slipping as he found Josh Cabrera wide-open for a 35-yard touchdown pass to give North Carolina a 21-17 lead.

On the next drive, Pittsburgh would get all the way down to North Carolina’s 4-yard line before turning the ball over. Wide receiver Quadree Henderson took an end-around and tried to reach out to score at the goal line, but ended up getting hit by North Carolina’s J.K. Britt and fumbled the ball. North Carolina’s Cayson Collins picked the ball up and returned it 66 yards to Pittsburgh’s 34-yard line. Four plays later, kicker Freeman Jones connected on a 51-yard field goal to give North Carolina a 24-17 lead going into halftime.

Pittsburgh would regain the lead on their first drive of the second half. After driving down to North Carolina’s 9-yard line, running back Hall would tie the game up at 24-24 by taking it in for his third touchdown. North Carolina would then drive down to Pittsburgh’s 21-yard line, but would lose ten yards in their next two plays on and end up kicking a 48-yard field goal to take a 27-24 lead with 3:27 left in the third quarter.

Pittsburgh would cap off a 9-play, 75-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown by Hall to put the Panthers up 31-27 on their first drive of the fourth quarter. North Carolina would take the lead for good after scoring on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Elliott to Ratliff-Williams on a pick-play to go up 31-27 with 6:18 left in the fourth quarter.

With the loss, Pittsburgh now has a 4-6 record (2-4 ACC) and will not be bowl eligible. North Carolina picks up it's second win of the year (2-8, 1-6 ACC) and first ACC win of the year.

KEY NOTES

Pittsburgh was unable to get any big plays from it's passing game as quarterback Ben DiNucci only passed for 142 yards. Panthers wide receiver Maurice Ffrench led the team with three catches for 35 yards. Darrin Hall topped the 100-yard mark again by rushing for 121 yards and 4 touchdowns on 23 carries. DiNucci also added 83 yards on the ground on 14 carries.

North Carolina quarterback Nathan Elliott completed 20 out of 31 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns. Anthony Ratliff-Williams scored in three different phases of the game. First, Ratliff-Williams scored on the game's first play by returning a kickoff 98 yards. He also threw for a touchdown (35 yards) and caught 15 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown.

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST QUARTER

North Carolina –14:44 - Anthony Ratliff-Williams 98 YD Kickoff Return (Freeman Jones Kick) - NC 7 PITT 0

Pittsburgh – 12:19 – Alex Kessman 42 YD Field Goal – NC 7 PITT 3

NC – 6:32 – Brandon Fritts 11 YD TD Pass from Nathan Elliott (Freeman Jones Kick) – NC 14 PITT 3

SECOND QUARTER

Pitt – 14:14 – Darrin Hall 7 YD TD Run (Alex Kessman kick) – NC 14 PITT 10

Pitt – 9:58 – Darrin Hall 1 YD TD Run – (Alex Kessman kick) PITT 17 NC 10

NC – 4:36 – Josh Cabrera 35 YD Pass from Anthony (Freeman Jones Kick) – NC 21 PITT 17

NC - :30 – Freeman Jones 51 YD Field Goal – NC 24 PITT 17

THIRD QUARTER

Pitt – 9:38 – Darrin Hall 9 YD Run (Alex Kessman kick) – NC 24 PITT 24

NC – 3:27 – Freeman Jones 48 YD Field Goal – NC 27 PITT 24

FOURTH QUARTER

Pitt – 13:16 – Darrin Hall 1 YD TD Run (Alex Kessman kick) – PITT 31 NC 27

NC – 6:18 – Elliott 3 YD TD Pass to Ratliff-Williams – NC 34 PITT 31