By R.L. Bynum
PITTSBURGH — With Drake Maye digging into his bag of tricks and the defense digging in after a slow start, North Carolina is off to its best start in 26 years.
Maye ran for two touchdowns and showed his improvisational skills with a left-handed touchdown pass as the No. 18 Tar Heels rolled to a 41–24 victory over Pittsburgh in their ACC opener for their best start since 1997, when Coach Mack Brown’s last team of his first stint also started 4–0.
“I’m proud of the guys,” said Brown, noting that he was 45 the last time UNC had a start this good. “That play Drake made with the left hand was maybe the best play I’ve seen in college football. It was unbelievable. I don’t even know how he got it from his right hand to his left hand.”
UNC (4–0, 1–0 ACC) has no players who were alive the last time the Tar Heels started this well. Carolina’s seven-game road win streak is the second-longest in the country.
Maye, who took a huge hit before tossing a 40-yard first-half flea-flicker pass, completed 22 of 30 passes for 296 yards, one touchdown and a 167.2 passer rating.
“Just playing football,” Maye said, explaining the left-handed pass. “One of those plays; I’m just glad it worked out. Just kind of threw a duck up there. It wasn’t spinning at all.”
East Tennessee State transfer Alijah Huzzie, who plays the star position, turned in a huge game with a punt return for a touchdown, two interceptions and a big pass breakup when the game was close early.
“He’s just a ball-hawk,” Brown said of Huzzie. “He has instincts, and he competes. He has tremendous hands. Great players in FCS are great players in FBS, and he’s a great player.”
Cedric Gray, Caimon Rucker and Power Echols each had six tackles for Carolina.
“Really, really proud of our defense after they adjusted. They went for three turnovers, and that’s significant,” Brown said.
Huzzie’s return and two Noah Burnette’s field goals helped overcome a rough night for Carolina’s special teams.
Brown is happy with where his team is going into an off week.
“I see an older, confident team,” he said. “They prepared this week; they came up here understanding it was going to be hard, didn’t panic when it was hard. But I also see a team that can get so much better. Part of it’s we’ve got so many new coaches that this will be a great week to reassess our first four games and find out exactly who we are and what we like and what we need to change. It couldn’t be a better time for an open date for us.”
Pittsburgh (1–3, 0–1) ran through UNC’s defense in its first two drives, going 78 yards, the longest drive against UNC this season, and 75 yards. It was the first time an opponent had scored on its first two drives since the Appalachian State game in 2022.
A Pitt offense with five drives of at least seven plays in the first three games did it three times in the first half, including for 13 plays on the first drive and seven on the second.
“They were dominating the time of possession and keeping Drake off the field, and that’s what we’re going to face every week,” Brown said.
The first drive netted a 7-yard Rodney Hammond touchdown run, and then the second a 1-yard Daniel Carter scoring run.
A replay review after UNC’s first play averted disaster as what was first ruled a Maye fumble was determined to be an incomplete pass. Ten plays later, Omarion Hampton tied it with a three-yard touchdown run. John Copenhaver (13 yards), J.J. Jones (18 yards) and Kamari Morales (13 yards) had big receptions on the drive.
The game turned when UNC’s defense forced consecutive three-and-outs and scored both times.
After the first stop, Maye connected with Copenhaver for 40 yards on a flea-flicker. Maye took a big hit from Dayon Hayes, who drove right through a Kobe Paysour block on the play. That drew a roughing-the-passer penalty and led Conner Harrell to come in for two plays at quarterback. Maye rolled out to the left on a fourth-and-goal at the 1 two plays later to score.
After the second drive ended with a sack and a 22-yard Pitt loss to the 1, Huzzie returned the punt 52 yards for a touchdown and gave UNC its first lead of the game. It was UNC’s first punt return for a touchdown since Dazz Newsome went 75 yards for a score in 2018 at Syracuse.
Huzzie broke up a third-down pass on Pitt’s next drive, forcing the Panthers to settle for a 44-yard Ben Sauls field goal.
UNC quickly drove for a 7-yard Maye-to-Paysour touchdown pass, after it looked like Maye would be tackled, to give UNC a 28–17 halftime lead. Maye floated the left-handed pass into the end zone.
Maye pushed the lead to 35–17 when he drove UNC 75 yards on eight plays to open the second half, scoring from a yard out.
“I think we got a 17-point swing, and that just changes the whole game,” Brown said.
Burnette kicked field goals of 43 and 48 yards in the third quarter, the latter a career-long effort. Kenny Johnson returned the ensuing kickoff after the first boot 100 yards for a Pitt score. It was the first kickoff return by an opponent for a score since Old Dominion’s Isaiah Harper returned one 100 yards in 2017.
UNC freshman defensive end Beau Atkinson delivered a big hit on Pitt quarterback Christian Veilleux as he threw a long pass Huzzie intercepted in the end zone.
NOTES — Carolina gets next weekend off before playing home games on Oct. 7 against Syracuse (4–0, 0–0), a 29–16 winner Saturday over Army who hosts Clemson next week, Oct. 13 against No. 20 Miami (4–0, 0–0), a 41–7 winner Saturday over Temple, and Oct. 21 against Virginia (0–4, 0–1), which lost 24–21 to N.C. State on Thursday. … Tar Heels missing the game were sophomore wide receiver Gavin Blackwell (upper-body injury), junior running back Elijah Hood (illness) and junior left guard Willie Lampkin (lower-body injury). … UNC redshirt cornerback Tayon Holloway was ejected for targeting in the last minute of the first half. … The official UNC football X (formerly Twitter) account tagged Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes on a post with a video of Maye’s left-handed touchdown pass. … Maye has thrown for at least 200 yards in all 18 starts of his career and has tossed multiple TD passes in 14 of those starts. … Maye has thrown for at least 200 yards in all 18 starts of his career. … Carolina has won the last nine times it scored 30 or more points, including all four games this season. … Pitt quarterback Phil Jerkovec took a big hit late in the first half and missed the rest of the game with an undisclosed injury. He was 11 of 15 for 109 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. … UNC has won two in a row against the Panthers and ended a two-game skid at Pittsburgh. The Tar Heels lead the all-time series 12–5 and 8–2 in ACC games. … UNC is 54–22 as a ranked team under Brown.
No. 17 UNC 41, Pitt 24
UNC schedule
| Month/ date | Opponent/event | 2023 record | UNC record in series |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | |||
| 20 | Spring game, 3 p.m. | — | — |
| August | |||
| 29 (Thurs.) | at Minnesota | 6–7 | 1–0 |
| September | |||
| 7 | Charlotte | 3–9 | 0–0 |
| 14 | N.C. Central | 9–3 | 0–0 |
| 21 | James Madison | 11–2 | 3–0 |
| 28 | at Duke | 8–5 | 65–40–4 |
| October | |||
| 5 | Pittsburgh | 3–9 | 12–5 |
| 12 | Georgia Tech | 7–6 | 22–33–3 |
| 26 | at Virginia | 3–9 | 66–58–4 |
| November | |||
| 2 | at Florida State | 13–1 | 3–17–1 |
| 16 | Wake Forest | 4–8 | 72–36–2 |
| 23 | at Boston College | 7–6 | 6–2 |
| 30 | N.C. State | 9–4 | 68–39–6 |
Photo via @UNCFootball
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