By Doc Kennedy
The ACC Coastal is dead. Long live the ACC Coastal.
In a game that would have fit perfectly in the old Coastal Division, North Carolina and Pittsburgh stumbled and bumbled through most of a game that featured a backup fifth-year quarterback at his third school making his first career start, dueling turnovers, dueling quick-strike touchdowns, punts from the plus-37, what seemed like a thousand replay reviews, and enough questionable coaching decisions to scratch a hole through your head. And when the dust had settled, Carolina left the Steel City with a 21–17 win over the No. 25 Panthers.
In all fairness, there probably was a little karma involved given that Pitt escaped Virginia Tech the previous wekend with a win after being thoroughly dominated on the stat sheet and having the Hokies’ potential game-winning kick miss by inches over the goalpost.
For most of the first three quarters, the Panthers kept the anemic Tar Heel offense in check but unable to put many points on the board behind reserve quarterback Holden Geriner, thrust into the lineup after Mason Heintschel went down in Blacksburg last week.
UNC hung around behind Good Billy Edwards’ 49-yard completion to Jordan Shipp, and a sweet touchdown toss to Jelani Thurman to trail 10-7 at the break.
The third quarter devolved into sicko football, as the teams combined for three interceptions and three punts while generating fewer than 50 yards of offense between them.
Carolina finally took advantage of a short field and scored, taking their first lead of the game at 14–10. Pitt retook the lead on a quick-strike drive, while UNC responded with a 75-yard touchdown strike, then held on through some Coastal-level play in which there were seven possessions in the last 12 minutes after having only seven possessions in the entire first half. But in the end, Carolina earned Bill Belichick’s first top-25 win for the Tar Heels.
With that in mind, here is the “Thanks, we’ll take it” edition of the Good, Bad, and Ugly Report:
Good
Shemar Easter
UNC’s “other” tight end has been establishing himself as a target in Bobby Petrino’s offense when Thurman draws attention and ran a perfect route in tandem with Thurman and took a perfect throw from Edwards and turned it into a 75-yard touchdown.
Good Billy Edwards
In what may becoming a regular bit in this report, Good Billy Edwards Jr. was really good. On UNC’s three scoring drives, he was 10-for-11 for 188 yards and two touchdowns.
Greg Smith III
The sophomore defensive back picked off his third pass of the season to go with eight tackles.
ACC Replay Center
Yes, the ACC can often find a rake to step on, but the looks into the replay center in Charlotte and, more importantly, the conversation between the referee and the replay folks is amazing. Between this game and the N.C. State/Wake Forest game, seeing the thought process behind the calls is fascinating and instructive.
Bad
Punting
Aeron Burrell had been doing a solid job for UNC this season, but today was rough for the junior punter. Fortunately, it did not come back to bite the Heels today.
Bad Billy Edwards
On UNC’s non-scoring drives, Edwards was 8-of015 for 61 yards and two picks, while being sacked three times and making some uncharacteristic bad decisions. Feast or famine once again.
Missed tackles
The official totals on missed tackles will … not be great.
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Ugly
Rushing game
For the second straight week, the Carolina rushing game was non-existent. The Tar Heels gained only 20 yards on 25 attempts, for a 0.8 average. The inability of UNC to generate anything on the ground makes it all the more crucial that Good Billy show up.
Before the season, the thought was the Pitt game would show where UNC stood as a team, but I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate. Carolina faced the Panthers without their starting quarterback, and Coach Pat Narduzzi’s decision-making (going for it on fourth down twice with a very good kicker) and play-calling (having the backup QB throw 44 times when Pitt was averaging four yards per rush) kept the Heels in the game.
But it was good to see UNC make the adjustments necessary to slow down Pitt’s easy ball movement early while doing enough on offense to put up 21 points. Next week will be a test against Duke, but for now, Carolina responded to the back-to-back losses vs. Clemson and Notre Dame with a gritty road win.
Doc Kennedy is an alum, longtime UNC fan, and former high school and college basketball coach who wrote this report for years on Tar Heel Blog.
Photo via @UNCFootball
