UNC Football vs Pittsburgh: Preview, game info, prediction, & more
The UNC football program will take on ACC Coastal Division rival Pittsburgh on Thursday night
The North Carolina Tar Heels are coming off of another close defeat, a seven-point loss to Virginia in Chapel Hill two Saturdays ago, marking their fifth loss this season by seven points or fewer. Despite a number of missed opportunities and blunders on both sides of the ball, the Tar Heels have played far better than they did a season ago when they won just two games and dropped a multitude of contests by double-digit points.
They’ll try to put it all together this Thursday when they travel to Heinz Field in a matchup against Coastal Division foe Pittsburgh, hoping to even their overall record at 5-5, and improve their conference mark to 4-3. It won’t be an easy task, though, as the Panthers have been a competitive team this season, winning five of their past six games and boasting a 6-3 record through nine games.
It’s a big game for Mack Brown and the Tar Heels, knowing that they need two wins in the season’s final three weeks in order to make a bowl game. Regardless of whether they play in a bowl game this season or not, though, the Tar Heels have made great strides, and have a tremendous incoming freshman class committed for 2020.
Key to the game for UNC
North Carolina needs to find balance in its offensive attack this week against Pittsburgh. If the Tar Heels become one-dimensional, the Panthers will take advantage. They’ve held four of their last five opponents to 20 points or fewer, and three of them scored 14 points or less.
Antonio Williams and Michael Carter are both averaging better than five yards per carry this season, and each has carried the ball over 120 times. Combine that with Sam Howell’s two favorite pass-catchers Dyami Brown and Dazz Newsome — each of whom has better than 600 receiving yards and 14 combined touchdowns — the Tar Heels become a much tougher team to defend against.
And although Noah Ruggles has been terrific kicking extra points this season (25-of-25), he hasn’t been great on field goal attempts — he’s hit just 13-of-19, and has five misses under 50 yards.
Needless to say, that kind of balance requires a lot of things to go right. These Tar Heels don’t have a terrific margin for error, though, especially against a team like Pittsburgh.
Player to watch
Sam Howell has been terrific this season, and not just for a true freshman quarterback. He’s completing 58.2 percent of his passes, and has thrown for nearly 2,500 yards in nine games. That ranks him just outside the top-20 nationally, and puts him ahead of Oregon’s Justin Herbert and Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence. Howell also has more touchdowns this season than either, and fewer interceptions than Lawrence’s eight.
Howell has thrown for nearly 2,000 yards, 21 touchdowns and just three interceptions against conference opponents. If he continues at that clip, particularly against Pittsburgh on Thursday night, the Tar Heels have a good chance to walk away from Heinz Field with the victory.
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What you need to know
WHAT? North Carolina Tar Heels (4-5, 3-3 ACC) @ Pittburgh Panthers (6-3, 3-2 ACC)
WHEN? Thursday, November 14 @ 7:00 p.m. CST
WHERE? Heinz Field – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
TV? ESPN
RADIO? Tar Heels Sports Network
WEATHER? Sunny, 44 degrees
LINE? Pittsburgh -4
ALL-TIME SERIES? UNC leads 10-3
PREDICTION? Pittsburgh 28-24