Pass defense costs Pitt again, 37-36
Another bright spot — the Panthers won the possession battle by 22 minutes.
But the offense did not manage to stay on the field in the fourth quarter to keep Trubisky and his offense off of it. And the defense could not come up with the big stop when it was needed.
“Everybody believed,” said Howard, who caught the winning touchdown. “We had fans leaving, but the defense had our back. We had their back. We told them you all go out and get one more stop, we are going to make this happen.” And they did. On his winning drive, Trubisky connected with Switzer for a 15-yard gain on fourth-and-6 to reach the Pitt 45. He found Austin Proehl on fourthand-6 for a 13-yard gain to reach the Pitt 27, then found Switzer again for a 9-yard completion on fourth-and-9 to reach the Pitt 17.
Five plays later, the ball was in Howard’s hands in the end zone.
“Mitch is stone cold. I do not know how Mitch did it, but he stayed focused, relied on his training and trusted his reads,” said Tar Heels running back Elijah Hood, held to 25 rushing yards.
Senior defensive end Ejuan Price came to the podium still in his uniform and said he was at an immediate loss for words to share with his teammates.
“I don’t know. Honestly with the game this fresh, I’m not sure,” Price said. “I’m still fully dressed. I’m still trying to figure it out. I was taking a moment in the hallway, just reflecting to myself trying to figure out what’s going on and how it could get better. I’ll probably have something for them [Sunday], but today I’m stumped.”
Pitt spent all week trying to recover from its performance a week ago at Oklahoma State, where it yielded 540 passing yards.
The Panthers vowed to stop the run in Chapel Hill, and did so — holding the Tar Heels to a paltry 18 rushing yards.
But the pass defense struggled again, as Trubisky completed 35 of 46 passes for 453 yards and five touchdowns. He completed his first 12 passes to set a school record.
Trubisky’s most popular target was Ryan Switzer, who finished with 208 receiving yards on 16 catches, including four on the final drive. He also scored a touchdown.
What can be done about the pass defense?
“You can’t do anything about it. They’ve got players. They’re on scholarship. They’ve got good players,” Narduzzi said. “I thought we were a lot sounder. We did not give up as big passes as we did a week ago. They got 18 yards rushing. Usually when you get 18 yards rushing you’re going to lose.”
Narduzzi said he was proud of his offensive line’s ability to kill the clock, but w a few more fourth quart
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lock, but would have liked to see few more sustained drives in the ourth quarter. Pitt was up, 36-23, with 10:56 left in he game. But the offense sputtered n its final two possessions, holding he ball for just 1:46 and again for 1:49 s the Tar Heels mounted the comeack. “That’s the disappointing thing. We can score points, but we have to finish the game off and we stressed that all week,” Narduzzi said. “We had the ball with about five minutes to go. We punted once for three quarters and then we punt twice in the end of the fourth quarter. That’s where the game is won or lost.”