North Carolina tops Pittsburgh in ACC Coastal showdown
North Carolina 26, No. 23 Pittsburgh 19: Marquise Williams threw two long touchdown passes and visiting North Carolina defeated Pittsburgh on Thursday night in a matchup of Atlantic Coast Conference upstarts.
The unexpected ACC Coastal showdown was the first of a three-week round-robin that likely will determine the division title. The Tar Heels (7-1, 4-0) next face No. 22 Duke at home with a chance to put a vice grip on the program’s first trip to the conference title game.
North Carolina has won seven straight since a sloppy opening loss to South Carolina and is off to its best start since 1997 under Mack Brown.
For the third straight season, Williams came up huge against Pitt (6-2, 3-1). The senior completed 14 of 23 passes for 270 yards and ran for 52. He has 1,020 total yards in three career victories against the Panthers.
Williams and Ryan Switzer have been all kinds of problems for Pittsburgh since the Panthers joined the ACC three years ago. Two years ago at Heinz Field, Switzer, a West Virginia native, returned two punts for touchdowns in a 34-27 victory for the Tar Heels.
Williams past two games against Pitt: 301 yards rushing, 449 yards passing, six total touchdowns.
Pitt’s four-game winning streak ended after moving into the rankings for the first time since 2010 behind new coach Pat Narduzzi. The Panthers had won four onescore games, but they looked outclassed by the best offense in the ACC in the first half, falling behind 20-3.
Pitt got a blocked punt by Quintin Wirigins on North Carolina’s first second-half possession to set up Chris Blewitt’s 29-yard field goal. Qadree Ollison capped a 75-yard drive by pushing into the end zone from 4 yards out to cut it to 23-13 with 4:10 left in the third quarter.
The Tar Heels’ strong start has been as much about its defensive improvement under new coordinator and former Auburn coach Gene Chizik as its strong offense. The worst defense in the ACC last season has been among the best this season. The Tar Heels had five sacks on Thursday.
Nate Peterman passed for 262 yards for Pittsburgh, including a 6-yard touchdown to Scott Orndoff with 46 seconds left to make it 26-19. Blewitt missed the extra-point try.
Notable
Nebraska junior quarterback Ryker Fyfe will make the first start of his career on Saturday at Purdue in place of Tommy Armstrong Jr., who has not practiced this week because of an injured right foot.
Coach Mike Riley made the announcement after practice. Fyfe has appeared in nine games over three seasons. He played three series late in last month’s 48-9 victory over South Alabama.
Armstrong has started 29 games since 2013 and has passed for more than 2,000 yards and 16 touchdowns this season for the Cornhuskers (3-5, 1-3 Big Ten). He also has run for four scores.