UNC kicked in the gut

CHARLOTTE -- Up by a point and with Pittsburgh pinned on its own 5-yard line, North Carolina couldn't have asked for a better end-game scenario in Saturday's Meineke Car Care Bowl.

"Get the bandwagon ready," UNC senior Deunta Williams said was his first thought.

With the ACC's best defense, and one of the best in the country, the Tar Heels were the formality of one stop from their first bowl win in eight years.

Instead of celebrating, UNC watched helplessly as Dan Hutchins' 33-yard field goal with 52 seconds left gave No. 17 Pitt a 19-17 win at Bank of America Stadium.

No bowl win, no bandwagon. Instead of avenging last year's bowl loss in Charlotte to a Big East team, the Heels got a serious case of déjà vu. They lost by a point to West Virginia in last year's Meineke Bowl. Both times they led in the fourth quarter and looked like they were on their way to an elusive bowl win.

Instead, they're winless in three bowl trips to Charlotte in six years.

The Panthers (10-3) drove 79 yards on 17 plays for the winning points.

Hutchins' field goal gave Pitt a two-point lead in front of an announced crowd of 50,389, an eight-year low turnout. The Heels had one final possession but fell short.

A critical offside penalty on defensive tackle Cam Thomas, when Hutchins had lined up for a 47-yard attempt earlier in the drive, gave the Panthers a second chance.

It wasn't the only mental mistake the Heels (8-5) made. Before the end of the first half, Casey Barth shanked a squib kick out of bounds, setting Pitt up at its own 40 and leading to one of Hutchins' four field goals.

For the game, UNC was flagged eight times for 78 yards, which followed up an 11-penalty disaster at N.C. State in the ACC finale.

"I don't think we played as smart as we needed to ... and that's my fault," Davis said. "As the head football coach I've got to take responsibility for composure ... and staying in the moment, playing the game and playing as hard as you possibly can."

There was no excuse, junior defensive tackle Marvin Austin said, for repeating some of the same mistakes from the State loss -- the foolish penalties and turning the ball over near the goal line.

"Guys who have been here three years, shouldn't make some of the mistakes we made," Austin said.

The Panthers made their share of mistakes -- dropping a touchdown pass, missing a field goal and fumbling the ball in the end zone on the first two series of the game. They even ignored freshman star running back Dion Lewis for stretches of the first half and third quarter. Lewis finished with 159 yards and a touchdown, to earn the game's MVP, with 13 of his carries, for 58 yards, coming on the game-winning drive.

The Panthers hid Lewis, a 5-foot-8 back, behind a gargantuan offensive line -- no one shorter than 6-2 -- and massive fullback Henry Hynoski, who is a third guard at 6-2 and 260 pounds.

"It was definitely hard to see him and he was elusive," Austin said. "He's a good running back."

As productive as Lewis was, it was a stomach punch to UNC's defense that it couldn't get the Panthers off the field. The Heels led the ACC in rushing defense and total defense, and allowed less than 93 yards per game. Lewis had 101 yards in the first half, on only 11 carries.

"By any means, I don't think we did a good job on defense," Williams said. "Collectively we gave that drive away at the end. You just have to give them credit. They did what they had to do."

The Heels controlled the second half after Greg Little's second touchdown staked them to a 17-16 lead with 4:00 left in the third quarter. The junior receiver caught a well-thrown, 14-yard post route from quarterback T.J. Yates to put the Heels in front.

Yates finished 19-of-32 for 183 yards and two scores, but his second-quarter interception at the goal line cost UNC.

The lead lasted until the final minute of the final quarter. Davis said the ending shouldn't diminish what the Heels did in his third season, which ended with two straight losses but also in a bowl game for the second straight year.

"The mileage that we have made in these three seasons, we've covered an awful lot of ground," Davis said. "There's going to be bigger and better things in the future."

Pitt 19, North Carolina 17

FIRST QUARTER

UNC--Little 15 pass from Yates (Barth kick), 6:57.

SECOND QUARTER

Pitt--FG Hutchins 31, 14:11. Pitt--Lewis 11 run (Hutchins kick), 11:08. UNC--FG Barth 37, 1:05. Pitt--FG Hutchins 37, :00.

THIRD QUARTER

Pitt--FG Hutchins 42, 9:11. UNC--Little 14 pass from Yates (Barth kick), 4:00.

FOURTH QUARTER

Pitt--FG Hutchins 33, :52.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Pittsburgh, Lewis 28-159, Graham 2-0, Stull 4-(minus 13), Team 2-(minus 17). North Carolina, Houston 24-83, Little 1-31, Boyd 1-(minus 11), Yates 3-(minus 22).

PASSING--Pittsburgh, Stull 17-24-0-163. North Carolina, Yates 19-32-1-183, Team 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING--Pittsburgh, Shanahan 5-83, Dickerson 4-21, Baldwin 3-31, Hynoski 3-20, Byham 1-9, Lewis 1-(minus 1). North Carolina, Little 7-87, Highsmith 3-38, Pianalto 2-26, J.White 2-17, Houston 2-8, Barham 1-4, Boyd 1-4, D.Jones 1-(minus 1).

Att.--50,389.