Holliday: Passing game powers Heels in quest for the Coastal

By Bob Holliday, WRAL Sports contributor

West Virginia scored 31 points against Pitt. No. 3 Tennessee scored 34, but that included overtime. No other team scored more than 29 against the formidable Panthers defense. North Carolina put up 42, including 28 points in the game’s final 21 minutes and 21 in the fourth quarter alone.

Mack Brown called this the toughest game the Tar Heels have won since his return to Chapel Hill. The physical Panthers dominated the first half and held the upper hand through the third quarter.

Offensively, Pitt’s star running back Ishmael Abanikanda slithered through gaps in the Carolina defense to pile up Panther first downs. In between runs, the much-maligned quarterback Kedon Slovis took shots downfield, twice connecting on passes of 40 yards, and once hitting on a bomb for 50. Slovis even completed a 29 yard pass to Jared Wayne while being hit by a Tar Heel defender.

Defensively, Pitt throttled UNC’s high powered offense. The Panthers shut down the running backs, whose chunk plays can really help generate energy and tempo. Pitt pressured Drake Maye, sacking him twice, and more importantly cutting off his escape routes. Maye, whose ability to execute called quarterback runs and also scramble out of the pocket keeps the chains moving, ran six times in the first half for a grand total of five yards.

As a result, UNC went 0-5 on third down in the first half.

I mean Pittsburgh even put the shackles on star wide receiver Josh Downs early on. Downs could only gain eight yards on three receptions in the first half.

As Brown noted in a postgame interview, the Tar Heels only produced 80 yards of total offense during the first 24 minutes of the first half.

In my view, the only reason Carolina trailed by just three at halftime was the play of Antoine Green. The one Tar Heel Pitt couldn’t stop, Green scored UNC’s first touchdown with a one-handed catch. He made the second touchdown possible when he took a 30 yard pass by Maye and made it a 50 yard play, with a nifty juke of a Pitt defender and a romp down the sideline. Without Antoine Green, it could well have been Pitt 17-UNC 0 at halftime.

Carolina made adjustments at intermission of course, yet the Panthers still forced a punt on the all important first drive of the third quarter. This was the Tar Heels’ fourth punt of the night-well above average. The Carolina cause was further deflated by a subsequent Pitt drive that covered 83 yards in just five plays. When Abanikanda easily romped around right end for a 22 yard touchdown, Pitt led 24-14. And the margin felt bigger than that.

The UNC rally started slowly. May found Green (who else?) for 20 yards—on a third down no less. But the Tar Heels found themselves stuck in another third and long a minute or so later. Under pressure, Maye somehow spotted little used Gavin Blackwell open down the middle. If Blackwell doesn’t make that catch—and I want to say here one of the strengths of this team is that receivers seldom drop balls-the comeback quite possibly doesn’t happen. Instead, UNC set up shop on the Pitt 34 and scored six plays later.

In that sequence, the UNC offense did things it couldn’t do in the game’s first 35 minutes. Maye twice broke contain for important runs-one was on fourth and five and Pitt had not allowed even ONE fourth down conversion in three previous ACC games. And then Downs finally shook off the shackles placed on him by Pitt’s secondary and a caught at 13 yard pass for 6.

UNC was now within three, but the third quarter marched steadily onward, and the Tar Heels to that point had done little to stop the Pitt offense, which scored on four of its first eight possessions.

However, Gene Chizik’s unit came alive after the Downs touchdown.

Abanikanda churned out one chunk play, racing 21 yards after taking a direct snap. But with the Panthers lurking near midfield, Jahvaree Ritzie pressured Slovis, forcing an incomplete pass. DeAndre Boykins stoned Abanikanda on a counter play, and then on third down Kaimon Rucker and RaRa Dillworth took Slovis down for a 10 yard loss, UNC’s only sack of the night.

Pitt punted.

UNC then moved 84 yards, but the Tar Heels didn’t take the lead (their first) until the fourth quarter. They trailed most of the game’s first 46 minutes. The Phil Longo offense still had trouble running the football, but the Tar Heels adapted, countering with swing passes and bubble screens to Elijah Green and Downs. This had the effect of spreading out Pitt’s front seven, which provided Maye with more escape routes out of the pocket and more running room in general.

Still, most of the yardage on UNC’s go ahead drive came on passes to Antoine Green and Downs. They combined for an astonishing 282 yards in reception yardage.

But not every scoring drive ended with a Maye touchdown pass. It was Elijah Green who gave UNC the lead, churning his way through multiple Pitt defenders, then putting his hand on the ground to propel himself through traffic across the goal line—the Tar Heels’ most important two yard run of the night.

Then, more defense. Cedric Gray stripped the football from Abanikanda on third and one at the 50. Gray then recovered the ball, making sure the ACC’s leading rusher wouldn’t get another chance to gain one yard on fourth down.

Remember the UNC offense last game at Duke, frittered away a scoring opportunity that followed a big defensive stop and it nearly cost the Tar Heels a victory. This time, Carolina attacked with a purpose. The Tar Heels moved 49 yards in 42 seconds to go up by 11, as Maye hit Downs on a 25 yard scoring strike.

Now down 35-24, Pitt changed gears, all but abandoning the run. Most of the game, Abanikanda’s ground gains-and they amounted to more than 100 yards—set up play action passes by Slovis which were quite effective. But asked to pass on every down, the quarterback struggled. On the first series after the second Downs touchdown, Slovis threw on all three downs and every pass was incomplete. And that led to another Pitt punt. Followed by a long Josh Downs punt return and another Antoine Green touchdown catch. 42-24.

Down 18, Pitt doubled down on its comeback strategy. Pitt possessed the ball from the nine minute mark to the five minute mark. Slovis completed 4 of 6 passes but the Panthers moved only 19 yards in the process. More good UNC defense-and it was made easier by Pitt giving up on the run even though plenty of time remained-led to a turnover on downs near midfield. UNC ran out the clock from there.

ESPN now projects a 96% probability that UNC will win the Coastal Division. The Tar Heels, who are 4-0 in ACC play, have already beaten their closest challengers, Duke and Miami, both of whom have two losses. Every other Coastal team has three losses or more.

Mack Brown doesn’t want to hear it. Not with a road trip to Virginia looming. The head coach knows UNC’s checkered history in Charlottesville all too well. During the George Welsh and Al Groh eras, Carolina went 28 years without a win at Scott Stadium. Indeed, one of Brown’s best teams in his first stint in Chapel Hill, the 1996 team, lost out on a major bowl bid as Virginia pulled a stunning 20-17 upset. In fact, Mack Brown has NEVER won in Charlottesville.

Butch Davis and Larry Fedora put together a four-game Scott Stadium win streak in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016. But UNC has not won at Virginia since.

As everyone knows, Virginia has struggled this season during the transition from Bronco Mendenhall to Tony Elliott. The Cavaliers are just 1-4 in ACC play, having just lost to Miami in a game where the Cavs couldn’t score a single touchdown.

Still, the Cavaliers have Brennan Armstrong, one of the league’s top five quarterbacks, and a very good defense.

The Cavs, in ACC games, have actually proven stingier against the rush than Pittsburgh. They also get more sacks than Pitt, almost four per game in ACC play.

If UNC’s defense can play as it did in the second half Saturday night, the Tar Heels’ explosive offense will be hard for UVA to match on the scoreboard. But if the Tar Heels show up in Charlottesville distracted by the Coastal race and postseason possibilities, anything can happen, especially at THAT place.

UNC cannot clinch the Coastal simply by winning at Virginia. The Tar Heels will almost certainly need another win after the UVA game and two of their final three games are against Atlantic Division rivals Wake Forest and NC State.

Carolina needs to win at least one of those cross divisional games to lock up the Coastal Championship, maintain a place in the national rankings (up to No. 17 this week) and boost Drake Maye’s Heisman candidacy, which looks more real each week even though he’s just a freshman and not previously on the radar of most Heisman voters.

This team has made great progress since the loss to Notre Dame. Remember it was the defense that was overwhelmed in that game. The offense produced 32 points, a touchdown more than any other Irish opponent, including more than #2 Ohio State.

The defense has improved since that day in late September. The Tar Heels still give up a ton of yards, but have shown the ability to force turnovers and get big stops-especially on fourth down.

UNC ranks among the ACC leaders in red zone defense. In ACC games, UNC has allowed just nine touchdowns in fourteen red zone visits. Only Louisville is better.

The Tar Heels even rank third in scoring defense in conference play at 23 points per game. The Pitt performance personifies how Chizik’s unit plays. The Panthers gained 367 yards but only scored 24 points.

Offensively, UNC would like more production from its running backs. It didn’t help that starter Caleb Hood got hurt the first time he touched the football last Saturday night. He is lost for the season as are defensive stalwarts Noah Taylor and Desmond Evans. Those are huge losses. At the same time, UNC was able to mount a comeback against Pitt without those three.

Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt staff schemed to shut down the run. UNC’s coaches decided at halftime not to waste plays running against a brick wall. Instead they opted for swing passes and bubble screens that functioned somewhat like a running game and those short passes gained yards. That shift in strategy helped the Tar Heels win the game.

Maye has repeatedly demonstrated he can win whether the running backs have a big day or whether he is the leading rusher, though obviously it takes a load off his shoulders if the backs can pile up yardage. But the thing about Maye is that regardless of who is keeping the defense honest with the ground game, he absolutely excels on pass plays, reading the defense, working through his checkdowns, spotting the open receiver and then quickly getting him the ball in a place where he can catch it. And right now he is doing all of that better than any quarterback in the country, hence the Heisman talk.

And opponents cannot cover Maye’s receivers, especially Downs and Antoine Green. Also, while Hood will be missed, Elijah Green can catch out of the backfield.

Anyway, there is no need for Mack Brown to change the formula that has evolved this season in Chapel Hill. Great passing game and just enough running and defense. It’s unconventional for sure. But it works.