Eli Holstein threw for a career-high 381 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for another score as Pittsburgh defeated North Carolina 34-24 on Saturday. This win marks Pitt’s first 5-0 start since 1991.
Holstein completed 25 of 42 passes and was the leading rusher for the Panthers with 76 yards. Running back Desmond Reid added to Pitt’s offensive efforts, totaling 210 yards on 29 touches.
“We’ve got a hell of a football team,” said Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi. “You know, offensively, they got a good football team. They moved it, but our guys bowed up on fourth down. Just a heck of a team win, and great effort by our guys.”
In UNC’s third straight loss (3-3, 0-2), Omarion Hampton led the Tar Heels with 106 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Pitt pushed deep into UNC territory in the first quarter, looking to take a two-possession lead. However, Holstein’s misplaced pass was intercepted by Tar Heels’ sophomore defensive back Kaleb Cost, who returned it 84 yards for a touchdown.
The game-changing moment came in the fourth quarter after the Panthers took a seven-point lead with a 3-yard run from Holstein. Pitt stopped UNC on a fourth-and-1 in the red zone, then went on an 18-play, 73-yard drive that took 7:07 off the clock.
Ben Sauls kicked a 37-yard field goal to give the Panthers a double-digit lead with 2:01 left. To clinch the win, Pitt’s Kyle Louis sacked UNC quarterback Jacolby Criswell on a fourth-and-2. UNC was only 2 of 6 on fourth down conversions.
“We didn’t think we were going to stop them very well, so we made a conscious decision going in that we needed to score touchdowns – we couldn’t be kicking field goals,” said UNC coach Mack Brown. “The analytics said to go for every one of them. … If we made them, we’d be talking about how aggressive and smart the coach was.”
