North Carolina Tar Heels get ball last, beat Pitt 40-34
The NCAA rushing record for a single game was set today, but it was not set against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Arguably it could have been, since Pitt running back James Conner ran for 220 yards on the game and was not on the field as much as he could have been. Conner ran for four touchdowns and pretty much anything he might have wanted.
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Yet that was rendered irrelevant by another great performance by Tar Heel quarterback Marquise Williams, who ran for 121 yards and three touchdowns of his own. The return of Lucas Crowley to the line seemed to help a unit that was bruised by Miami last week. Williams found enough time to throw for big plays.
There was a long touchdown pass to Ryan Switzer, which started innocently enough as a short outlet pass and then two blocks came from the other receivers to spring him down the field. There were also clutch fourth quarter passes to Mack Hollins and Quinshad Davis. Hollins preserved a Tar Heel drive, and Quinshad took the ball to the brink of the goaline with about a minute to play.
Williams had key carries on that drive as well, including a zone read carry on 4th and 2. TJ Logan also had important carries, including the winning score.
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Pitt had the ball back with fifty seconds to score the winning touchdown. That might have been too much time, and as quarterback Chad Voytik charged up the field on a broken play it seemed that way.
Mercifully, ram Malik Simmons hit the quarterback just right to separate him from the ball and Shakeel Rashad pounced on it to end the game.
North Carolina was eliminated by the Georgia Tech victory over Clemson from having a say in the Coastal Division championship. They still need a win to get bowl eligible, either against Duke next week or against the NC State Wolfpack the week after.