There were no secrets with what was about to happen when North Carolina faced a fourth-and-one, from the Pitt 8-yard line, in the fourth quarter, trailing Pitt by a touchdown. The Tar Heels had been trying their luck with converting fourth downs against the Panthers all game, with mixed results, but with one yard to gain, everyone inside of Kenan Memorial Stadium knew the ball was going to star running back Omarion Hampton.
As the ball was snapped, the left side of the Carolina offensive line collapsed and was blown off the ball. Pitt linebackers Brandon George and Kyle Louis met Hampton at the line of scrimmage and held him to no gain, ending the North Carolina possession.
While no tackle was credited to him, the guy who started that push was none other than Sean FitzSimmons, Pitt’s redshirt sophomore defensive tackle, who was making his 2024 season debut on Saturday.
“I just did my job. Good things happened,” FitzSimmons recalled of the pivotal fourth down stop.
So what exactly was his job?
"Just cause havoc,” replied FitzSimmons.
He did just that. The fourth down stop was the last real chance North Carolina had in that game. Pitt took over with 9:09 remaining, and promptly ran the next seven minutes off the clock and ended the drive with a Ben Sauls field goal to make it 34-24, which proved to be the final score.
Once again, the Pitt offense that stole the show, as the team improved to 5-0 for the first time in 1991 with the win over North Carolina. But when the defense needed at stop late in the game, it was FitzSimmons at the center of it all, perhaps an unlikely candidate given the way the past two years have played out for the Beaver County native.
“I was so happy to finally be back,” FitzSimmons said after recording three tackles against North Carolina. “Last year, I was hurt, missed a couple games. And then this year, I'm like, ‘All right, it's my time to finally go.’ And then getting hurt in camp, and it really, really sucked.”
FitzSimmons was a heralded high school player from nearby Central Valley. As a senior, he helped lead his team to a 15-0 state championship season, while racking up a mind-boggling 49 tackles for loss and 21 sacks. Since arriving in at Pitt, he has done plenty to warrant praise from the coaches and teammates in the off-seasons, but when the games start to count, FitzSimmons has simply had bad luck with injuries.
On Saturday, he finally got to show that he can be a disruptive force in the middle of Pitt's defense, something the team has been lacking this season. He played a career-high 40 snaps against North Carolina according to Pro Football Focus, more than the rest of his career snaps combined until this point. FitzSimmons was credited with four pressures, which led Pitt for the game.
“Sean Fitzsimmons had a great week of practice,” Pat Narduzzi said after the game on Saturday. “He came back healthy. It took him a while to get back, but he was back, and he was in full force. I'm proud of him. It's good to get him back.”
Pitt has been battling the injury bug at defensive tackle this season. Nick James did not play on Saturday. Anthony Johnson has been out since the opener, and of course, FitzSimmons missed four games prior to the North Carolina contest.
Pitt brought six defensive tackles to Chapel Hill, and FitzSimmons was part of a five-man rotation against the Tar Heels. It was needed, with an announced temperature of 78 at game time, and it feeling much hotter on the artificial surface of Kenan Stadium.
“It was hot out here, so having that rotation was really nice," FitzSimmons said of using a deep rotation up front. "It kept us fresh.”
On several occasions, FitzSimmons broke through the Carolina protection and made a run at quarterback Jacolby Criswell, although a sack evaded him and his teammates until the final defensive snap of the game. Eventually, Kyle Louis took down Criswell to end all of North Carolina’s hopes on fourth down from the Pitt 31-yard line with 1:11 remaining.
“I was close on a couple too, I was itching for it,’ FitzSimmons of getting to the quarterback. “But then when Kyle finally got it, great feeling, sealed the game for us, and it got us the win.”
FitzSimmons proved he can be a valuable asset for Pitt moving forward, as it tries to find the right combination of players on the defensive line. The Panthers are cruising, however, as the defense is trying to come around to match the offense's production. But when the team is 5-0, the vibes are high either way, and for a Western Pennsylvania native, FitzSimmons is energized to play for Pitt’s first 5-0 team since 1991.
“I've been a Pitt fan most of my life,” said the Pitt sophomore linemen. “My grandpa, he'd take me to so many Pitt games, he had season tickets. So I've been a Pitt fan, and when I'm able to be here and be 5-0, it's an unreal feeling.”
