CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Pitt took down North Carolina by a score of 34-24 on Saturday at Kenan Memorial Stadium. It marked the program’s first-ever win in Chapel Hill, and it gave Pitt its first 5-0 start since the 1991 season. What stood out about Saturday’s performance?
Here are my five takeaways.
Perfection
The win itself on Saturday was not necessarily perfect, but Pitt’s record still is, after knocking off North Carolina by a score of 34-24. After falling behind 7-3 in the first quarter, the Panthers sort of just kept marching along in this one, and took down a North Carolina team that just lost its third consecutive game.
The game itself on the scoreboard was perpetually close, or tied, with North Carolina somewhat knocking on the door, but it also felt like Pitt always had the upper hand. The Panthers’ offense always was able to come up with a big play or drive when it needed to, and kept North Carolina enough at arm’s length to come away with the win.
The victory, as it has been well-documented by now, gives Pitt a 5-0 record for the first time since 1991. It’s obviously a noteworthy thing, and the 2024 Pitt Panthers checked off another box to its already impressive season resume.
Pitt claimed its first-ever win in Chapel Hill, snapping an 0-7 skid prior to today. If we’re counting now: Pitt got through non-conference play undefeated this year for the first time ever, won a game at North Carolina for the first time in program history, and now is off to its best start since the first Bush administration. It’s still early, but also trending to be a special season for the Panthers.
Eli keeps it rolling
It takes a special quarterback to have a special season, and yea, Pitt seemingly has one of those. Eli Holstein, once again, became the star of the show, and guided this team to another win, with yet another impressive stat line.
Holstein set Pitt’s single-game freshman passing record on Saturday, tossing 381 and three touchdowns. For good measure, he added a team-high 76 yards and another score on the ground as well.
With Saturday’s win, Holstein became the first Pitt quarterback to start his career with five consecutive wins since the legendary Dan Marino did it back in 1979. If you are starting to break records and be mentioned with one of the best Pitt players ever, then you must be doing something right.
Holstein was not perfect, however. He did spot North Carolina an early 7-3 lead with a poor decision on a pick-six, but he owned it, and recovered from it quite well. The star freshman just never seemed bothered by it, either.
It was only his fifth career start, and just the second on the road, but he recovered from a tough momentum-changing play and overcame it. The thing is, you sort of expected him to as well. Holstein has built up that kind of respect already, and not many freshmen in the history of this program can really match the start he is having.
Holstein is up to 1,564 yards, 15 touchdown passes to just three interceptions and has a perfect record as a starter, while overseeing one of the most productive offenses in college football. Yea, not too shabby.
Reid the receiver
Desmond Reid is just a different type of player. He is maybe the most unique weapon this program has ever had. Reid paced Pitt today with 11 receptions (on 11 targets) for 155 yards and a touchdown. That’s a tremendous stat line for a wide receiver, but that’s simply unheard of for a running back.
Reid is a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses, one for his blazing speed, and two because of the versatility he brings to the team. If teams want to play cover-one looks against Pitt, and put a linebacker on him one on one, yea Pitt is going to make you pay for it, and they did a lot of that on Saturday.
Reid accounted for 210 all-purpose yards against North Carolina. He broke off a big 72-yard reception in this one, the longest play North Carolina has allowed this season. Coincidentally enough, that one did not go for a touchdown. But, he still made his presence felt throughout the game.
Pitt received a boost by getting the unexpected return of Rodney Hammond to help Reid in the backfield. Hammond had a forgettable day, with nine yards on four carries. Still, I think having that security blanket can allow Pitt to keep being somewhat aggressive with Reid. He’s unique and it’s a matchup worth exploiting each and every game until somebody can stop him.
Mixed bag on defense
At some point during this game, I looked down at the stat sheet and did not think Pitt’s defense was playing too bad, but they weren’t having a good performance either. North Carolina wasn’t marching up and down the field at will, but they had some effective moments throughout the game, which led to some frustratingly long drives.
Still, North Carolina quarterback Jacolby Criswell was hovering around 50% on his passes. The Tar Heels were not exactly nailing third and fourth down attempts either. And the scoreboard was not moving all that much for UNC either.
Pitt’s defense was only credited with 17 of the 24 points allowed on Saturday. In a perfect world, you would not like to give up 416 yards, but at the same time, most would take holding a team to 17 points, and that’s what Pitt did.
Pitt came with pressure as much as it could, but only netted one sack, on the final defensive play of the game. It was not the type of performances many have grown accustomed to seeing from this defense. But again, it was a classic bend, but don’t break situation. Omarion Hampton got his yards, and that was expected, but he only found the end zone once.
If North Carolina felt compelled to try a bunch of fourth downs, and hit on less than half of them, then Pitt’s defense is at least rising to the occasion when it matters, and that has to count for something, right?
Pitt, of course, would like to see improvement on defense, but this performance was not too bad, all things considered. Plus if you’re offense can score the way Pitt’s can, then you can have a few letdowns here and there.
On to Cal
This Pitt program was at an absolutely crossroads last November when it lost to Duke to finish the season 3-9. Fast forward 11 months, and this team is 5-0 with one of the most potent offenses in college football. It has been quite a transformation, and one not many saw coming, at least to this extent.
Of course, Pitt is off to its first 5-0 start since 1991, and next week, the team will look to become 6-0 for the first time since 1982. Pitt is clearly getting into territory that is very much uncharted for pretty much everyone who is involved with the program, and that’s a good thing.
Pitt football needed a jolt, and it got one, and now this season is becoming much more interesting than anyone could have envisioned. The thing is, when you keep winning, that next game always becomes the big one. As it stands now, every game Pitt plays from this point forward is the ‘big one’ and next week that is the Cal Golden Bears, set for a 3:30 kick at Acrisure Stadium.
Cal is one of the ACC newcomers, and have been a bit of surprise since joining the league with a 3-1 start and a win over Auburn in their back pocket. The team is hosting College Gameday today with a big home game against Miami tonight. It will be an emotional game, and then will have to ship across the country to come play an undefeated Pitt team.
Cal presents some challenges, but at the same time, what happens with Pitt’s season going forward is going to be dictated by the Panthers themselves. Pitt is capable of winning every game left on its schedule, and that’s not a common thought when discussing this program.
