PITTSBURGH — The North Carolina football team, seemingly, couldn’t put Pittsburgh away. It got the ball back after a 75-yard touchdown, and quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. threw an interception. It forced a turnover on downs, then gave the ball back on a punt. It returned a fumble the length of the field for a touchdown, but that was called back. It made for a long end to the game, delaying what ...

North Carolina defensive lineman Donovan Hoilette reacts after a sack in the fourth quarter against Pittsburgh at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Pittsburgh.

Justin Berl/Getty Images North America/TNS

PITTSBURGH — The North Carolina football team, seemingly, couldn’t put Pittsburgh away.

It got the ball back after a 75-yard touchdown, and quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. threw an interception. It forced a turnover on downs, then gave the ball back on a punt. It returned a fumble the length of the field for a touchdown, but that was called back. It made for a long end to the game, delaying what looked down the stretch to be the inevitable: UNC would capture its biggest win of the season.

North Carolina, with one final turnover on downs, finished off a 21-17 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday at Acrisure Stadium. It’s the first ranked win for the Tar Heels (3-2, 1-1 ACC) since 2023 against Miami and the first ranked road win since 2020, also against Miami. It came at a massive moment — facing a backup quarterback and to keep momentum positive amid a rough two losses in a row leading into its roughest part of the schedule yet. North Carolina didn’t play a perfect game to capture its third win of a wildly-imperfect season, rushing for just 20 yards total and turning the ball over twice. But perfect evidently wasn’t what it needed to win.

The control for the Tar Heels down the stretch was a turn from the first half. While the game was, certainly, never out of reach in the first half for the Tar Heels, the Panthers (5-1, 2-1) certainly controlled the pace. None of Pittsburgh’s four drives in the first half of the game went less than nine plays. The nine-play drive went just 28 yards, but took 4 minutes, 53 seconds off the clock as Pitt possessed the ball for 22:19 and ran 49 plays to North Carolina’s 16 in the first half.

The Panthers’ most successful drive was their first, as they marched down the field for a touchdown in 5:11 — a 12-play, 75-yard drive. UNC’s offense, conversely, couldn’t get anything going. It gained 31 yards on 10 plays on its first two drives of the game, and rushed for -1 yards in the first half overall. A deep pass dug the Tar Heels out of a hole, though.

A 49-yard pass to Jordan Shipp set up a five-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to cut the lead to 10-7 for Pittsburgh, which added a field goal the previous drive. UNC’s defense kept letting up yards, but no more damage was done as it forced the Panthers into another long field goal attempt before the half. It went to halftime down 10-7 after the 56-yard kick fell short and UNC quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. was sacked on the ensuing play.

It was clear that this wouldn’t be a game for the offenses. Edwards threw an interception on the Tar Heels’ first drive, then Pitt quarterback Holden Geriner followed that with a brutal interception of his own, tossing the ball into the end zone, where UNC defensive back Greg Smith stood ready to pull it in with no Panthers around him. Edwards was sacked and fumbled the first play of the Tar Heels’ next drive, which led to a 17-yard loss and, eventually, a three-and-out.

But Geriner one-upped Edwards again, throwing the ball into the arms of Tar Heels defensive back Tre Miller undercutting the route for an interception at the 8:54 mark of the third quarter. After the long first-half drives for Pittsburgh, four second-half drives (two on each side) went by in just 6:06.

Amid that chaotic back-and-forth, though, came another of a different kind. UNC finally got a few breaks thanks to its best receiver, with Shipp catching a 12-yard pass on third down, forcing a defensive hold and rising up for a catch at near the goal line on an eventual 51-yard touchdown drive for the Tar Heels to go ahead 14-10.

But then the first long completion in a while for Pittsburgh — 40 yards to wide receiver Malik Knight dragging his toe on the right sideline — sparked a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive for the Panthers in just 2:35. UNC went down 17-14 with 12:47 to go. One play later, though, Edwards found Shamar Easter over the middle for a 75-yard touchdown.

The frenzied burst of offense in a game in which it seemed like it would never come left the Tar Heels up 21-17. The futility couldn’t hold off for long, as Edwards threw an interception trying to toss the ball up for Shipp with 6:21 left in the game. Fortunately for the Tar Heels, there was one more bad play for the Panthers, too.

UNC forced Pittsburgh into a fourth-and-2 situation on the ensuing opportunity. Needing points, it went for it, and Geriner had Cataurus Hicks wide open past the sticks. But Geriner sailed the ball, and Hicks couldn’t come down with it. UNC took over on downs with 4:14 left. That drive went nowhere, but Pittsburgh wasn’t done — another fourth-and-2, another mistake. Pittsburgh rushed right, and UNC defensive lineman Melkart Abou Jaoude wrapped up running back La’Vell Wright before the marker. Derek McDonald knocked the ball free, and Wright was later ruled down after review, but the called-back return by defensive back Jalon Thompson only milked a massive moment for the Tar Heels.

At a moment where its season seemed to hang in the balance, North Carolina ran out the clock on a ranked win on the road.

Here’s what stood out from the game.

Shipp starting to find a rhythm for UNC

UNC was providing nothing inspiring against Pittsburgh’s defense deep into the second quarter. But then on the first play of its third drive, it sent Shipp deep. The Tar Heels junior wide receiver won his route easily, and Edwards leaned back and unleashed a throw. It was a tad underthrown, but Shipp made an adjustment and came down with the jump ball for 49 yards.

On a five-play, 75-yard touchdown drive for the Tar Heels, capped by a seven-yard touchdown pass from Edwards to Thurman at 5:23, Shipp was the star. He pulled in three catches for 65 yards and was instantly above 50 yards receiving for the second-straight week. The Tar Heels need weapons, and he’s emerged as one of late, totaling six catches for 93 yards in the game.

UNC’s defensive backs picked apart, but come up with plays

Early in the first quarter, Pittsburgh tried a pass into the back of the end zone and — while it wasn’t completed — it led to a catastrophic outcome for the Tar Heels. UNC defensive back Kaleb Cost was among those defending the pass, and his momentum took him into the wall behind the end zone, where a seemingly-slim layer of padding covered the concrete. Cost crashed into it hard, and went down.

It was an ugly scene. Cost was hurt. While on the ground, he took his helmet off and tossed it into the crowd, seemingly striking a group of fans. Cost didn’t return to the game after playing just eight snaps, and UNC had to cycle some different defensive backs into the game. Pittsburgh picked them apart.

Nothing about Pittsburgh’s passing game looked explosive, but it consistently had success attacking the outside of the defense. With Miller going down with an injury and carted off after his interception and return at 8:54, freshman Kenton Dopson was forced to play even more snaps. Still, the quarterbacking in the second half was brutal for Pittsburgh. And when Geriner made mistakes, the Tar Heels took advantage just enough, securing two interceptions and muddying up the field enough down the stretch to make things difficult for the new Panthers quarterback.

Edwards continued to improve as game progressed

There have been times of the past two weeks for Edwards where the quarterback looks without answers. Under heavy pressure in the third quarter, Edwards threw an interception on the Tar Heels first drive, fumbled the ball (which was recovered by offensive lineman Andrew Threatt) on a sack the first play of the next drive for North Carolina and nearly threw a pick-six the drive after, but the play at 7:26 was called dead after offensive lineman Christian Alvarez false-started. It was a rough game for the offensive line overall, and Edwards’ rushing game gave him effectively no help.

But right after that near miss, Edwards suddenly looked more comfortable. A few nice plays by Shipp gave the quarterback some rhythm, and right after Pittsburgh took the lead back, Edwards delivered his best moment of the season. On the first play of a drive that the Tar Heels started while trailing 17-14, Edwards remained poised in the pocket amid a rush, stepped up and tossed to tight end Shamar Easter over the middle of the field. Easter burst through for 75 yards to give the Tar Heels a 21-17 lead. It wasn’t an otherworldly play for Edwards, but it was more evidence that he can still lead good moments for UNC despite the bad plays. There was another bad play, too, as Edwards threw a pick the next drive. But he was good enough, completing 18 of 26 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns.