North Carolina vs. Pitt Postgame Notes
Posted Oct 6, 2024
North Carolina is 3-3 overall, 0-2 in the ACC. Mack Brown is 110-76-1 as head football coach of UNC. Brown is 285-152-1 all-time and is the winningest active head coach in the FBS. A Tar Heel has rushed for at least 100 yards in each of the first six games for the first time since 1983, the only other time that has happened in UNC football history.
• UNC is the only FBS program with a 100-yard rusher in each of the first six games.
• UNC is 12-6 all-time against Pitt, including 7-2 at Kenan Stadium.
• UNC is 0-2 in the ACC for the first time since 2017.
• UNC has lost three regular-season games in a row for the first time since 2019.
Offense
• Omarion Hampton led the Tar Heels in rushing yards for the fifth time this season, gaining 106 yards on 23 carries.
• Hampton has rushed for at least 100 yards in five of UNC’s six games this season, making him and Don McCauley the only Tar Heels who have rushed for at least 100 yards in five games in multiple seasons.
• Hampton scored his 30th touchdown as a Tar Heel and his 28th rushing touchdown, tying Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice and Amos Lawrence for ninth on UNC’s all-time rushing touchdown list.
• Hampton passed Justice for ninth on UNC’s all-time rushing list. Justice rushed for 2,634 yards from 1946-1949, while Hampton has 2,669 rushing yards in the last two seasons.
• This was Hampton’s 14th career game with 100 or more rushing yards, tying Natrone Means for seventh on UNC’s list of games with 100 or more yards.
• Jacolby Criswell was 24 for 45 for 269 passing yards and a touchdown. Criswell’s 48-yard completion in the fourth quarter was the longest of his career, surpassing a 47-yard completion against Georgia State in 2021.
• Criswell had a passing touchdown for the fourth straight game.
• Nate McCollum had 10 catches for 128 reception yards. He is the first Tar Heel with 100 reception yards in a game this season. The 128 yards are the most by a Tar Heel since Tez Walker had 162 against Duke in 2023.
• McCollum’s 10 catches were the most by a Tar Heel since Tez Walker had 11 against Virginia last season.
• Tight end John Copenhaver caught his third touchdown pass of the season and eighth of his career.
• JJ Jones surpassed 1,500 career reception yards (1,512).
• Carolina had one player rush for 100 yards, one player pass for 200 yards and one player with 100 receiving yards for the first time since the Duke game last season.
Defense
• Kaleb Cost’s 84-yard interception return for a touchdown is the seventh-longest interception return in UNC history and the longest since Brian Walker returned an interception for 100 yards against San Diego State in 2014.
• Cost’s pick-six is the first by a Tar Heel since Storm Duck had an interception return for a touchdown against Temple in the 2019 Military Bowl.
• It was UNC’s first defensive touchdown since Trey Morrision returned a fumble for a touchdown against Duke in 2021.
• It was Cost’s second interception of the season and career (also one against NC Central).
• Amare Campbell tied a career high with eight tackles. Those eight tackles led all Tar Heel defenders.
Special Teams
• Noah Burnette tied Clint Gwaltney for fourth in field goals at UNC with 43 career field goals.
• Burnette is 43 for 51 on field goal attempts as a Tar Heel, including 9 for 10 this season.
• Burnette tied Thomas Moore for seventh at UNC with 113 PATs.
Opponent
• Pitt’s Desmond Reid made 11 catches for 155 yards. Reid is the first opponent with at least 10 catches since Virginia’s Malik Washington had 12 in 2023. It was the most receiving yards by an opponent since South Carolina’s Xavier Legette had 178 in 2023.
Courtesy UNC Athletics Communications
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