Meineke Car Care Bowl Recap

Pittsburgh 19, North Carolina 17

Three weeks after losing a football game they should have won, the Pittsburgh Panthers won a football game they probably should have lost.

The outlook was bleak for the Sons of the Steel City with 90 seconds left in the Meineke Bowl against North Carolina. When Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt put stud running back Dion Lewis on the sidelines and sent kicker Dan Hutchins out to try a 47-yard field goal on 4th and 2 from the UNC 30, it appeared that the Panthers - trailing by a 17-16 score in a game they had largely dominated - would suffer yet another typically crushing defeat, another agonizing evening for a program that can't get out of its own way.

Hutchins, while virtually automatic inside 40 yards, had already missed a 40-yard field goal earlier in the game. The junior from Williamsport, Pa., was 4 of 8 for the season on kicks between 40 and 49 yards in length, so the prospect of a 47-yard boot had to strike fear into the hearts of Panther fans. A distance of 47 yards is considered to be the dividing line for NFL kickers, the point at which more kicks are missed than made, and in the college game, that Mendoza line is almost surely lower. Hutchins has been a very reliable medium-range kicker for the Panthers, but 47 yards represented a distinctly dicey proposition.

But then, in a remarkable twist of fate, an opponent produced the kind of gift that Pittsburgh has so often wrapped for its on-field adversaries in the past. Instead of the Panthers botching a situation and ceding leverage to a football foe, it was North Carolina who made Christmas reappear one day after Santa did his thing.

Just before the ball was snapped on that fateful 47-yard attempt at the 1:30 mark of the fourth and final period, a hard count drew UNC's Cam Thomas offside. Pittsburgh - given a first down at the Tar Heel 25 - was able to drain Carolina's supply of timeouts and move to the UNC 16, where Hutchins - in his wheelhouse - knocked in a 33-yard kick with 52 seconds remaining. The Tar Heels drove near midfield on their ensuing last-ditch drive, but could not get the ball into field goal range, and when UNC quarterback T.J. Yates threw an incomplete pass on 4th and 10 with six seconds left, the Panthers - so close to the precipice of pigskin pain once again - had lived to tell about a sweet triumph. For the first time since 1981, a Pittsburgh Panther squad had won 10 games, evoking memories of coach Jackie Sherrill and a certain quarterback you might have heard of: Dan Marino.

Yes, it could be said that this was a game Pitt should have won, and won handily. Lewis - the freshman sensation who finished his season with 1,799 yards, the second-highest single-season total in Pitt history (behind a fellow named Tony Dorsett) - rumbled for 159 yards against North Carolina's ninth-ranked run defense. Pittsburgh moved the ball consistently and applied relentless pressure on coach Butch Davis's defensive eleven. Yet, for all the things they did well, the Panthers placed themselves in a state of pronounced peril because they once again blundered at the worst possible moments.

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Lewis himself was guilty in this regard, fumbling the ball at the UNC 2 and seeing the pigksin bounce through the end zone for a Carolina touchback. Pitt also suffered a dropped touchdown pass (followed by Hutchins's miss from 40 yards) and a total of five red zone trips without a touchdown. It's true that the Panthers did score seven points on a sixth trip inside the UNC 20, but for most of the evening at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., Pitt gave away its dominance with even bigger mistakes.

Fortunately, though, an opponent actually managed to outdo the Panthers in the gridiron gaffe department. Adding to the irony of it all is the fact that the team Pittsburgh beat - the crew Dave Wannstedt ultimately dusted off on Saturday - was coached by Davis, one of Wannstedt's closest friends in the coaching profession. Davis and Wannstedt were colleagues with the Miami Hurricanes and Dallas Cowboys, so the notion that Davis's team helped Wannstedt grab a bowl win offers evidence that the football gods have a wicked sense of humor.

For once, another coach had to witness an "oh, no!" moment in the latter stages of regulation time.

For once, another team endured the kind of gut punch that has pulverized Pitt people in the past.

The Panthers made more than their share of mistakes, despite outplaying North Carolina. Yet, because of one very big offside penalty and one clutch field goal by Dan Hutchins, none of those errors will matter.

Pittsburgh is a bowl champion and a 10-win team. No one can take that away from a happy group of kids and a greatly relieved head coach.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer