Drake Maye tucked the ball under his arm, ran to his left, and immediately regretted the decision.
Momentarily, anyway.
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The North Carolina quarterback soon found Pittsburgh defensive end Nate Temple clutching at him, with Panther defensive back A.J. Woods closing in.
No biggie. Maye fended off Temple with his right hand and jumped as Woods zeroed in, lobbing the ball with his left hand to a wide-open Kobe Paysour, the signature play of the 17th-ranked Tar Heels' season and Maye's career — so far — in a 41-24 victory over the Panthers on Saturday night.
“Sometimes those things turn into ‘No, no, no, yes!’” the right-handed Maye said with a shrug. “Just figured I wasn’t getting anywhere, had to figure something (out). Threw a duck up there. it wasn’t spinning at all. Kind of like a pancake.”
Kind of like perfect.
“I think I (told him) that may be the coolest play I’ve seen in college football," said UNC coach Mack Brown, who turned 72 last month. “And I’ve seen a lot of plays.”
Few plays can match the athleticism and football IQ of Maye's lefty masterpiece. The sophomore remembers making a basketball-style chest pass against Oregon in the Holiday Bowl last year and is adept at using his left hand to dish assists to his older brothers during pickup hoops, but never using his off-hand when it counts.
“It was just kind of an in-the-moment thing,” Maye said.
Maye finished 22 of 30 for 296 yards and added a pair of rushing touchdowns as the Tar Heels improved to 4-0 for the first time since 1997, the final year of Brown's first stint at UNC before leaving for Texas.
“It's something to build on,” Maye said.
Omarion Hampton ran for 66 yards and a touchdown for UNC. J.J. Jones caught six passes for 117 yards and Alijah Huzzie returned a punt 52 yards for a score and picked off two passes as the Tar Heels beat Pitt (1-3, 0-1) for the first time since 2018.
Rodney Hammond ran for 83 yards and a touchdown and Kenny Johnson raced 100 yards on a kickoff return for a score for the Panthers, who lost quarterback Phil Jurkovec to an undisclosed injury late in the first half after he took a hit by UNC's Tayon Holloway, who was ejected for targeting on the play.
Jurkovec, who struggled in losses to Cincinnati and West Virginia, showed renewed confidence while completing 11 of 15 passes for 109 yards before exiting. Backup Christian Vellieux, a transfer from Penn State, hit on 8 of 19 for 88 yards with two interceptions.
“Tough ballgame against a good football team,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said. "Drake Maye is obviously a talented guy.”
Narduzzi and his team got an up-close look at just how talented after the Panthers took a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter. UNC reeled off 31 of the next 34 points, with Maye running it in twice from 1 yard out to go with his lefty pass.
Huzzie weaved his way for the Tar Heels' first punt return for a score since 2018 and later intercepted Veilleux twice to snuff out any chance Pitt had of getting back in the game.
“I'm going to take Huzzie out to diner on the bye week, whatever he wants, on me,” Maye said. “Anytime you see (his) No. 28 and the ball in the air, you know something good is going to happen.”
THE TAKEAWAY
UNC: The Tar Heels have plenty to work on heading into their bye week. The defense had trouble with Pitt's hardly potent offense and the special teams allowed a blocked punt and a kickoff return touchdown. Still, they get to work on those things while being undefeated and heading into the teeth of a schedule that doesn't look as daunting as it did a month ago.
Pitt: It might not matter who the quarterback is if the offensive line can't make significant improvements. Jurkovec was hit regularly on dropbacks before leaving and Veilleux was under heavy duress.
UP NEXT
UNC: Begins a stretch of three straight games at Kenan Memorial Stadium on Oct. 7 when Syracuse visits.
Pitt: At Virginia Tech next Saturday. The Panthers have won each of their last three meetings with the Hokies.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
Pregame:
Drake Maye’s Heisman Trophy campaign is still more longshot than likely.
The North Carolina sophomore quarterback, however, is showing signs of going on the kind of run that ends with an invitation to the Downtown Athletic Club on the second Saturday in December, shaking off a pair of early interceptions last week against Minnesota to throw for 414 yards and two scores as the Tar Heels (3-0) won 31-13.
Another eye-popping performance on Saturday when UNC opens ACC play at struggling Pittsburgh (1-2) could have Maye enter the thick of the race with serious momentum.
“Drake was hot and I’ve never seen him better. It’s like it was with Colt McCoy,” said UNC coach Mack Brown, who coached the former Texas great from 2006-09, a career in which McCoy was a two-time Heisman finalist. “If Colt McCoy ever threw an incompletion, we all said what’s wrong with him. That’s the way it is with Drake right now.”
Faux exasperation of a mere incompletion is the kind of first-world problem the Panthers would love to have.
Pitt’s quarterback issues aren’t first-world, but real-world. The good vibes surrounding redshirt senior Phil Jurkovec’s homecoming season have quickly disappeared. The 23-year-old looked shaky at best and defeated at worst in back-to-back losses to Cincinnati and West Virginia.
Still, Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi remains committed to Jurkovec, making it a point to spread the blame around rather than place it squarely on the shoulders of his quarterback.
“It’s receiver blocking, it’s O-line blocking, it’s tight end blocking, it’s catching the ball,” Narduzzi said. “Like you have to catch the ball. We have opportunities where we can catch the ball, and we don’t catch the ball. There’s opportunities to complete the pass and throw a better pass, and we don’t complete passes. It’s everything.”
UNC is eyeing its first 4-0 start since 1997, Brown’s final season of his first stint with the Tar Heels. The Panthers are trying to avoid falling to 1-3 for the first time since 2017. Pitt struggled at quarterback that season too before finally handing the job to then-freshman Kenny Pickett.
There are no plans to turn to sophomore Christian Veilleux. At least not yet. UNC, however, may be Jurkovec’s last best chance to prove he’s capable of leading the Panthers into contention in the crowded ACC.
DEFENSIVE GROWTH
UNC’s defense has shown signs of growth after last year’s troubles under then-first-year defensive coordinator Gene Chizik.
The Tar Heels opened 2023 by collecting nine sacks against South Carolina. They’ve managed just one over the last two games but came up with two takeaways and allowed a 3-for-12 conversion rate on third down against Minnesota.
“I think just the overall difference is a comfort level with the defense in your second year, I think that’s No. 1,” coordinator Gene Chizik said. “No. 2, we have very smart guys and I think they totally understanding where they’re fitting, what their job responsibilities are. … Our guys, it’s the carryover and accumulation of reps.”
RB WHO?
Pitt — the collegiate home of Tony Dorsett, Curtis Martin and LeSean McCoy — has long considered itself “RBU.”
Now, not so much. The Panthers have rotated Rodney Hammond, C’Bo Flemister and Daniel Carter in hoping one of them can simply take over the position as current New York Jets rookie Israel Abanikanda did a year ago.
It hasn’t happened. The Panthers are 12th in the 14-team ACC in yards rushing per game (143.3). While a borderline non-existent passing game that has allowed opponents to focus on stopping the run is part of the problem, so is a lack of consistency. Pitt ran for 67 yards on its first series against the Mountaineers and managed just 63 the rest of the game.
“You learn, you learn from mistakes and stuff like that,” Hammond said. “It wasn’t frustrating. It’s football. That’s how it goes. You’re not always going to get the same look you got before.”
CHAIN GANG
North Carolina has been terrific at keeping the chains moving.
The Tar Heels are No. 2 nationally in third-down conversion rate at 65.1% (28 for 43) on the season. That includes going 12 for 17 in the Minnesota win.
“I think we’ve tried to put ourselves in position by running plays that we know we can execute,” first-year offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey said. “I think that’s the biggest thing in third downs, trying to find the plays your players know already that are kind of ‘base plays’ that you can fit into third down. And then find ways to window-dress it and hide it a little bit.”