Tar Heels fall in Car Care Bowl

CHARLOTTE — Charles Brown and Quan Sturdivant remained on their knees, as if rising would somehow make it more real.

Maybe if they didn't have to get up, they wouldn't have to face the offsides penalty that North Carolina incurred with 1:55 to play, giving Pittsburgh a fresh set of downs, and ultimately the win in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, 19-17.

Or maybe, if Brown and Sturdivant didn't rise, they wouldn't have to face the might-have-beens and the coulda-shoulda's that surround UNC's 2009 season.

“We're already over it,” UNC coach Butch Davis said just 20 minutes after the game's conclusion. “It's 2010 as far as I'm concerned.”

As the clock ticked down and UNC fumbled away yet another close game, the Tar Heels were left with mixed emotions.

On one hand, UNC finished its second straight 8-5 season — a consistency of winning that eluded the program this decade. The Tar Heels defeated Virginia Tech on a Thursday night in Blacksburg. They won four of five games to close the season and had a defense that ranked in the top 10 nationally.

"We've covered an awful lot of ground," coach Butch Davis said of his team. “We haven't even scratched the surface of where we want to go. There's going to be bigger and better things in the future.”

But on the other hand, North Carolina had plenty of time to take a step further.

A 1-3 skid in the middle of the season killed any hopes of an ACC title.

A 30-27 loss to Florida State partly spoiled UNC's first-ever home Thursday night football game.

A season-ending loss to N.C. State shunted the Tar Heels from a possible Gator or Chick-Fil-A Bowl bid to a dreary day in Charlotte where barely 50,000 tickets sold for a venue that seats 73,367.

"Fumbles on the offense, missed tackles on the defense, I really don't know," safety Deunta Williams said. "But I really believe — I just have to believe that it will get better with experience."

Despite the roller-coaster season UNC was in prime position Saturday to win its first bowl since 2001. But the Tar Heels let the game slip through their fingers in the final minutes, three and six yards at a time.

It started with Dion Lewis (whose 159 rushing yards earned him MVP honors) busting through UNC's defense for a 13-yard gain — when Pitt started at its own five-yard line. The Panthers never gained more than 13 yards on any of the 17 plays in their game-winning drive. It was a drive that siphoned 8:47 off the final clock and left UNC with just 52 seconds to respond.

But nowhere was it harder to swallow than when UNC forced the Panthers into a 47-yard field goal with fourth and two and just 1:55 remaining. Pitt holder Andrew Janocko waited an extra moment before calling for the ball and half of North Carolina's line went early.

“You just can't go out there and shoot yourself in the foot,” UNC coach Butch Davis said. “And not give yourself a chance to win the game.”

Just like the big losses and stumbles overshadow much of the progress that Butch Davis' program made this year, that play will now eclipse the rest of the game - of Greg Little punting the ball into the stands in celebration after hauling in his first of two touchdowns or of North Carolina leading for much of the game and holding Pittsburgh to just one touchdown.

It will certainly overshadow T.J. Yates, who went 19-for 33 with two touchdowns, including a laser through Pittsburgh's coverage to Little on the second UNC touchdown.

But instead of leading the Tar Heels to a comeback in the final minute, Yates threw six incompletions on the final drive.

"Yes" was Yates' quick reply when asked if he wanted to forget 2009.

Saturday closed a disappointing year for Yates, who entered the year as the general of a hugely inexperienced offense, and an offensive line decimated by injuries and which struggled to protect him for much of the season.

Yates was left more often than voicing his disappointment with himself this season in postgame interviews.

“This wasn't one of my good years,” Yates said. "I have to get better. I have another year to come back and redeem myself.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.