17th Ranked North Carolina, Pittsburgh Are Playing Their Inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference Game Of 2023 Season Tonight In Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
17th ranked North Carolina, Pittsburgh are playing their inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference game of 2023 season tonight in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. .
As 17th ranked North Carolina , Pittsburgh are playing playing their inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference game of the 2023 season today in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania they’re playing at Heinz Field that isn’t only home to the Pittsburgh Panthers though the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL as well.
17th ranked North Carolina comes into the game with record of 3-0 because they’ve won all their games up to this point including last Saturday’s game by score 31-13 over Minnesota in Chapel Hill.
As North Carolina beat Minnesota 31-13 Saturday in Chapel Hill Nate McCollum caught 46 yard pass from Drake Maye, Noah Burnette kicked extra point giving North Carolina a 7-0 lead in 1st quarter before North Carolina extended their lead to 14-0 in 2nd quarter as Omarion Hampton ran for 1 yard touchdown, Noah Burnette kicked the extra point before Minnesota got on the scoreboard with field goal as Dragon Kensich 23 yard field goal to cut North Carolina’s lead to 14-3 before Bryson Nesbit caught 19 yard pass from Drake Maye , Noah Burnette kicked the extra point extending North Carolina’s lead over Minnesota 21-3 before Minnesota trimmed North Carolina’s lead to ten at 21-10 as Darius Taylor ran for 2 yard touchdown . In the 3rd quarter Dragan Kesich kicked 45 yard field cutting North Carolina’s 21-13 before North Carolina answered with field goal of own as Noah Burnette kicked 42 yard field goal extending North Carolina’s lead over Minnesota 24-13 before British Brooks ran for 1 yard touchdown, Noah Burnette kicked extra point in 4th quarter making final score 31-13 North Carolina.
Following North Carolina’s 31-13 win over Minnesota North Carolina Head Coach Mack Brown had this to say about player leadership about Nate McCollum, Drake Maye on controlling the game!
“I started to go sit in the
stands. I thought, you know, they got this thing, man. When you see that type of leadership we
have, it puts a smile on your face. Cedric Gray comes back for an extra year just because he
wants to win. Jahvaree Ritzie came by and patted me on the head saying, ‘we got your back
coach, we're good, man, we're good.’ We haven’t always had that type of team or attitude. These
kids are enjoying each other and they're enjoying playing and that's really fun for a head coach.”“He became Josh Downs for us today. He was the go-to guy. Now, Pittsburgh is going to start
putting too much on him and somebody else will have to step up.”
“I've never seen anybody do it better than Drake. We've had some great quarterbacks, but Drake
has a knack of finding the open player, and he'll do that next week.”“I am very happy for our guys. Today was a hard game
against a tough and physical team. We knew they would come in and try to run the ball and keep
the ball, but we ended up having the ball for 33 minutes to their 27. In their previous two games,
teams were averaging 50 plays a game against them and we ended up having 77 plays to their 61.
The way we controlled the game is a credit to how our defense played tonight.”
Following North Carolina’s 31-13 win over Minnesota Drake Maye had this to say about Nate McCollum’s 20’s target!
“Obviously, I’m just trying to throw to the open
guy and Nate got open a lot tonight. He is a heck of a player and is going to get open. He's got
that same kind of twist that Josh (Downs) had the past few years.
Following North Carolina’s 31-13 win over Minnesota Nate McCollum had this to say about Drake Maye about being ready for the opportunity about his performance!
He definitely makes my job easier. He is a leader and has the ability to take control of the whole
offense. He’s super humble and it's a blessing to play with somebody like that.”
“I was ready to go. Last week, I only played a few snaps and I've been itching to work myself
back up. Coach Galloway has been pushing me every day and today, I felt ready to go.”Sometimes it might be that players' game but you never know. Next week, it could be the
running backs game. To me, you just play hard every play and do what you're supposed to do and
things will come your way.”
According Matt Bowers article on goheels.com
Pittsburgh comes to the game with a record of 1-2 because they’ve lost two straight games including Saturday September 16, 2023 game at West Virginia by a score 17-6. In the 17-6 loss at West Virginia Pittsburgh only scored on a pair of field goals by Ben Sauls as he kicked a 21 yard field goal to give Pittsburgh a brief 3-0 lead in the 1st quarter before West Virginia scored a touchdown as Kole Taylor caught 7 yard pass from Nicco Marchiol . Michael Hayes kicked the extra point in 2nd quarter putting West Virginia up 7-3 before Pittsburgh got within one point as Ben Sauls kicked 36 yard field goal getting Pittsburgh within 1 at 7-6 . In the 3rd quarter West Virginia scored twice as CJ Donaldson Jr. ran for 1 yard touchdown Michael Hayes kicked extra point extending West Virginia’s lead over Pittsburgh 14-6 before West Virginia extended their lead yet again this time by score of 17-6 as Michael Hayes kicked 42 yard field goal.
According to espnapp
Following Pittsburgh’s 17-6 loss Pittsburgh Head Coach had this to say about former Boston College quarterback current Pittsburgh quarterback Phil Jurkovec who was 8-20 for 81 yards, 3 interceptions.
Got a lot faith in Phil,
Following Pittsburgh’s 17-6 loss to West Virginia Pittsburgh Head Coach Pat Narduzzi said the difference in the game was turnovers . They made some plays on the ball . We didn’t . It’s hard to win a football game when you kick two field goals and don’t score touchdowns.
According to article by the Associated Press on espn app
Kickoff is set for 8:00pm from Heinz Field!
The game is going to be televised on ACC Network with Wes Durham, Tim Hasselbeck , Taylor Tannebaum commentating.
Tim Hasselbeck played collegiality for Boston College where played from 1998-2000. During his career at Boston College Tim Hasselbeck had 278 completions , 501 attempts , 3890 yards , 29 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. “according to https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/tim-hasselbeck-1.html before playing in the NFL for 6 seasons where he played for five different teams that included Carolina, Philadelphia, Washington, The New York Giants and Arizona. During his six seasons in the NFL Tim Hasselbeck threw for 5 touchdowns, 1, 012 yards and had seven interceptions . “according to http://www.nfl.com/player/timhasselbeck/2504361/careerstats