The North Carolina Tar Heels head to Pittsburgh to face the Pitt Panthers. The biggest story in this game is that Pitt lost its star QB, Mason Heintschel, to a season-ending knee injury. He was one of the most dangerous passers in the country, heading up an up-tempo attack. What will Pitt be without him? That’s the key factor when betting this game. The Panthers edged out Virginia Tech for a win Saturday, and the backup was fine. On the other side, the Tar Heels played respectably in a loss to Notre Dame last week, taking them to 2-2 on the year. I expect both defenses to be the stronger units this week, and that makes it likely that this game stays tight. I’ll take the points with Carolina.
For UNC, the struggles have been on offense. Their best offensive weapon is their tight end, Jelani Thurman. The Pitt defense is pretty good too though, so things could be a struggle on that side of the ball. On the other side, I do love the Carolina pass rush. The back 7 are shaky, but the pass rush is strong, and they could be a real disruptive factor, especially against a new QB. I like the Carolina defense to keep them in this game, if the offense can do enough to string together some drives and produce at least a little bit of scoring.
North Carolina vs Pitt Prediction: UNC +3.5 (-110) available at the time of publishing. Playable to +3.
