Pitt-UNC features coaching friends, tough matchups

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Moments after finishing their last full college practice, Pittsburgh quarterback Bill Stull and defensive tackle Mick Williams emphasized the importance of their senior class’ legacy.

Because of a blown 21-point lead and a botched extra point three weeks earlier, the 17th-ranked Panthers went from a seemingly certain Sugar Bowl berth into a much less prestigious trip here for the Meineke Bowl, where they’ll face North Carolina at 4:30 p.m. today in a virtual road game.

It has all the traps that lead to a flat performance: a team that wants to be elsewhere dealing with a hostile crowd.

Stull and Williams vow that won’t happen.

“We want to end this season with a win to possibly maybe finish in the Top 10, get this program back on the map, so to speak,” Stull said.

Added Williams: “I want to leave my mark when I leave. I want for my younger teammates to build on this so next year they can make bigger strides. That’s why 10 wins is important to me.”

Pitt, on a two-game losing streak, hasn’t won 10 games since 1981, when Dan Marino was firing tight spirals and the Panthers were regular national championship contenders. And if Pitt (9-3) can overcome the disappointment of being so close to a BCS bowl, its matchup with the Tar Heels (8-4) could be one of the top mid-tier bowl games.

Consider these subplots:

UPitt freshman running back Dion Lewis, the Big East’s offensive player of the year, facing the Tar Heels’ stout defense, which ranks sixth in the nation overall and ninth against the run.

UPitt star receiver Jonathan Baldwin going one-on-one with North Carolina cornerback Kendric Burney, who has returned two of his five interceptions for touchdowns.

UPitt coach Dave Wannstedt facing old buddy Butch Davis. They worked together on Jimmy Johnson’s staffs at Oklahoma State, Miami and the Dallas Cowboys, winning a national championship and Super Bowl together along the way.

“There’s an awful lot of just great memories of our families together, trips that we took with the staff and all of the things that coaching staffs go through,” Davis said. “It’s rare and unique, I guess, where someone that you spent that much time around and have so much respect for that you end up playing each other.”

Davis’ Tar Heels didn’t envision a second straight trip to Charlotte until an upset loss to North Carolina State in the regular-season finale saw them tumble in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s bowl pecking order.

But knocking off Pitt would be a satisfying finish to his third season as he tries to make North Carolina a prominent program. The Tar Heels lost a thriller to West Virginia here last year when Hakeem Nicks’ behind-the-back catch wasn’t enough to overcome Pat White’s late touchdown drive.