In just three days, Pitt will take the field in its second bowl game under Dave Wannstedt, their seventh postseason game in the past decade. With a win, the Panthers can rack up their first 10 win season since 1981. It’s a poor consolation prize after coming within a single point of playing in the Sugar Bowl, but it’ll have to do for Pitt.

North Carolina comes into the game at 8-4. That’s not bad considering that just over halfway through their season they had a 4-3 record overall, 0-3 in the ACC. They bring with them one of the higher ranked defenses in the NCAA. With Charlotte only a short 2.5 hour drive away from the campus, the Tar Heels will likely be playing in front of an overhelmingly pro-North Carolina crowd.

So can Pitt overcome one of the top defenses in the league in what basically amounts to an away game? Let’s look at what our writers have to say about the game:

Dan:

North Carolina has a great defense, statistically speaking. They’re 6th in the nation overall, 9th against the run and 15th against the pass. But I’m not sold.

The Tar Heels’ biggest wins of the season (Virginia Tech and Miami) weren’t overly impressive. The defense may have held VT to only 256 yards, which is certainly respectable, but they gave up 435 yards to Miami. In their loss to Georgia Tech, arguably their best opponent all season, the Tarheels gave up 406 yards, 317 of which were on the ground. In my opinion, the defense of North Carolina is overrated due to their weaker opponents like the Citadel, East Carolina, Georgia Southern, and Duke. When faced with an offensive challenge, they just don’t appear to have the ability to come up big.

That’s all goes without mentioning the Tar Heels’ two embarrassing losses to NC State and Virginia. Virginia went 3-9 this season. Way to go North Carolina. Pitt may have a regrettable loss to NC State as well, but the Panthers certainly didn’t lose to a team as wretched as Virginia this season. Pitt’s other two losses this season were to their biggest rival, WVU, and the undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats. Those games were lost by a combined 4 points. They’re certainly respectable losses against very talented, ranked opponents.

So what do I predict? I predict a tough challenge for North Carolina’s defensive line. Moreso, I predict a challenge in catching Dion Lewis. Lewis has proven his ability to squeeze through even the tiniest hole, sometimes even emerging from a crowd of linemen. And if the Panthers can hold off the Tar Heels’ defensive line, look for Stull to find Baldwin after North Carolina starts looking for the run. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see more play action from Pitt and even a few trick plays like we saw against Cincinnati.

On defense, the pressure from Greg Romeus and Mick Williams will provide TJ Yates with a challenge, one that could force him into costly mistakes. Yates isn’t exactly the pride of the ACC quarterbacks club. Provided the secondary has a decent game, the defense should take care of business pretty easily.

Even with the expected overwhelming pro-Tar Heels crowd, look for Pitt to put on a show against UNC. Pitt is certainly down on its luck, and probably its spirit considering how close the Panthers came to finishing at 11-1 and playing in the Sugar Bowl. But the Panthers are looking to bounce back and post their first 10-win season since 1981.

Prediction: 38-17, Pitt.

Mike_B:

It’s finally that time Panther fans: the bowl game. Now I know this isn’t the bowl game we wanted to be at, especially with how we started this season. We all had BCS bowl game in our heads, but the end of the year collapse killed that dream. Now we get to play North Carolina in what is, more or less, a home game for them. This is the second consecutive year that North Carolina will play in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. Last year they lost to West Virginia. This is the second trip to Charlotte for Pitt, who lost to Virginia in their first trip.

It will be nice to see if Pitt can recover from the two heart breaking losses to West Virginia and Cincinnati when they play on Saturday. What will be even more fun to see is Dion Lewis rushing the ball again. This man has been a blast to watch all year, and it will be disappointing to not see him run again until the Blue-Gold game in April. It will be interesting to see how Lewis performs against North Carolina’s stout run defense. As many will remember, the only other time the Panthers played a team from the ACC this season, the Panthers lost to NC State in a miserable fashion, blowing a big lead.

Pitt outranks the Tar Heels in every offensive category. Where the Tar Heels win their games is with their defense, 6th against the run, 15th against the pass. It could be a long day for Lewis, Bill Stull, Jonathan Baldwin, and Dorin Dickerson, but with a nice balance, I feel like the Panthers could solve the Tar Heels defense. TJ Yates will be seeing a lot of Greg Romeus throughout the day, as he was the 10th rated QB in the ACC.

Overall, this game can be no worse than the Sun Bowl from last year which Pitt lost 3-0 to Oregon St. I feel this year’s bowl will be different with Pitt cruising to a victory and reaching 10 wins for the first time since 1981.

Prediction: 38-21 Pitt