Pitt had just spent more than two minutes working to get the lead. North Carolina needed just 11 seconds to take it back.

The Panthers had driven 75 yards to go up 17-14 early in the fourth quarter Saturday. Then, on North Carolina’s first play after the kickoff, Billy Edwards Jr. found tight end Shamar Easter streaking down the seam. Easter caught the ball near midfield and ran untouched for a 75-yard touchdown.

Just like that, the Tar Heels were back in front, 21-17. This time, they didn’t give the lead away.

It was the biggest win of Bill Belichick’s young college coaching career — on the road, against a previously unbeaten No. 25 Pitt team, after North Carolina had trailed by 10. It was also UNC’s first win over a ranked opponent since 2023 and their first ranked road win since 2020.

For a program that went 4-8 in Belichick’s first season, this was the kind of sign they desperately needed.

The touchdown will get replayed, and it should. But North Carolina needed a lot more than one perfect pass to pull this one off.

The Play That Changed Everything

Pitt looked comfortable early. The Panthers took the opening kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown, then put together a 14-play drive for a field goal and a 10-0 lead. UNC’s offense had barely shown up. Edwards changed that on the first play of the next possession, hitting Jordan Shipp for a 49-yard gain. Five plays later, he found Jelani Thurman for a touchdown, and just like that, the Tar Heels were back in it at 10-7 before the half.

The third quarter got weird. Edwards threw an interception on UNC’s opening drive, giving Pitt the ball at the Tar Heels’ 31. The Panthers had a chance to stretch the lead to two scores, but pressure on fourth down rushed Holden Geriner into a throw that Greg Smith III picked off in the end zone. Geriner threw another interception later in the quarter, this one to Tre Miller. UNC finally put together a 10-play drive, with Demon June punching it in from a yard out to give the Tar Heels their first lead with 22 seconds left in the frame.

Pitt took it right back. Geriner hit Malik Knight for 40 yards, La’Vell Wright scored his second rushing touchdown, and the Panthers went up 17-14 with 12:47 to play. Edwards and Easter answered 11 seconds later.

Easter is a fun part of this story beyond the highlight. The redshirt junior caught his first college touchdown against Notre Dame just last week. Now he’s got the play that gave Belichick his first ranked win at Carolina. Edwards finished 18-of-26 for 249 yards and two touchdowns, and Shipp led UNC with six catches for 93 yards. Afterward, Belichick described Easter as “part receiver, part tight end.” On that play, Pitt couldn’t quite decide which one he was.

It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for UNC though. They still couldn’t run the ball. The Tar Heels finished with 20 rushing yards and 269 total yards — Pitt had 150 on the ground and 369 overall. Edwards threw two interceptions, including one with 6:31 left that gave the Panthers another chance. His 49-yard completion to Shipp and 75-yard touchdown to Easter accounted for 124 yards by themselves. Nearly half of UNC’s offense came on two snaps.

That’s not a complete offensive performance, and pretending it was would miss what actually happened. UNC made the explosive plays they needed, then asked their defense to finish the job.

The Defense Had to Close the Door

For a while, Pitt’s ground game looked like it might decide the whole thing. The Panthers ran for 114 yards in the first half, but UNC held them to 36 after halftime. Belichick said the difference was better edge-setting and keeping the ball from getting outside. The Tar Heels did it while missing defensive lineman Isaiah Johnson and edge rusher Jaylen Harvey, then losing defensive backs Kaleb Cost and Miller during the game. Xavier Lewis finished with a career-high 12 tackles.

And Pitt kept getting chances. After Edwards’s late interception, the Panthers drove to the UNC 21 but couldn’t convert a fourth-and-2 pass. They got the ball back at the UNC 39, but Wright came up a yard short on fourth-and-2. Then came one last shot with 1:36 left, but a fourth-and-14 pass fell incomplete. Pitt finished 0-for-4 on fourth down, with three of those misses coming on their final three possessions.

There’s an important piece of context here, too. Pitt was missing their starting quarterback Mason Heintschel, who tore his ACL against Virginia Tech the week before. Geriner was making his first college start. He completed 27 of 44 passes for 219 yards, but his two third-quarter interceptions and a couple of missed chances late ended up costing them big.

The Panthers were good enough to build a 10-point lead and take it back in the fourth quarter. They just couldn’t turn all those extra yards and possessions into a win.

The Tar Heels lost by eight to Clemson and by 11 to No. 3 Notre Dame. Against Pitt, they finally turned a competitive game against a ranked opponent into a win. They fell behind, adjusted, answered right away when the lead disappeared, and made three late defensive stands when the offense couldn’t finish the job.

In the visitors’ locker room, Shipp handed Belichick a game ball and put it simply:

First. Ranked. Win.

The six-time Super Bowl-winning coach has heard plenty of praise over the years. This one was for something new.

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