North Carolina Tar Heels vs Pittsburgh Panthers Prediction, Picks and Game Preview - 09/23/2023

Game Time: 8:00 pm ET, Saturday, September 23, 2023

Venue:  Acrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA 

Where to Watch:  ACC Network

DraftKings:  Point Spread:  UNC -7.5, Pitt +7.5; Over/Under:  50 points

Bet365:  Point Spread:  UNC -7.5, Pitt +7.5; Over/Under:  50 points

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  UNC -7.5, Pitt +7.5; Over/Under:  50.5 points

North Carolina Tar Heels:  3-0 (0-0) (6th place, ACC)

Pittsburgh Panthers:  1-2 (0-0) (12th place, ACC)

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North Carolina Tar Heels:  won their last game at home against the Minnesota Golden Gophers 31-13.

Pittsburgh Panthers:  lost their last game on the road against the West Virginia Mountaineers 17-6.

North Carolina is entering this game with a 3-0 record overall and they have a 0-0 record in their conference games too. They are 2-0 in their home games, 0-0 in their road games, and they are also 1-0 in their neutral site games this season, but they will be on the road for this game. They won their last game against Minnesota 31-13. Drake Maye was the starting QB and he completed 29/40 passes for 414 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. Omarion Hampton led the team in rushing yards with 46 and 1 TD. Nate McCollum led the receivers with 165 receiving yards on 15 receptions and 1 TD. Power Echols led the defense in that game with 7 solo tackles and 2 assisted tackles while Jacolbe Cowan led the defense in sacks with 1. Power Echols and Armani Chatman each came away with 1 interception for them in that game.

 

 

 

Pittsburgh is entering this game with a 1-2 record overall and they have a 0-0 record in their conference games too. They are 1-1 in their home games, 0-1 in their road games, and they are also 0-0 in their neutral site games this season, but they will be at home for this game. They lost their last game against West Virginia 17-6. Phil Jurkovec was the starting QB and he completed 8/20 passes for 81 passing yards, 0 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. Rodney Hammond Jr. led the team in rushing yards with 49. Gavin Bartholomew led the receivers with 39 receiving yards on 2 receptions. Donovan McMillon led the defense in that game with 9 solo tackles and 9 assisted tackles while Solomon DeShields and Shayne Simon each led the defense in sacks with 1. No one on the defense came away with an interception for them in that game.

The current betting odds have Pittsburgh listed as a 7.5 point underdog in this game according to Draftkings Sportsbook. Pitt is 1-2 this season and they haven't looked good in their games. They lost a big rivalry game last week against West Virginia and they were also destroyed by Cincinnati at home, a game they had to try and come back in after going down by a lot. They are going to be really upset here with the way their season has gone and they do have a much better team than the way they have been playing. Now they have a really tough task with North Carolina coming into town but this is going to be the 1st conference game for both of these teams. Pittsburgh is definitely going to bring the fire for this home game to open up conference play and as well as UNC has been playing in their first few games, they still have a mediocre defense that gives up a ton of points in their games. Pittsburgh's offense will be able to move the ball on this UNC defense and that will be the spark they need to put some points up in this game. The best way to place a bet here is on Pittsburgh to cover the spread in this game.

North Carolina Pittsburgh Prediction:  Our NCAAF Pick for Saturday, September 23, 2023 (8:00 pm ET start time) is Pittsburgh 27 UNC 24.

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North Carolina Tar Heels: 8-16 ATS after scoring 31 points or more in 3 straight games. 2-9 ATS after 1 or more consecutive wins against the spread. 16-10 OVER in a road game where the total is between 49.5 and 56. 6-3 OVER after playing a non-conference game. 

Pittsburgh Panthers: 11-6 ATS against conference opponents. 23-12 ATS after 3 consecutive games where they forced 1 or less turnovers. 20-10 OVER in all games. 12-4 OVER in home games. 8-2 OVER after playing a non-conference game.

North Carolina Tar Heels:  G. Blackwell (WR) Ques Sat - Upper Body. D. Walker (WR) out for season - Eligibility. J. Randolph (TE) out for season - Lower Body. L. Cavazos (DB) Out indefinitely - Lower Body. R. Grigsby (OL) Out indefinitely - Lower Body.

Pittsburgh Panthers:  None.

“It just kind of happened that way. Obviously I'm just trying to throw to the open guy, and Nate got open a lot tonight.” - Drake Maye on Nate McCollum after their win against Minnesota in their last game. 

“The difference in the game is 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.” - Pat Narduzzi after his team’s loss against WVU in their last game. 

WR Jones, J.J. 

WR Blackwell, Gavin 

WR Paysour, Kobe 

TE Copenhaver, John 

QB Maye, Drake 

RB Brooks, British 

WR Means, Bub

WR Reynolds, Daejon 

WR Mumpfield, Konata 

TE Bartholomew, Gavin 

QB Jurkovec, Phil 

RB Hammond Jr., Rodney 

Passing: D. Maye (891)

Rushing: O. Hampton (317)

Receiving: J. Jones (179)

Touchdowns: O. Hampton (6)

Passing: P. Jurkovec (474)

Rushing: D. Carter (103)

Receiving: G. Bartholomew (157)

Touchdowns: R. Hammond Jr. (2)

Coaches:

North Carolina Tar Heels: Mack Brown (5th season)

Pittsburgh Panthers: Pat Narduzzi (9th season)