A day after blowing a 21-point lead in the Big East championship game against No. 4 Cincinnati,… A day after blowing a 21-point lead in the Big East championship game against No. 4 Cincinnati, the No. 17 Pitt football team accepted an invitation to the Meineke Car Care Bowl to face North Carolina (8-4, 4-4 ACC).

The game, to be played Dec. 26 at 4 p.m. at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., pits the No. 3 team in the Big East against the No. 5 or 6 team in the Atlantic Coastal Conference.

“The Panthers have had a tremendous season, and they have proven worthy of their national ranking,” bowl executive director Will Webb said in a release about the game. “We feel that this Pittsburgh team will make the Meineke Car Care Bowl a very exciting and competitive game.”

Pitt played in this bowl once before, in 2003 when it was called the Continental Tire Bowl, during which the Panthers lost 23-16 to Virginia. The Panthers are 10-15 all-time in bowl games, losing their last three. Including the current streak, Pitt has lost three consecutive bowl games during four different stretches since 1927.

The Tar Heels were ranked twice this year, losing to a then-unranked Georgia Tech team while ranked No. 22. North Carolina was also ranked 24 heading into last weekend, but lost to unranked North Carolina State. The Tar Heels did beat then-No. 13 Virginia Tech and then-No. 14 Miami this year.

North Carolina is 0-2 in the Car Bowl, losing last year to West Virginia and in 2004 to Boston College.

The Tar Heels are coached by Butch Davis, who was the defensive line coach for the Dallas Cowboys from 1989-92. Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt was the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator those years. Davis took over as defensive coordinator after Wannstedt took the head coaching job with the Chicago Bears.