Football: Late Hutchins field goal gives Pitt win in Meineke Car Care Bowl

Trailing 17-16 with just 1:55 to go in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, freshman kicker Dan Hutchins… Trailing 17-16 with just 1:55 to go in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, freshman kicker Dan Hutchins lined up for what would be a career-best 47-yard field goal attempt.

Before the ball was hiked North Carolina defensive lineman Cam Thomas and two other linemen jumped offsides, giving the Panthers five yards and a first down.

Three Dion Lewis rushes placed the Panthers on the Tarheels 16-yard line. Hutchins lined up again and connected on a 33-yard line to give Pitt a 19-17 lead with 52 seconds remaining in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

North Carolina moved the ball to about mid-field, but the Pitt defense knocked down multiple passes by quarterback Tyler Yates setting up a fourth-and-10 from the North Carolina 49-yard line. Under pressure from the Pitt defensive line, Yates threw it to the middle of the field, but there weren’t any

Tarheel receivers within a few yards, clinching the victory for Pitt.

The win closes out Pitt’s year at 10-3, the school’s first 10-win season since winning 11 games in 1981.

Hutchins hit four field goals after missing a 40-yard field goal on the opening drive of the game. Along with the game-winner, he made kicks 42 yards and two from 31.

Pitt’s lone touchdown came on an 11-yard run by Lewis. The freshman running back finished the game with 159 yards. Coming into the game, North Carolina had the eighth-best rush defense in the nation, giving up just 92 rushing yards a game.

Earlier in the game, on the tail-end of a 24-yard run down to the North Carolina 2-yard line, Lewis fumbled the ball, which bounced into and then out of the endzone for a touchback giving the Tarheels the ball. Fumbling the ball so close to the endzone wouldn’t normally be one of the freshman’s most memorable runs of the year, but this particular run was different. On that run, Lewis eclipsed 1,686 yards this season, breaking Tony Dorsett’s 1973 school record for most rushing yards by a freshman.

In his last game as a Panther, senior quarterback Bill Stull completed 17-of-24 passes for 163 with no touchdowns or interceptions. His top target today was freshman Mike Shanahan, who caught five passes for 83 yards. Jonathan Baldwin hauled in three passes for 31 yards and senior Dorin Dickerson caught four passes for 21 yards.

The Panther defense held North Carolina to just 264 yards of total offense, just 81 on the ground. Pitt also recovered one Tarheel fumble, and freshman linebacker picked off a Yates pass at the Pitt 1-yard line about midway through the second quarter.

The ends a three-game losing streak for the Panthers in bowl games, giving them their first victory since beating Oregon State 38-13 in the 2002 Insight Bowl. Pitt is now 11-15 all-time in bowl games.