I pointed it out briefly this morning how in a tight game like this the losing side will bemoan the mistakes their side made that cost them. For the UNC game it was the mental things.

Some of the self-inflicted wounds for North Carolina included, in order:

A pass to a clearly covered running back Ryan Houston on a third-and-goal play at the 4-yard line by quarterback T.J. Yates with four minutes left in the first half. If Yates had simply taken the sack or thrown the ball away, UNC could have kicked a field goal to tie the score at 10.

After kicking a 37-yard field goal to tie the score at 10 with 1:05 left in the first half, UNC kicker Casey Barth attempted a squib kick that went out of bounds, giving Pitt possession at the 40-yard line. Bolstered by the good field position, the Panthers moved in position for a 31-yard field goal by Hutchins to lead 13-10 at the half.

A 15-yard penalty for interfering with a punt catch at the start of the second half by the Tar Heels allowed Pittsburgh to start a drive at the UNC 36-yard line. Hutchins would cash in with a 42-yard field goal to give his team a 16-10 lead.

But the most damaging miscue by the Tar Heels came on the game-winning drive by the Panthers.

Yes, the one thing all sides can agree upon was the game-changer. The dreaded jumping offside.

“We had put in a new kick-block play (in practice) just for a situation like that, and I think the guys were just too excited,” [Linebacker Kennedy] Tinsley said. “It’s the biggest play of the game. I guess Pitt’s coach told them to wait as long as they could. That was a great call, because our guys were so excited. You can’t blame those guys for getting excited about that play. That was basically the end of the game, that kick. Guys got excited, trying to make a play, and jumped offsides.”

The 5-yard penalty gave Pitt a new set of downs. Four plays and 14 yards later, Hutchins easily made the shorter field goal.

“We were definitely trying to drew them offside,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “They were jumping the gun a little bit, so we told our center to take his time adjusting the ball to lengthen it and drew them offside. But we were going to kick it. If they didn’t jump offside, we were going to kick the field goal. But the extra 20 yards sure did help.”

Carolina senior defensive tackle Cam Thomas was flagged for the offside penalty, but at least three Tar Heels jumped the play when Janocko signaled for the snap.

“Guys got anxious trying to make a big play,” Austin said. “The game was on the line. The center moved his head up, and it just triggered Cam. He was trying to run through everybody and make a play. It was just an unfortunate play.”

Without that penalty. Even if Pitt kicks and makes the FG, UNC has a lot more time and more timeouts available. It does stand out.

Missing from the analysis, from the UNC side, however, is that Pitt left 10 points off the board with a missed FG and a fumble by Dion Lewis that went into the endzone. That tends to be glossed over because those were Pitt mistakes and they took place early in the game. Easily forgotten and lost in the rest of things that happened — especially late.

You know who will bitterly remember those missing points? Anyone who bet on Pitt and had to give 2.5 points. They are really feeling bitter.

Briefly, as I have to head home today.

So that’s what it is like to end the season with a win in late December. It’s only been 7 years so the feeling is unfamiliar.

The Meineke game ended like the UConn game, though, it could just as easily been like the Cinci game — except that UNC’s offense was definitely more UConn than Cinci as far as quick-strike ability. The view from Charlotte definitely was UConn-esque.

Leading by one point early in the fourth quarter, the Tar Heels downed a punt on Pittsburgh’s 5-yard line.

Little did they know, they wouldn’t get the ball back for more than eight minutes. No. 17-ranked Pittsburgh churned out one of the best drives in the Meineke Car Care Bowl’s eight-year history, going 79 yards in 17 plays and eating up 8 minutes and 47 seconds for the winning field goal in a 19-17 defeat of the Tar Heels at Bank of America Stadium.

The fourth game that ended up being decided in the final minutes. Pitt finished 2-2 in those games. As simple as it would be to talk/rant/complain about how Pitt could’ve-should’ve been 4-0, they just as easily could have been 0-4.

As is typical in games that end like this, the winning team fans and coverage talks of breathing a sigh of relief at overcoming mistakes, leaving points on the table and just finishing. On the other side, it is about too many mistakes, questionable play-calling, and just blowing it.

It was a familiar ending for UNC.

With the ACC’s best defense and one of the best in the country, the Tar Heels were one stop from their first bowl win in eight years. Instead of celebrating, UNC watched helplessly as Dan Hutchins’ 33-yard field goal lifted No. 17 Pitt to a 19-17 win at Bank of America Stadium.

No bowl win, no bandwagon. Instead of avenging last year’s bowl loss in Charlotte to a Big East team, the Heels got a serious case of deja vu.

They lost by a point to West Virginia in last year’s Meineke Bowl. Both times they led in the fourth quarter and looked like they were on their way to an elusive bowl win.

Instead, they’re 0-for-Charlotte, winless in three trips here in six years.

It also forced Butch Davis to do his best Dave Wannstedt impression on spinning the season as part of the journey.

Pile it all together and it was a 19-17 loss to a good Pittsburgh team.

Shifting his focus from what happened at Bank of America Stadium to take in a broader view, Davis was optimistic.

“The mileage we’ve made in three years, we’ve covered an awful lot of ground,” Davis said. “But we haven’t scratched the surface of where we want to go.”

From the Pitt side, the story was bowl MVP Dion Lewis, Dion Lewis, Dion Lewis.

Lewis’ record-setting effort was soured some when he lost his first fumble of the season after a 25-yard run vaulted him ahead of Dorsett. Lewis ran up the back of split end Jonathan Baldwin, and the ball squirted through the end zone for a touchback.

Lewis, whose 10th 100-yard rushing game also tied a freshman mark set by Dorsett, didn’t drop his head.

Instead, he energized the seemingly uninspired Panthers with a jaw-jarring 9-yard run with Pitt trailing North Carolina, 7-3. Then, he capped a three-play, 45-yard scoring drive with an 11-yard touchdown run around left end to give Pitt a 10-7 lead at the 11:08 mark of the second quarter.

“I made a costly turnover, and it nearly changed the game,” Lewis said. “It was a great feeling to know the coaches trusted me (on the game-winning drive) in a pressure situation.”

It’s not like anyone would have been insane enough to get off the horse that Pitt had ridden all season just for that fumble.

There will still be lots to dissect over the next week or so, what with recruiting  likely done for the most part and no games left. The one thing that was clear is that Mike Shanahan and Jonathan Baldwin will be big, excellent targets for whoever is under center next year. Shanahan emerged not just as a sure-handed target, but someone very willing to go over the middle to make the catches.