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.