2009-2010
College Football Season
Meineke Car Care Bowl
Post-Game

Pitt Gets 10th Win as Dorsett's Record Falls

by CFP Staff
December 26, 2009

Pittsburgh snapped a 3-bowl losing streak with a 19-17 win over North Carolina at the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte. It was the third straight bowl loss for the Tar Heels, all of which have come in this game.

Tony Dorsett's school freshman rushing record fell as Dion Lewis ran for 159 yards and a touchdown, and Dan Hutchins kicked the game-winning 33-yard field goal with 52 seconds left.

T. J. Yates threw 2 touchdown passes to Greg Little for North Carolina, the last one giving the Tar Heels a 17-16 lead in the 3rd quarter. UNC's attempt to get off a last-second field goal never materialized as its final drive ended with an incomplete 4th-down from its own 49-yard line.

Pittsburgh's opening drive ended on Hutchins' missed 40-yard field, but North Carolina's first possession ended with a 15-yard TD pass to take a 7-0 lead, the largest lead either team would have all day. The Panthers led 13-10 at halftime.

Lewis needed just 47 yards to pass Dorsett’s freshman record set in 1973. Lewis' 108 points are also new Pitt freshman standard, eclipsing LeSean McCoy’s 2007 mark of 90.

North Carolina lost 31-30 to West Virginia in last year's Meineke Car Care Bowl, and 37-24 in 2004 to Boston College when it was called the Continental Tire Bowl.

The win secured Pitt's first 10-win season (10-3) since 1981.