North Carolina @ #25 Pittsburgh

Who will WIN this matchup?

North Carolina Tar Heels (5-4)

@ #25 Pittsburgh Panthers (7-2)

Current odds:

North Carolina Tar Heels: (+200)

Pittsburgh Panthers: (-240)

• The line for this game is Pittsburgh by 6.5 points.

• North Carolina and No. 21 Pittsburgh know all about big point totals. Now they’ll match up against each other for a key game in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division on Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

• The outcome could have a huge impact on the divisional race. Pittsburgh (7-2, 4-1 ACC) controls its destiny in the division, although another showdown looms against Virginia. North Carolina (5-4, 3-3) can stay in contention with a victory.

• The Tar Heels are fresh off a 58-55 comeback victory against then-No. 9 Wake Forest. So they’ll match up with a ranked team for the third week in a row. But the Panthers, who appeared in the first College Football Playoff rankings at No. 25, recovered from a loss to Miami with a convincing triumph against Duke.

• Pittsburgh rang up 636 yards of total offense for the sixth-highest total in program history. The Panthers have eclipsed the 600-yard mark twice in the same season for the first time.

• This matchup will be ripe with storylines involving North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell and Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett.

• The Panthers have gone above the 50-point mark in four games this season, the most for any Pittsburgh team since 1905. North Carolina has reached 58 or more points three times.

• Howell is North Carolina’s career leader in touchdown passes and passing yardage through 34 games.

• The Tar Heels have added a rushing component that has been valuable lately, with Ty Chandler becoming the first Tar Heel to rush for four touchdowns in a game since 1993 when he sliced through Wake Forest’s defense last week.

• North Carolina has gone nearly a month without an ACC game, with an open week and then facing Notre Dame and Wake Forest (an ACC member, but it was a non-league game for those teams).

• Despite all the positive plays against Duke, there were others that created concerns — particularly allowing a kickoff return for a touchdown.

• Pittsburgh had three players out on the offense nursing injuries in the Duke game. Then several other players departed with various ailments.

• North Carolina won six straight games in the series until Pittsburgh’s 34-27 victory in 2019. All seven meetings since the Panthers joined the ACC have been decided by seven points or fewer. The divisional foes didn’t meet last year because of a revised pandemic-related schedule.