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CHARLOTTE -- Happy new year. It's already 2010. Butch Davis said so.

Dan Hutchins kicked four field goals and MVP Dion Lewis rushed for 159 yards as No. 17 Pitt rallied to beat North Carolina 19-17 in the Meineke Car Care Bowl on a chilly day-after-Christmas game Saturday at Bank of America Stadium.

Soon after T.J. Yates' final fourth-down pass fell incomplete and the clock ran out on North Carolina's season, Davis told the media his guys had moved on.

"We're already over it," Davis said. "It's 2010 as far as I'm concerned. We already talked about the direction this program is headed, and the people that are going to be here to help this program grow in the right direction."

It's the second straight year the Tar Heels finished 8-5 after a loss in Charlotte's bowl game. They've lost those two games by a combined three points.

"I had no doubt in my mind we were going to win this game," said Kennedy Tinsley, a senior linebacker from Greensboro who played in both those bowl games. "Today we made some critical mistakes. Just little things: an offsides penalty, a few (missed) blocks here, a few missed tackles there. Just little things kept us from winning."

Pitt (10-3) won the game with an epic drive in the fourth quarter.

Pinned at their 5-yard line, the Panthers drove 79 yards in 17 plays against the ACC's top defense. Pitt converted a fourth-and-one from its own 30 on Bill Stull's quarterback sneak, coaxed North Carolina offside on a fourth-and-two from the Heels' 30 and capped it with Hutchins' fourth field goal of the game, a 33-yarder with 52 seconds left.

"We should've got'em out, man," Carolina defensive tackle Marvin Austin said. "We can't let them have the ball that long. We need to stop them and get our offense the ball. It was just something we should've done better."

The offside penalty was the biggest play of the big drive.

Pitt called timeout, then set up for a 47-yard field-goal attempt -- 2 yards longer than Hutchins' career best. The Panthers waited, and waited, and waited, using most of the play clock. Holder Andrew Janocko motioned for the snap, and the middle of North Carolina's defensive line jumped 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," 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."

Pitt's drive took 8:47. Carolina had 52 seconds to get into Casey Barth's field-goal range and didn't.

"They sustained that huge long drive," Yates said. "We thought our offense was in a pretty good rhythm, but then you sit on the sideline for that long and you kind of get cold."

Yates and the Heels had time for eight plays. He went 2-for-7 in the 2-minute drill, stalling 2 yards short of midfield.

Yates finished 19-for-32 for 183 passing yards and threw two TD passes to Greg Little.

But he also forced a third-and-goal pass from the 4 toward Ryan Houston late in the second quarter, a throw that was intercepted at the goal line by linebacker Dan Mason.

"It would've helped a lot if we had three extra points in this game," Yates said. "I've just got to throw it out of the back of the end zone or take the loss."

Asked if he would like to forget 2009, Yates didn't hesitate.

"Yes," he said immediately, then he paused for a long time. "I guess as a team not totally, but as for myself, I would love to forget about it totally. It just wasn't one of my good years. I've got to get better, and I've got another year to come back and redeem myself."

That year is 2010. And it started 20 minutes after the Meineke Bowl ended. Butch Davis said so.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com.

Pittsburgh 0 13 3 3 -- 19

North Carolina 7 3 7 0 -- 17

NC--Little 15 pass from Yates (Barth kick)

Pitt--FG Hutchins 31

Pitt--Lewis 11 run (Hutchins kick)

NC--FG Barth 37

Pitt--FG Hutchins 37.

Pitt--FG Hutchins 42

NC--Little 14 pass from Yates (Barth kick)

Pitt--FG Hutchins 33.

A--50,389.

Pittsburgh UNC

First downs 17 18

Rushes-yards 36-129 29-81

Passing 163 183

Comp-Att-Int 17-24-0 19-33-1

Return Yards 23 28

Punts-Avg. 2-45.0 3-41.3

Fumbles-Lost 4-1 2-1

Penalties-Yards 4-26 8-78

Time of Possession 29:25 30:35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Pittsburgh, Lewis 28-159, Graham 2-0, Stull 4-(minus 13), Team 2-(minus 17). North Carolina, Houston 24-83, Little 1-31, Boyd 1-(minus 11), Yates 3-(minus 22).

PASSING--Pittsburgh, Stull 17-24-0-163. North Carolina, Yates 19-32-1-183, Team 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING--Pittsburgh, Shanahan 5-83, Dickerson 4-21, Baldwin 3-31, Hynoski 3-20, Byham 1-9, Lewis 1-(minus 1). North Carolina, Little 7-87, Highsmith 3-38, Pianalto 2-26, J.White 2-17, Houston 2-8, Barham 1-4, Boyd 1-4, D.Jones 1-(minus 1).