Game week is back for North Carolina, and it’s going to be a short one for the Tar Heels, sort of. Altered is more like it.

UNC visits Pittsburgh this Thursday night, so the Heels’ have tweaked their practice regimen in preparation for taking on a Panthers team that has the same number of ACC wins as Mack Brown’s team, but one fewer loss.

Carolina last played Nov. 2 when it lost at home to Virginia, 38-31, falling to 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the conference. The Heels practiced three days last week and began getting ready for Pitt with Sunday’s practice, which was treated as a typical Tuesday. Monday will be like Wednesday, Tuesday like Thursday and the Heels will have their usual Friday walkthrough on Wednesday before leaving for the Steel City.

Make sense?

What’s most important for UNC is that Thursday is game day and the Heels are taking on a program they haven’t lost to since Pitt joined the ACC seven years ago. Carolina has won all six conference matchups, though not once by more than a touchdown.

The streak has included the Ryan Switzer punt-return explosion (two touchdowns) in 2013, Bug Howard’s one-handed TD reception with two seconds left in 2016, and in 2017, Anthony Ratliff-Williams scored touchdowns returning a kickoff and receiving a pass, plus he threw a scoring pass in the game. And amazingly, UNC’s wins over Pitt the last two seasons were the only ones the Tar Heels registered in either campaign versus a Power 5 opponent.

Carolina has been triumphant in all three games played in Pittsburgh, including the last two, both of which were also on frigid Thursday night’s late in the season. Another in up there would get the Tar Heels one step closer to bowl eligibility, and that’s something the team has zeroed in on.

“It’s very important for the seniors,” offensive tackle Charlie Heck said. “This is our last shot to play at UNC. I’ve got one more home game at UNC against Mercer in a few weeks, so we want to go out on the right note.”

That opportunity begins Thursday, which will be treated like a typical Saturday.