At Heinz Field, the Pittsburgh Panthers (3-1) lost for the first time this season at the hands of the Big Ten’s Iowa Hawkeyes (3-1) in a non-conference matchup on Saturday afternoon.
Pitt stormed out to a 17-7 halftime lead, but struggled to move the football offensively in the second half while the defense surrendered three scoring possessions to Iowa, led by backup quarterback C.J. Beathard. Beathard took over at halftime for starter Jake Rudock and did not disappoint, completing seven of eight passes for 98 yards. Running back Mark Weisman was solid all day too, especially in the second half, finishing with 22 carries for 88 yards and two touchdowns. Rudock threw a touchdown in the first half as well as interception.
Chris James ran in a four-yard touchdown for Pitt in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead, which Iowa then answered with a touchdown pass from Rudock to Henry Krieger Coble. The second quarter was all Panthers though, as James Conner capped an 18-play drive with a one-yard touchdown to make it 14-7 for the home team. A Chris Blewitt field goal sent Pitt to the locker room up ten.
Iowa came out in the third quarter stopping Pitt on the opening drive before engineering a drive that ended with a ten-yard score by Weisman. The presence of Beathard under center appeared to spark the Hawkeyes as they cut into the lead midway through the third quarter. Pitt responded with another Blewitt field goal to make it 20-14, but a 52-yard field goal late in the third quarter by Iowa’s Marshall Koehn gave Pitt a small 20-17 lead heading to the fourth.
Pitt never really threatened to add on in the fourth, and a 13-play Hawkeyes touchdown drive ending in another Weisman touchdown with 6:56 remaining put Iowa ahead for good. A late drive by Pitt was thwarted when Chad Voytik was intercepted across the middle of the field by Anthony Gair to effectively end the game. Voytik finished 250 yards, completing 19 of 29 passes. Conner was dominant early, but could not get going in the second half, finishing with 155 yards on 29 carries (5.3 yards per carry). Tyler Boyd was easily Pitt’s leading receiver, hauling in ten catches for 153 yards. He caught seven more passes than any other player in the game.
The Panthers led in time of possession (by about five minutes), total yards (435-311) and third down efficiency, but had six more penalties and failed to stop Iowa three times on fourth down conversion attempts. Each side had one turnover, as Lafayette Pitts had a first quarter interception off Rudock.
Akron visits Heinz Field next Saturday with kickoff scheduled for 1:30 pm, as the Panthers look to bounce back before the bulk of the ACC conference schedule opens. They are 1-0 in conference play, having defeated Boston College earlier this season.
