The Pitt Panthers gave their fans hope with their 3-0 start to the season, but have since come back to earth.
Their slide continued Saturday night with a 24-19 loss to Virginia, Pitt’s first ACC loss of the season and third defeat overall.
Cavaliers’ running back Kevin Parks ran for a career-best 169 yards and a touchdown and the solid Virginia defense slowed down the Panthers rushing attack in the win.
Virginia won the game in the second quarter after both teams traded field goals in the first quarter.
Parks broke the tie with a 48-yard touchdown run and then Virginia piled on a pair of touchdown in a span of 1:18 late in the quarter. Matt Johns hit Khlaek Shepard with a three-yard touchdown pass and them Max Valles picked off Pitt quarterback Chad Voytik and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown to make it a 24-3 game at the half.
Voytik’s mistake proved to be big, although he made plenty of mental mistakes throughout the game, resulting in bad sacks. He completed 16-of-30 pass attempts for 195 yards on the day and a pair of touchdowns, but left a ton of plays on the field.
He did bring the Panthers back with a pair of second half touchdown passes. Voytik hit Manessah Garner with a 17-yard scoring strike to make it 24-10, and after another Chris Blewitt field goal, Voytik hit tight end J.P. Holtz with a six-yard scoring pass to make it 24-19. But ultimately it was too little too late for the Panthers.
Virginia held James Conner, who came into the game third in the country with an average of 158 yards per game and second with nine touchdowns, to just 83 yards rushing. Conner was also stuffed on two runs near the goal line.
Pitt has next weekend off and won’t play again until Thursday October 16 when they host Virginia Tech.
Photo Credit: USA Today Sports
