If history has shown us anything, when the Pitt Panthers and Iowa Hawkeyes hook up it is going to be a close, tightly-contested football game.
This season, with a battle of 2-0 teams coming in, was no exception.
Just like last season, the Hawkeyes won a close one over the Panthers. This time it was Iowa kicker Marshall Koehn who knocked down a 57-yard field goal as time expired to give Iowa a dramatic 27-24 victory and hand Pat Narduzzi his first loss as a head coach.
Iowa drove 31 yards in under a minute to set up Koehn’s winning kick. Narduzzi called timeout to ice Koehn just after he kicked his first attempt, which was well short.
Pitt quarterback Nathan Peterman, who played most of the way for the Panthers, hit Tyler Boyd with an eight-yard touchdown pass with just 52 seconds remaining, capping a 13-play, 75-yard drive to knot the game at 24.
The touchdown was set up by a big completion from Peterman to tight end J.P. Holtz on a fourth-and-15 play to extend the drive. Peterman threw two interceptions early on, but rebounded to play a solid game, completing 20-of-29 pass attempts for 219 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Peterman’s favorite target on the night was Boyd, who hauled in 10 receptions for 131 yards.
Narduzzi had the opportunity to go for it on the Panthers previous drive, but elected to punt facing fourth and inches.
The Hawkeyes made Pitt pay by driving 80 yards to take a 24-17 lead on a one-yard touchdown run by Jordan Canazeri, his second touchdown of the game.
Iowa held a 3-0 lead after one quarter, but extended it to 10-0 early in the second quarter with a nine-yard touchdown run from quarterback C.J. Beathard.
Beathard had a solid game of his own, completing 27-of-40 pass attempts for 258 yards. He also added 39 rushing yards. He played a big role in Iowa outgaining Pitt 363-282 on the night.
Pitt got on the board when Peterman hit tight end Scott Orndoff with a 15-yard touchdown pass to make it 10-7, but Iowa punched it in right before halftime when Canazeri punched it in from four yards out to take a 17-7 lead at the half.
The Panthers got a 48-yard field goal from Chris Blewitt in the third and tied the game at 17 when Ryan Lewis blocked a punt that Pat Amara Jr. picked up and returned 28 yards for a touchdown.
Pitt will have to stew on this tough loss as they are off next week before traveling to Virginia Tech October 3.
Photo Credit: Iowa Hawkeyes
