Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt Panthers football team entered Saturday’s ACC contest at Duke with an opportunity to show what they are really made of after dropping their past two contests.
Pitt quarterback Nate Peterman threw three touchdown passes, two in the third quarter, and the Panthers defense had a solid effort as Pitt showed they can bounce back nicely, defeating Duke 31-13.
This one didn’t have the 206 combined points that the past two meetings between the two schools featured, but Pitt (7-3, 5-1 ACC) did what it had to do to come out with a much needed win.
Tied at 10 at the half, Peterman hit tight end J.P. Holtz with a three-yard touchdown pass on the Panthers’ first drive of the second half to give Pitt a 17-10 lead.
The 10-play drive was helped out by a holding call and a pass interference on the Blue Devils, both on third down.
Pitt didn’t look back after that.
Peterman, who completed 13-of-23 pass attempts for 180 yards on the afternoon, hit Dontez Ford with a five-yard score to extend the Panthers lead to 24-10.
Pitt surrendered a 51-yard field goal to Duke’s Ross Martin to close the third quarter, but answered right back with an eight-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by a Qadree Ollison one-yard touchdown run.
The Panthers’ ground game had a big day, rushing for 268 yards, the most against any FBS team this season.
Ollison led the way with 111 yards on 26 carries. Wide receiver Tyler Boyd only caught three passes on the afternoon, none in the second half, but made a big impact running the football, gaining 79 yards on eight carries.
Pitt got off to a good start. After forcing a Duke punt on its first possession of the game, the Panthers put together a 13-play, 92-yard drive that culminated with a 13-yard scoring pass from Peterman to Zach Challingsworth.
Challingsworth, the South Fayette graduate, had a couple of big catches on the day, also setting up the Ford touchdown catch with a 33-yard reception on a third-down play.
Duke (6-4, 3-3), who was playing without starting quarterback Thomas Sirk, tied things up on its next drive when backup quarterback Parker Boehme scored on a one-yard run.
Boehme didn’t have a bad day, completing 23-of-42 pass attempts for 248 yards, also rushing for 80 yards. However 77 of those yards came on one play in the first quarter when Boehme broke loose and set the Blue Devils up with a first-and-goal situation at the Pitt seven-yard line. But the Pitt defense held tough, stopping a Duke fake field goal, escaping without allowing any points.
That stop was big considering it was the first time all season long the Pitt defense got a red zone stop.
The Blue Devils put together a lot of big plays against the Pitt defense, but the Panthers tightened up when they had to. But while Duke had success moving the football early on, Pitt allowed just three points in the second half. They sacked Boehme four times and forced three turnovers on the afternoon.
Freshman Jordan Whitehead put the game away in the fourth quarter with his first career interception. Whitehead also carried the ball four times, gaining 38 yards.
The win made Pitt an impressive 4-0 on the road in ACC play.
With the victory, the Panthers still have an outside chance at winning the Coastal Division. The Panthers will be back in action next Saturday when they play host to Louisville.
Photo Credit: USA Today Sports
