After what Pitt fans saw on Saturday from the Pitt Panthers, the bye week is coming up at a bad time.
The Panthers ran up 626 yards of offense and got another inspired effort from their defense en route to a 55-10 victory over FCS opponent Gardner-Webb.
After starting the season 0-2, being outscored 65-27, the Panthers have bounced back by winning two straight games, outscoring Virginia Tech and Gardner-Webb by a combined 90-27, putting up a combined 1,163 yards of total offense.
Much of that came from the arm of quarterback Tino Sunseri, who completed 18-of-24 passes for 344 yards and three touchdowns one week after being named Big East Offensive Player of the Week. Sunseri’s favorite target was Mike Shanahan caught five passes for a career-high 144 yards and two scores for the Panthers (2-2), who shook off a slow start to crush the Runnin’ Bulldogs (0-4).
When Sunseri wasn’t slicing up Gardner-Webb with his arm, the usually reliable Pitt ground game did its thing, racking up 229 yards on the ground, with a lot of that coming on a Ray Graham 78-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter to start the route.
Rushel Shell scored his first career touchdown in a Pitt uniform on a one-yard plunge early in the second and Sunseri made it 24-3 when hit Devin Street with a 34-yard touchdown.
The Runnin’ Bulldogs biggest play came on the defensive side of the ball when Kamar Morrison scooped up a fumble by Graham and returned it 65-yards for a touchdown to cut the Pitt lead to 24-10.
Pitt took a 27-10 lead into the locker room at halftime and then the Sunseri to Shanahan made their presence felt with a pair of third quarter touchdowns of four and 77-yards to up the Panthers lead to 41-10.
Isaac Bennett got some fourth quarter action and showed why the Panthers are so high on his talent, carrying the ball six times for 52-yards and touchdowns of three and 11 yards.
The Pitt defense was just as good as the offense, allowing only 127 yards on the day, forcing three turnovers in the process.
The 55 points Pitt scored was the most any Panthers team has scored since putting up 55 against Temple in 1999.
Unfortunately for Pitt though, they won’t be able to ride the momentum as they have next week off before facing Syracuse in two weeks.
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
Pitt– Graham 78 yard run (Harper kick good) 3:23 7-0
GW- Austin 41 yard kick 1:00 7-3
2nd Quarter
Pitt– Harper 41 yard kick 14:32 10-3
Pitt– Shell 1 yard run (Harper kick good) 11:27 17-3
Pitt– Street 34 yard pass from Sunseri (Harper kick good) 8:41 24-3
GW- Morrison 65 yard fumble return (Austin kick good) 1:10 24-10
Pitt– Harper 22 yard kick 0:00 27-10
3rd Quarter
Pitt– Shanahan 4 yard pass from Sunseri (Harper kick good) 10:16 34-10
Pitt– Shanahan 77 yard pass from Sunseri (Harper kick good) 1:00 41-10
4th Quarter
Pitt– Bennett 3 yard run (Harper kick good) 13:37 49-10
Pitt– Bennett 11 yard run (Harper kick good) 9:03 55-10
Photo Credit: Yahoo Sports
