Pitt fans have seen the story plenty of times over the year. The Panthers win a big game and then somehow find a way to take two steps backwards the next couple weeks.
After a road victory last Saturday at Virginia Tech, Pat Narduzzi’s Pitt team was looking to avoid that trap when they hosted Virginia on Saturday at Heinz Field.
The Panthers started fast and nearly gave one away, but at the end of the day Pitt escaped with a 26-19 victory, improving to 4-1 for the first time since the 2009 season. In the process Pitt became just the 19th Bowl Subdivision team to achieve 700 all-time wins.
“Our kids find a way to win,” said Narduzzi. “They fight through adversity. We tell them before the game that there are going to be ups and downs and how you react to that is going to be important. Two weeks in a row our defense was on the field to close out the game and they did a heck of a job.”
The Pitt (4-1, 2-0 ACC) offense looked sharp early, scoring on their first possession when quarterback Nate Peterman hit a wide open Scott Orndoff with a 37-yard touchdown pass to complete a five-play, 75-yard drive.
Orndoff, a Seton LaSalle graduate, has proven to be a touchdown machine. At the time of the scoring pass, he had caught 15 career passes with six of them resulting in scores.
“Right now we are 4-1,” said Orndoff. “It’s a great feeling. Maybe we will start getting some respect around the country and people will start noticing that this is a different team than in the past.”
Virginia had its best threat of the first half on their first possession when Albert Reid broke loose for a 71-yard run on the Hoos second play from scrimmage. But the Panthers defense tightened and Virginia (1-4, 0-1) had to settle for a 33-yard Ian Frye field goal to make it a 7-3 game.
“We have to have no red zone errors,” said Virginia head coach Mike London. “We had a couple of opportunities to score touchdowns and had to settle for field goals. Penalties and breakdowns cost us big.”
Pitt answered right back when Qadree Ollison scored on a four-yard touchdown run to make it 14-3. The drive was set up by a 48-yard run from Chris James, a career long.
James had an impressive day, rushing for 96 yards on 11 carries.
The Panthers made it 17-3 after one quarter when Chris Blewitt knocked down a 33-yard field goal of his own. Things could have been better though as Jester Weah dropped a sure touchdown pass, forcing Pitt to settle for three.
The Pitt offense did whatever they wanted in the first quarter, racking up 217 yards of offense, but things slowed down for the Panthers in a big way after that.
Pitt racked up only 40 yards of offense in the second quarter and although they finished with 363 yards of offense on the day, they hit more than a couple of speedbumps in the second half.
“We definitely wanted to start fast and we did a good job of that,” said Peterman. “When adversity hits though we have to get better and grind through it. We had some big plays and some fluke things happened, but I thought we showed a lot of potential. It’s good to get a win when you know you still could play better as an offense.”
Virginia got back in the game when Mike Moore forced a Peterman fumble. The ball went right into Kwontie Moore’s hands, who returned it 15 yards for a touchdown to cut the Pitt lead to 17-10.
That’s the way things stayed at the half when the Panthers defense began to make plays.
Linebacker Matt Galambos put an end to a Virginia drive in the third quarter when he picked off Cavaliers’ quarterback Matt Johns and returned it 51 yards to set the Panthers up at the Cavs 20-yard line.
“It was really just a hot coverage,” said Galambos. “My eyes were on the quarterback and I made a break. We had pressure and I knew he had to get read of it fast.”
Pitt made Virginia pay for the mistake as two plays later Peterman hit Tyler Boyd with an eight-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-10. On the play Boyd showed why he is one of the best receivers in the nation as he had to go up and get the ball, making an athletic play.
“The ball wasn’t supposed to come to me,” said Boyd. “I seen the ball at the last minute and I did what I do best. I went up and made a play.”
Peterman had a solid day, completing 17-of-24 pass attempts for 222 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Boyd finished the afternoon with seven receptions for 54 yards and a score.
Virginia added another field goal in the third quarter and then the Panthers blew a chance to put the game away when Ollison fumbled inside the one-yard line trying to stretch for a touchdown.
The Pitt defense picked the offense up again though when Mike Caprara sacked Johns for a safety to make it 26-13.
The Hoos didn’t go away though as Johns found a wide open Canaan Severin for a 32-yard touchdown pass to pull Virginia within 26-19. The Pitt offense couldn’t put the game away though and the Hoos got the ball back with a chance to tie.
Pitt allowed Johns to convert a fourth-and-25 play deep in Virginia territory to continue a drive, but the Panthers stopped Virginia on their next fourth down play to end the game.
“As a defense we want to be out there in that situation,” said Galambos. “Obviously you don’t want in that situation but at the same time we aren’t nervous to be out there. We want that challenge. We want everything to be put on us as a defense.”
The Panthers will look to continue their streak of good football when they travel to take on Georgia Tech next Saturday.
Photo Credit: USA Today Sports
