Pitt’s 2nd Half Defense Looks Listless, Offense Sloppy In OT win vs Youngstown St

Pitt has now played 27 games under Pat Narduzzi. One thing is abundantly clear: Pitt has a sub-par defense. Talent-wise, scheme-wise, and coaching-wise, the defense is simply not up to ACC standards to compete at this level.

Yesterday was no exception in Pitt’s narrow 28-21 victory in the 2017 season opener versus Youngstown State at Heinz Field. You wouldn’t know it, though, based on the first-half score.

It was the Pitt offense that hid the deficiencies on defense. Junior tailback Qadree Ollison started things off with a run of 4 yards and then took a screen pass 30 yards, a play in which he leaped a YSU defender, to the Penguins 37 yard line. Redshirt junior superstar WR Quadree Henderson then ran it for 4 yards.

Junior tailback Darrin Hall then tacked on 3 yards before Henderson added another 9 yard run. Hall added scampers of 2 and 10 yards before Ollison finished Pitt’s first drive with a 6 yard TD burst. Pitt led 7-0.

After forcing YSU to punt on its first series, Pitt went back to work on offense.

Senior graduate transfer (from Southern Cal) QB Max Browne first completed a 5 yard pass to fellow senior graduate transfer (from Rutgers) TE Matt Flanagan. Henderson then took a jet sweep for 13 yards before Browne found senior WR Rafael Araujo-Lopes for 5 yards.

Browne decided to get another one of his wideouts involved by connecting with sophomore WR Aaron Mathews for 6 yards. Hall added runs of 2 and 8 yards before Henderson took another jet sweep 7 yards to the Youngstown State 42 yard line.

Hall tacked on a 2 yard run before Ollison added a 5 yard run of his own. This set up Browne’s huge 1st down 30 yard pass up the seam to Flanagan. Ollison then finished the drive with a 5 yard TD scamper. Pitt 14 Youngstown St 0.

After Youngstown State missed a field goal on the ensuing drive, Pitt finished the quarter with its final scoring drive before the game went into overtime.

The third Panther drive started with Henderson running twice for 1 and 12 yards. Browne then connected a short pass to Hall for 7 yards before Hall added a short run for 2 more yards to the Pitt 46 yard line.

Ollison tacked on 2 more yards before Henderson added a 17 yard jet sweep to the Penguins 33 yard line.

After Ollison added 8 more yards, Browne found true freshman TE Tyler Sear for 10 yards to the Penguins 15 yard line. Hall would gain 4 and 3 yards on respective carries before another true freshman, tailback AJ Davis, made his debut with runs of 2 and 3 yards.

Hall pushed the Panthers closer with a 2 yard run to the Youngstown State 1 yard line. This set up Davis first ever college TD run. Pitt 21 Youngstown State 0.

In the second half though, the Pitt defense completely wilted. Youngstown State threw mercilessly on the Pitt linebackers and safeties including 2 TDs on simple wheel routes. Penguin Sr QB Hunter Wells (who played against Pitt in 2015) threw 18 times on 32 attempts for 311 yards. If not for a few overthrown balls and a dropped pass in the endzone, Youngstown State would have won.

Even YSU freshman tailback Tevin McCaster ran for 19 carries for 73 yards. In total, the Pitt defense surrendered 418 total yards of offense to the Penguins.

After sophomore and former walk-on placekicker Alex Kessman missed his second field goal as time expired, the game was tied at 21.

Pitt would take the ball first in overtime.

Ollison started Pitt’s final drive with runs of 1 and 4 yards before catching a 7 yard pass from Browne to the Penguins 13 yard line. Ollison was then stopped for no gain on the next snap before Henderson inched Pitt closer with a 2 yard run. This set up a Browne to senior WR Jester Weah 11 yard TD pass. Weah made a great catch stretching his arms over two YSU defenders. Pitt 28 Youngstown 21.

The Penguins tried to answer with runs by McCaster for 6, 3 and 3 yards. This set up the game’s final play when Wells errantly threw an interception to Pitt’s
safety Bricen Garner in the endzone that sealed the Panther victory.

Next up: Pitt at Penn State. 3:30pm EST ABC (TV).

Notes: Penn State leads the all-time series versus Pitt 50-43-2. Alex Bookser, Pitt’s starting right guard, is expected to return for the Penn State game after serving a 1 game suspension.