A Look Back at the Last Pitt-Clemson Game
Pitt appears in their first conference championship game in program history this Saturday when they face Atlantic division champion, Clemson. While the Tigers have been a national powerhouse the last few seasons, winning the ACC and appearing in the College Football Playoff each of the last 3 seasons. However, for one night a little over two years ago, the Panthers were the better team. On November 12, 2016, the Pitt football team went down to the Carolinas to face a #2 ranked undefeated Clemson team. We all of course know what happened that day, with Pitt pulling off a monumental upset over the eventual national champions on a late Chris Blewitt Field Goal. This same set-up will occur again in the ACC Championship game this weekend, albeit at an ostensibly neutral field in Charlotte, North Carolina. Additionally, for both games Pitt was/is a more than 3 touchdown underdog (26 points this weekend and 22 points in 2016). Despite being large underdogs, they have a chance to repeat history if they can pull off the upset. Before their historic ACC Championship Game appearance this weekend though, let’s take a look at the last time Pitt and Clemson met on the gridiron.
DeShaun Watson’s Big Day
The 2016 Pitt Panthers had a prolific offense with 5 future NFL draftees (so far), but as good as they were the other side of the ball was just as inept. That season the Panthers gave up 35.2 points per game, 106th in FBS. The future Houston Texans quarterback took full advantage of Pitt’s porous defense, passing for an ACC record 580 yards and 3 touchdowns. He attempted a mind-boggling 70 passes, completing 52 of them for a 74% completion percentage. Overall, the Tigers scored 42 points that day and gained an impressive 625 yards. It was a game that was emblematic of Pitt’s season-long defensive struggles and was a career day for Watson. Given all of this, and the fact that Clemson came in as heavy favorites, it’s surprising that Pitt was able to leave Death Valley with a win. This is of course due to Pitt’s own prolific offensive performance, as well as some timely turnovers. From a neutral perspective, it’s actually a shame that Watson’s historic performance had to come in a losing effort and I felt it important to acknowledge it.
14-Point Swing
Pitt got off to a fast start, going up 14-7 early. It looked like they were going to build up a substantial lead late in the 1st quarter when Jordan Whitehead returned a Clemson fumble for a touchdown. The play in question occurred on 4th & Goal for the Tigers from a yard out. It appeared as though Running Back Wayne Gallman had lost control of the football before crossing the goal line as he plunged towards the end zone. A waiting Whitehead was scooped it up and had only DeShaun Watson between him and the Clemson end zone 100 yards away. He was able to easily avoid him and seemingly give Pitt a 21-7 lead. However, replay officials decided that Gallman had actually broken the plane of the goal line before losing control.
Watch: Jordan Whitehead Reversed Fumble Return
It’s debatable whether there was enough evidence to overturn the call on the field, but the fact of the matter was that rather than having a two-touchdown lead Pitt found themselves tied at 14. While this 14-point swing did not end up mattering, in such a close contest it easily could’ve made the difference. If the Panthers hadn’t been able to pull out the win, we may look back at this play as a big “what-could-have-been” in Pitt football history.
Narduzzi’s Kiss
The Panthers were down 21-14 in the 2nd Quarter when it appeared that they had tied it up when Nathan Peterman connected with Scott Orndoff for a 55-yard touchdown reception. Unfortunately, kicker Chris Blewitt pushed the PAT attempt just a little too far to the left and it doinked off of the upright. Things got worse for the Senior Kicker at the end of the first half. Down 28-27, with the ball on the Clemson 35 with 5 seconds left in the 2nd quarter, Blewitt was sent out to attempt to give them the lead going into halftime. The kick was too low though and deflected off of the helmet of one of his linemen. Head Coach Pat Narduzzi went over to Blewitt following this to presumably give him a pep talk. When he was finishing up, for reasons that Narduzzi wasn’t even able to explain, he gave his kicker a peck on the cheek. The odd gesture caused Blewitt to chuckle, so Narduzzi repeated several more times. The action undoubtedly seemed to relax Blewitt and help him get over his missed kicks. We’ll never know what the result of the subsequent game-winning Field Goal would’ve been otherwise and any affect that the kiss had is debatable. However, this is certainly one of the moments that add to the legend of this game.
Interceptions
I wrote above about how DeShaun Watson had a historic day against the Pitt defense on this day. However, I also wrote about how timely turnovers were a large contributing factor in the Panthers’ upset. Clemson losing the game isn’t the only asterisk on Watson’s fruitful day, as the Tigers’ signal-caller also threw 3 interceptions. The first occurred on Clemson’s opening offensive possession of the game, with the Panthers up 7-0 early. With the Tigers driving for a tying score, Ryan Lewis picked off a 2nd down pass in the end zone for a touchback. That ensuing Pitt possession resulted in a punt, but they had more luck on the next one. In the 2nd quarter, down 21-20, Avonte Maddox intercepted a pass at their own 14-yard line. 10 plays and 86 yards later, Pitt had a 27-20 lead. The final interception was almost certainly the most vital in Pitt’s eventual victory. Clemson led 42-34 with 5:42 remaining in the game and had a 2nd & Goal from the Panthers’ 3-yard line. Needing only a few yards to make it a two-possession game late, ESPN’s FPI Win Probability calculator gave Clemson a 98.7% chance of winning the game at this stage. Saleem Brightwell then reached up and snatched an errant pass at the goal line and took it 70 yards the other way to set up a touchdown that would bring Pitt within 2 points.
Watch: Saleem Brightwell Interception
Generally, for a team to pull off a big upset they need to have some turnover luck. This isn’t to take anything away from what the team did that day, but they had that turnover luck and would not have won without it.
Conner Goes Beast Mode
James Conner in 2016 was an amazing story, returning from an MCL tear that wiped out almost his entire 2015 season and undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Despite this, it was apparent to anyone that had watched him play that he wasn’t quite up to his standard when he was ACC Offensive Player of the Year in 2014. By the time the Panthers went to Clemson though, he appeared to finally be back to 100%. Despite playing in 9 games already to this point in the season, that November day in Clemson was what really seemed to be his grand return. Conner rushed for 132 yards on 20 rushes that day and added 3 receptions for 57 yards. He had two scores that day as well, with one rushing and receiving touchdown each. His rushing touchdown was a rush that I have referred to as the quintessential James Conner run from his career at Pitt. A few plays after the above-mentioned Saleem Brightwell interception, the Panthers had a 1st & 10 from the Clemson 20-yard line. Conner received the handoff with what appeared to be a designed inside run. However, the defense had swarmed past the Offensive Line and was primed to stop Conner at the Line of Scrimmage. However, he was agile enough to bounce outside, fast enough to out-run pursuit along the Line of Scrimmage, and strong enough to stiff arm Linebacker Dorian O’Daniel, who had one last chance to tackle Conner for a loss or no gain. From there he had an open field along the sideline and received enough blocking to take the ball all the way to the end zone.
Watch: James Conner 4th Quarter TD Run
Conner’s beast mode score gave Pitt the opportunity to tie the game with a 2-point conversion, though it would fail and require further heroics.
Final Defensive Stand
Unfortunately for Pitt they would fail the 2-point conversion attempt, meaning that the defense would not only need to stop Clemson, a tall task given how they had played to that point, but do it with enough time remaining for the offense to mount a final scoring drive. The Tigers looked like they’d be able to bleed the clock out when they drove down to the Pitt 36-yard line with only 1:11 remaining in the game. Facing a 3rd & 1 from that spot, and with the Panthers having 2 timeouts remaining, Clemson would be able to close out the game just by gaining one yard for the first down. The Pitt defense stood tall though, stopping Clemson Running Back Wayne Gallman for no gain and forcing a 4th down with 1:02 remaining. Rather than attempt a long Field Goal, which would still leave nearly a minute for Pitt to mount a game-winning Touchdown drive even if made, Clemson wisely decided to go for it. Despite it being a smart decision, the play call that was run probably wasn’t the best choice.
A pitch to Gallman behind the Watson and to the left was received by the Running Back 6 yards behind the Line of Scrimmage. With no misdirection, the Pitt defense knew exactly where the play was going and Matt Galambos made the tackle at the Line of Scrimmage. Despite the questionable play call all credit to the Pitt defense, who was still able to swarm to Gallman and stop him despite having two leading blockers.
Final Drive
So Pitt found themselves with the ball with one timeout and just under a minute remaining in the game to drive at least 30 yards for a game-winning Field Goal attempt. The key play of the drive came on only the second play of the drive though. On 2nd & 1 from their own 45, Nathan Peterman hit Scott Orndoff for a 21-yard gain to the Clemson 34. This put them right on the edge of Field Goal range already. However, they would only be able to gain another 4 yards, putting them at the Clemson 30 for a 48-yard Field Goal attempt with 6 seconds remaining in the game. A length that, while well within Field Goal range, was by no means a chip shot. Chris Blewitt had just under a 70% Field Goal percentage for his Pitt career, but his senior year was actually his worst season, making only 10 out of his 17 attempts. One of those misses included his miss earlier at the end of the first half. However, one of those 10 makes came when it mattered at the end of this game to complete the upset.
Watch: Chris Blewitt Hits Game-Winning 48-yard Field Goal
Aftermath
So that was that, Pitt upset Clemson, finished the season off with two more wins to earn a bid to the Pinstripe Bowl. Clemson won the real prize though, as they were able to also finish their season off with two more wins. Their only loss on the season came in the Pitt loss, which was good enough to win them the Atlantic division and a bid in the ACC Championship Game. A win over Virginia Tech in that game gave them a 12-1 record and they were considered good enough to get a spot in the College Football Playoff. Wins over Ohio State and Alabama there made them National Champions. Clemson players and fans have actually cited this game as “waking the team up” and spurring their run to the Title. Overall, Clemson has this championship and the other accolades mentioned above over the past few seasons. Pitt on the other hand only has those, admittedly awesome, memories of that day while they have been unable to get over the hump to being considered a true contender. The Panthers can take a step towards entering this upper echelon if they can recapture some of the magic from this night and pull off another upset to win the ACC.
*Videos and play-by-play information courtesy of ESPN.com
*Stats courtesy of College Football Reference
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