Pitt Outlasts Louisville, 45-34

It started as a rout and ended up just as a victory. Nonetheless, Pitt defeated the visiting Louisville Cardinals 45-34 at Heinz Field yesterday in Pittsburgh.

As has been the case all season, Pitt’s defense gave up huge plays and had multiple breakdowns but held on to win in a game that shouldn’t have been as close as it ended.

The game started by both teams trading punts. Louisville redshirt sophomore QB Kyle Bolin got things going early and connected with WR Jamari Staples for 9 and 19 yards.

After QB Reggie Bonnafon was stopped for a 2 yard loss, redshirt junior running back Brandon Radcliff was also stopped for no gain. The series resulted in a redshirt senior John Wallace 32 yard field goal. Louisville 3 Pitt 0.

Pitt had an immediate answer.

Panther graduate transfer QB Nate Peterman first threw a strike to junior TE Scott Orndoff for 15 yards. Junior QB Chad Voytik, last season’s starter, then ran for 2 yards before giving way to the game’s MVP – Qadree Ollison.

Ollison ran tough for gains of 2 and 7 yards. This set up a 3rd down and 1 at the Louisville 37 yard line when Pitt superstar junior WR Tyler Boyd took a jet sweep handoff 24 yards for the first down.

Ollison tacked on another yard then Peterman connected with Pitt true freshman two-way player Jordan Whitehead for 10 yards. It took two more attempts, but Ollison punched it in. Pitt 7 Louisville 3.

The Pitt defense then broke down again.

The Panther special teams didn’t help any by allowing Cardinal freshman WR / KR Traveon Samuel return the kickoff 41 yards.

After Bonnafon ran for it for 1 yard, Bolin connected with TE Cole Hikutini for 22 yards before tossing the easy 29 yard TD strike to Keith Towbridge. Another busted coverage by the Pitt secondary helped the Cardinals take the lead, 10-7. It took only 4 plays and minute and 12 seconds off the clock.

The two teams then traded punts once again but Louisville’s punt was shanked and gave Peterman and company great field position at the Cardinals 35 yard line.

It took only one play but Peterman than went to the air and found his favorite target, Tyler Boyd, on a crossing route for a 35 yard TD strike. Pitt led 14-10.

Boyd would finish the day with 11 grabs for 103 yards and 1 TD. Boyd now has 80 catches for 803 yards and 6 TDs on the season despite missing the opening game with a suspension.

Louisville was then stopped again on the next series after just 3 plays. The Cardinals would finish the day with 24 carries and -1 yards rushing but most of that was due to playing behind most of the game.

Pitt took over and freshman tailback Darrin Hall ran for 2 yards. After Peterman connected with Boyd for 8 yards, Panther sophomore tailback Chris James for 4 more yards before giving it back to Hall for 3 more yards. Peterman then ran it for 4 yards and threw another 1 yard screen pass to Boyd. This set up Peterman’s perfect 32 yard TD strike to junior WR Dontez Ford. Pitt 21 Louisville 10.

On the next series, the Cardinals offense was again failed to gain a first down and put their tired defense back on the field.

Pitt’s possession began when Ollison ran hard for short gains of 2 and 3 yards. Peterman then tossed a 21 yard strike to junior WR Zach Challingsworth on a crossing pattern.

Whitehead then ran up in the middle for 9 yards before Ollison gained the first down with a 3 yard bull rush to the Cardinals 27 yard line.

Ollison then gained 3 yards before busting loose for 23 yards. This made the Peterman play-action to Panther fullback George Aston for a 4 yard TD pass that much easier. Pitt 28 Louisville 10.

As was the case on most of Louisville’s scores, the answer was quick and easy.

First Bolin’s pass was incomplete to Staples and then even Radcliff was stopped for no gain. However, Bolin did find Staples for 10 yards on 3rd and 10.

Pitt DE Juan Price then sacked Bolin, one of his 5 sacks on the day, on the next play for a 10 yard loss. On the next play, Bolin then found a streaking Staples for 57 yards to the Pitt 18 yard line. Bolin would salt the drive to Cardinal freshman WR Traveon Samuel for 18 yards for the easy score. Pitt 28 Louisville 17.

This is when the game looked like it might end as a laugher.

Pitt responded when Peterman connected with Boyd on passes of 12, 16 and 16 yards again in between a run of his own of 11 yards. That set up a Peterman to Pitt freshman WR Elijah Zeise 16 yard strike to the Louisville 4 yard line.

Peterman then tossed yet another play-action TD pass to Aston, his 2nd TD reception on the day, to put Pitt back up 35-17 over Louisville.

With 55 seconds left in the half, Cardinals head coach Bobby Petrino started to get desperate and asked Bolin to pass inside his own 10 yard line. The result was a forced pass that floated aimlessly into the hands of Pitt junior cornerback Avonte Maddox, who returned it for a pick 6 touchdown. Pitt 42 Louisville 17.

Petrino wasn’t done passing however. He then benched Bolin for freshman QB Lamar Jackson, who was quickly intercepted on his first pass by Whitehead at the 50 yardline,

However, on the play, the ACC refs called a crazy pass interference penalty on Pitt strong safety Reggie Mitchell and this gave Jackson another chance to complete an 11 yard pass to Staples to the Pitt 49 yard line.

Jackson then dropped back and tossed a 49 yard TD bomb to Staples who was inexplicably left in man coverage with the smaller Pitt corner Avonte Maddox. Pitt led Louisville 42-24 at halftime.

In the second half, Louisville tacked on a field goal after the teams traded punts again. Pitt 42 Louisville 27.

Pitt punted again which the Cardinals then made things interesting.

After Radcliff was stopped for a 2 yard loss, Jackson found Staples for 16 yards and then Cardinals freshman WR Devonte Peete for 5 yards that was followed by a Jackson 15 yard completion to Louisville junior WR James Quick for 15 more yards.

Jackson ran for 2 more yards and then threw the easy 14 yard completion to Staples to the Pitt 2 yard line. Jackson then sealed the scoring drive with a 2 yard TD QB keeper. Pitt 42 Louisville 34.

Up 8 points, Pitt turned to its workhorse Qadree Ollison to run the clock out. He responded accordingly.

First the teams traded punts when Peterman took the next Panther possesion and turned it into a 7 yard pass completion senior TE JP Holtz.

Ollison then burst a run for 35 yards to the Cardinals 17 yard line, which set up another Peterman to Holtz 5 yard pass.

Ollison went back to work with runs of 7, 3 and 1 yard before being stopped on consecutive tries from the Louisville 1 yard line. Pitt settled for an 18 yard Chris Blewitt field goal to seal the Panther victory. Pitt defeated Louisville 45-34 in the process.

Ollison finished the day with 28 carries for 152 yards and 1 TD.

Notes: Pitt improved to 8-3 overall and 6-1 in the ACC. Louisville fell to 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the ACC. It was first ever ACC meeting between the two schools. Pitt now leads the overall series over Louisville, 9-8.

Next up: Miami at Pitt, Fri 11/27 at 12pm Noon EST on ESPN. Pitt hasn’t beaten Miami at home since 1997, a game played at old Pitt Stadium, and is 0-4 overall at Heinz Field versus the Hurricanes.