Pitt Sneaks Past Ga Tech & Into The Top 25

Hard work, determination and a will to close out a game with a win was evident yesterday as Pitt slipped past Georgia Tech 31-28 in Atlanta and in the process, cracked the AP polls for the first time since 2010 ranked #25.

Things started off well offensively for the Panthers. On its opening drive, Pitt wasted no time in getting the rock into its best player’s hands – Tyler Boyd.

Junior Pitt QB Nate Peterman first hit Boyd with passes of 5 and 18 yards. Then Panther redshirt freshman tailback Qadree Ollison took the stage with runs of 5, 4, 9, 5, 6, and 2 yards to lead the Panthers down the Georgia Tech 6 yard line.

Peterman then capped the drive off with a beautiful corner fade route to Boyd that resulted in a 6 yard TD pass and Pitt led 7-0 over the Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech immediately responded. Redshirt freshman tailback Clinton Lynch first dashed 18 yards to the Yellow Jacket 43 yard line. Then on an easy pitch play, freshman fullback Marcus Marshall scampered 58 yards untouched to pay dirt. The game was tied 7-7.

Marshall would finish the day with 10 carries for 159 yards and 2 TDs.

The Yellow Jackets then stopped Pitt on the ensuing drive and put the Panthers defense back to work. Redshirt junior Ga Tech QB Justin Thomas first found redshirt junior WR Micheal Summers for 34 yards, which was followed up by a 3 yard dash by Marshall.

That’s when Thomas clearly clearly had another first down for 11 yards but was stripped of the football by Pitt junior linebacker Nicholas Grigsby and recovered 8 yards by junior strong safety Terrish Webb.

Pitt’s offense would stall and give the ball back to the Yellow Jackets potent offense.

Thomas wasted no time on the ensuing drive by toting the rock himself 51 yards to the Pitt 35 yard line. After redshirt junior Yellow Jacket tailback Isiah Willis ran 11 yards, Georgia Tech was called for a 15 yard unusual offensive face-mask penalty.

Nonetheless, Thomas decided to go to the air and found Yellow Jacket redshirt sophmore WR Ricky Jeune for a 29 yard TD pass on the first play of the 2nd quarter. Georgia Tech led Pitt 14-7.

Pitt went back to work on offense and Peterman found Boyd for a 3 yard screen pass play. That set up a pretty crossing pattern when Peterman connected with redshirt junior WR Dontez Ford for a 41 yard pass play.

As if playing WR wasn’t enough, Peterman pitched to Boyd on the very next play and the superstar somehow eluded a sack and hit Pitt redshirt sophmore WR Zach Challingsworth for 29 yards to the Yellow Jackets 2 yard line.

A couple of plays later, Ollison pounded it home and Pitt tied the score at 14.

Georgia Tech responded with a 10 play, 86 yard TD drive that consumed 5 and half minutes off the clock.

Thomas first bolted 45 yards to the Pitt 41 yard line. He was then stopped for a loss of a yard twice but in between, Thomas found Yellow Jacket freshman h-back TaQuon Marshall for a pretty 14 yard pass play.

Thomas went back to the air and whistled a pass to Georgia Tech freshman h-back Mikell Lands-Davis for 10 yards before Thomas himself ran 2 yards to the Panther 17 yard line.

Thomas tacked on 2 more yards and then pitched it to Yellow Jacket freshman Clinton Lynch who ran it 12 yards to the Pitt 5 yard line. Senior Georgia Tech fullback Patrick Skov finished the drive off with 3 short yardage gains to paydirt. Georgia Tech led Pitt 21-14.

Just when you thought Pitt might fold up shop for the half, the Panthers offense mounted their own 8 play scoring drive to tie the game before half.

Pitt made the easy decision and handed it off to Boyd who ran it 9 yards to the Pitt 34 yard line. Panther freshman tailback Darrin Hall, who saw his first action in 3 games returning from injury, then scampered 7 yards to the Pitt 41 yard line.

After Peterman found Boyd for a 6 yard screen pass play, Hall again drove 9 additional yards to the Yellow Jacket 41 yard line.

Boyd would tack on 4 more yards on a running play before Peterman threw a rocket to Pitt senior TE J.P. Holtz for 20 yards down to the Georgia Tech 20 yard line.

Hall would set up the game’s most impressive play with a 3 yard run. That’s when Peterman threw an NFL slant pass to superman Boyd, who beat two Georgia Tech defenders in the back of the end zone and tucked his feet in-bounds for the Pitt tying touchdown. The game was knotted at 21.

Just before halftime, however, Pitt’s special teams made a crucial play that factored into the game’s final score.

Georgia Tech marched down the field to the Panthers 33 yard line on 9 plays (one of which was a very questionable 15 yard face-mask penalty on Panther junior defensive end Shakir Soto). As Yellow Jacket junior placekicker Harrison Butker attempted a 50 yard field goal, Soto got his revenge and blocked the kick.

During halftime it was apparent both defenses made huge adjustments.

After trading punts, Pitt forced another Georgia Tech punt to get the ball back at roughly the 8 minute mark of the 3rd quarter.

Peterman first missed Pitt redshirt junior WR Dontez Ford, before handing it off to Ollison who gained 6 tough yards.

A swing pass to Ollison then netted 9 yards before Peterman took the QB keeper 10 yards to the Georgia Tech 24 yard line.

Ollison then tacked on runs of 6 and 3 yards to set up Boyd who added a 9 yard run of his own. Boyd finished the day with 5 carries for 26 yards, 1 pass for 29 yards and 8 catches for 68 yards and 2 TDs. He did however drop two punts that he somehow managed to recover.

Nonetheless, Peterman capped the Pitt drive off with a 6 yard TD toss to Holtz. The Panthers led 28-21.

On the very next series, Georgia Tech wasted no time with an answer. Marshall took a Thomas pitch 58 yards to the Pitt 17 yard line on the first snap.

After Land-Davis ran it 7 yards, Lynch tacked on 7 yards to the Panthers 7 yard line. That’s when Marshall finished the easy scoring drive with a 7 yard TD run up the middle untouched. The game was tied once again, this time at 28.

Both teams then traded punts before Pitt salted the game with a 14 play 7 minute drive that left the ball at the Georgia Tech 38 yard line. During the drive, Peterman even connected with Boyd on a 4th and 2 play that proved to be pivotal.

Enter the game’s hero, Pitt’s junior placekicker Chris Blewitt.

Blewitt was the scapegoat a year earlier for missing a chipshot game-winning 26 yard field goal at home versus Duke, a game in which Pitt lost in overtime.

However, this time Blewitt would not be denied. He booted the ball an amazing 56 yards for the longest field goal in Panthers history and put Pitt on top 31-28 with a little over a minute left to play in the 4th quarter.

Pitt’s defense would salt the game and it ended when Panther sophmore cornerback Avonte Maddox intercepted an errant Thomas pass as time expired.

Pitt improved its record to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the ACC for the first time. Georgia Tech fell to 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the ACC.

The Yellow Jackets did, though, manage to shred Pitt’s 6th ranked defense with 482 total yards (376 on the ground and 106 in the air).

Next up: Pitt at Syracuse, 12pm Noon EST – Saturday October 24th on ESPNU