Pitt Topples Penn St, But Okla St Looms

Beating your biggest rival after 16 years is a big deal. It’s an even bigger deal when the two schools haven’t played in that span. But beating your biggest rival early in the season is more like two ships passing in the night, especially when the two schools play in different conferences and have only agreed to a 4 year contract.

That was the situation for the Pitt Panthers after they beat in-state rival Penn State en route to a 42-39 thriller at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA this past weekend.

In front of 69,983 people, the largest attended sporting event in Pittsburgh history, the game itself didn’t disappoint.

It all started after Penn St punt following their opening possession. Pitt took over on downs and scored on a 10 play, 99 yard drive that ate 4:33 off the clock.

Pitt senior QB Nate Peterman pushed the ball out of the endzone for 2 yards before Player of the Game and local hero redshirt Junior tailback James Conner blasted up the middle for 24 yards. After Conner was stopped for no gain, sophomore wide receiver Quadree Henderson took a jet sweep carry 38 yards to the Nittany Lions 44 yard line.

Henderson then scampered 9 more yards before Conner broke more tackles on his second run, this time for 23 yards. Peterman then shovel-passed to senior tight-end Scott Orndoff for 10 yards. Conner inched the ball closer by a 1 yard before finally, junior H-back George Aston busted the final yard to pay-dirt and Pitt led 7-0 after its first series.

Penn State got back on offense but it wouldn’t last long.

Nittany Lions redshirt sophomore QB Trace McSorely, who played a wonderful game, dropped back and was blind-sided by Pitt redshirt senior DE Ejuan Price. The hit caused McSorely to fumble whichn was ultimately recovered by Pitt senior linebacker Mike Caprara at the Penn State 18 yard line.

Pitt sophomore tailback Qadree Ollison then took the resulting handoff 5 yards before Peterman found Henderson wide-open for the easy 7 yard TD pass and just like that, Pitt led Penn State 14-0.

Both teams would trade punts but the next gaffe occurred on the Panthers special teams. Penn State’s junior kick returner John Reid returned Pitt senior Punter Ryan Winslow’s punt back 59 yards to the Pitt 15 yard line.

Junior Pitt corner Avonte Maddox would then get flagged for pass interference, which paved the way for Nittany Lion sophomore sensation Saquon Barkley walk in nearly untouched 3 yards to put Penn State on the board. Pitt led 14-7.

Barkley would end having a monster day at the office. He scored 5 TDs, 4 rushing and 1 receiving on 20 carries for 85 yards.

Pitt went right back to work on offense, though, in typical Panther lunch pail mode.

Peterman first shoveled another pitch to Henderson, this time resulting in a 24 yard gain to the 50 yard line.

Ashton then bruised his next carry for 13 yards, which led to Conner adding 2 more tough yards that placed Pitt at the Penn State 35 yard line.

Peterman than went back to Henderson for another 16 yard pass play. This led to another jet sweep play, this time by Pitt junior wide receiver Dontez Ford for 6 yards. Conner tacked on another 6 yards and the first quarter came to a surprisingly quick end.

The 2nd quarter started much like the 1st in which the Panthers wasted no time getting back on the scoreboard.

Conner bullied his way for 2 more tough yards and then Peterman kept the rock himself for 3 more yards. This set up the final shovel pass of the drive. Peterman connected with Orndoff for the final 2 yards for his 2nd TD pass of the day. Pitt led Penn State 21-7.

McSorley took back over on the ensuing series for the Nittany Lions and scampered 17 yards to get things going. Unfortunately though, that only set up his nemesis Ejuan Price to blindside once again and cause yet another fumble. This time it was recovered by Pitt sophomore sensation strong safety Jordan Whitehead, who scooped it up and ran it back 9 yards.

Pitt then made the smart decision to keep Whitehead out on the field for its next offensive possession.

The two-way stud did not disappoint. Whitehead took the resulting jet sweep a blistering 28 yards to the Penn State 2 yard line. After Conner was stopped for a 1 yard loss, Ashton then finished the drive by leaping into the end-zone en route to an electrifying 3 yard TD run. The ball was stripped out but Ashton recovered anyway and Pitt led, 28-7 over Penn State. The rout appeared on.

The teams would go on to trade punts and later, Peterman was intercepted on a pass that went through Ford’s hands and bounced right into Penn State junior cornerback Malik Golden’s hands. This soured a nice 5 play, 23 yard Panther drive.

Penn State, though, didn’t capitalize on the resulting drive and the teams traded punts once again.

The Nittany Lions then used its last possession of the half to get within striking distance after Barkley scored on a 1 yard TD run.

Pitt led 28-14 over Penn State at half.

In the 2nd half, Pitt opened its first drive by punting after going 3 and out.

Penn State responded when McSorley connected with Barkley wide-open down the sidelines for the easy 40 yard TD. Pitt led 28-21.

The Panthers then went back to work. After missing his first down pass to Ashton, Peterman found Conner open for 12 yards to the Pitt 37 yard line. Conner then bruised for 4 more yards before catching a Peterman strike for 6 yards to the Pitt 47 yard line.

Ollison then grabbed the spotlight on two consecutive brilliant runs of 18 and 8 yards. Conner then fell forward for another yard and Peterman 2 more which set up Pitt’s third back, Darrin Hall Jr, to spin his way to 20 yards and 3 yards to the Nittany Lions 1 yard line. Conner than capped the drive by leaping into the end zone for the Pitt TD. Pitt extended its lead to 35-21 over Penn State.

On the Nittany Lions next possession, redshirt sophomore LB Dennis Briggs forced a Barkley fumble which was again recovered by Caprara. It was Caprara’s second fumble recovery of the game.

Pitt redshirt senior placekicker Chris Blewitt would eventually miss a 50 yard field goal which negated a nice 7 play drive that was highlighted a 30 yard Peterman run on 3rd and 9.

The Nittany Lions tightened the lead once again after Barkley scored again, this time from a yard out. This capped a 7 play Penn State drive and Pitt led 35-28.

Conner then fumbled on Pitt’s first play of its next series and this led to a 38 yard Field Goal from Penn State’s junior placekicker Tyler Davis. Pitt 35 Penn St 31.

You almost knew it was almost inevitable but on the following kick-off, Henderson nearly took another one back to the house. Instead, he was stopped after 84 yards at the Nittany Lions 10 yard line.

Ashton would then lose 3 yards and Conner would inch a yard closer. This set up a sweet 3rd down shovel pass from Peterman to Conner for a 12 yard TD play. Pitt led 42-31 over Penn St.

The teams would trade punts again and then Barkley led Penn State to its final TD score of the day from a yard out. The Nittany Lions then added the 2 point conversion too and this led to the game’s final theatrics. Pitt 42 Penn State 39.

After Pitt was stopped on 3 quick downs, Penn State took over with a chance to win.

On 2nd down, McSorley tossed a perfect bomb to Penn State sophomore WR DaeSean Hamilton which somehow fell through his fingers. Hamilton would have clearly scored on the play or gotten really close.

On 3rd down, McSorley was then sacked by his game nemesis Price for the 3rd time of the day. This resulted in a 9 yard Penn State loss and put them in a 4th down and 16 situation.

Perhaps Pitt Head Coach Pat Narduzzi called an ill-advised timeout because Penn State drafted the perfect play on 4th and forever.

McSorley then found junior WR DeAndre Thompkins wide-open for a 34 yard pass play to the Panthers 32 yard line. Penn State was clearly within game-tying Field Goal range.

Instead, McSorley threw an ill-advised jump ball in the end zone and the game’s hero, Pitt senior cornerback Ryan Lewis, intercepted the ball in the back of the end zone sealing the Pitt win, 42-39.

Pitt improved it’s record to 2-0 on the season while Penn State fell to 1-1. Both have yet to play a conference opponent.

Next Up: Pitt at Oklahoma State, 3:30pm EST, ESPN

Outlook: Pitt has an extremely tough time against pass-first offenses like Oklahoma State. Pitt’s linebackers are fairly slow and seldom, if not ever, do the Panthers rush 3 men. And when they do, it never produces any sort of pass rush. Its going to be a tough challenge for Pitt to stop Poke QB Mason Rudolph and star sensation wideout James Washington.

Pitt’s coming off an emotional win and doesn’t have the passing game to stay in this one. With Pitt WR Dontez Ford out with a broken collarbone, the Cowboys will stack the box and force Peterman to beat them.

Prediction: Oklahoma State 42 Pitt 21