Barnes Burner: Pitt can take positives out of loss to Florida State

41-13. 

The final score of Pitt’s loss to Florida State on Monday isn’t much of a sight to behold, nor is it a sight that indicates a positive takeaway for head coach Paul Chryst and the Panthers in their debut as a member of the ACC. 

But, contrary to first impressions, Pitt’s loss to No. 11 Florida State did somewhat benefit the Panthers on the offensive side of the ball. 

Pitt entered 2013 with a great deal of production to replace in its running game following the graduation of Ray Graham and the departure of Rushel Shell. 

Monday, Chryst gave carries to Isaac Bennett, James Conner and Rachid Ibrahim. Conner and Bennett each received nine carries and rushed for 36 yards, while Ibrahim carried once for no gain. 

Also in the running game, freshman wide receiver Tyler Boyd took three carries on end-around handoffs for a total of 54 yards. Pitt totaled 127 yards rushing against Florida State, which isn’t bad against a defense featuring four- and five-star recruits at every position. 

Bennett and Conner,  who are expected to take the lion’s share of carries for the Panthers this season, registered 4 yards per carry against FSU, which could potentially translate into 5 to 6 yards per carry against teams such as New Mexico or Virginia. 

Pitt’s backs ran behind an offensive line that did a solid job of holding off a strong Seminole defense. Pitt’s offensive line allowed just two sacks, which quarterback Tom Savage took responsibility for, saying he did not get the ball out of the backfield quickly enough. 

Returning to Boyd’s performance, Monday’s game might as well have been a coming out party for the freshman. 

Boyd got early touches and turned end-around rushes into gains for double-digit yardage. On special teams, Boyd took his first return as a Panther for 35 yards from the 1-yard line with 38 seconds remaining in the first half. Had Boyd cut to the outside and taken the sideline, he probably would have scored, but he cut to the middle of the field and was tackled by FSU kicker Roberto Aguayo. 

Boyd returned two other kicks in the third quarter and went for 20 and 16 yards to give him 71 return yards — the most in the game — as well as the longest return of the game. 

In the passing game, Boyd took advantage of the attention given to Devin Street in the second half to pull in two catches for 26 yards. A 16-yard reception in the third quarter set up freshman kicker Chris Blewitt for a field goal. 

Overall, Boyd racked up 151 all-purpose yards in his Pitt debut. 

In the kicking game, Blewitt made a solid debut for Pitt as well. After the uncertainty Kevin Harper brought to Pitt’s kicking game during the past two seasons, the fact that Blewitt nailed both of his field goal attempts should inspire confidence in an area that has been problematic for the Panthers recently.

After the Panthers scored a touchdown on their opening drive, Blewitt provided the rest of the Panthers’ scoring output. Blewitt kicked in a 28-yard field goal in the second quarter and a 39-yarder in the third. 

Of course, the biggest concern right now might be the defense. But, moving forward, Pitt fans should not worry when it comes to Jameis Winston’s 25-of-27, 356-yard performance against the Panthers. And this is namely because Pitt will not face a quarterback as good as Winston for the rest of the season.

There’s a reason FSU is ranked No. 11, and it showed against Pitt’s defense. 

After the defense has a few weeks to settle in and show what it can do, its merits can be more accurately evaluated — but it can’t be fairly evaluated against an FSU team that had more speed and talent than Pitt at nearly every position.