Football: Pitt loses to Louisville, remains winless in Big East

The Pitt football team managed the 11 a.m. start well enough on Saturday against Louisville.

Unfortunately, the Panthers didn’t manage the Cardinals’ offense as well as their sleep schedules.

Louisville sophomore quarterback Teddy Bridgewater passed for 304 yards and one touchdown, and wide receiver DeVante Parker caught four passes for 135 yards as the Cardinals passing attack puzzled Pitt’s defense in the second half. Thanks to a 21-point third quarter, No. 18 Louisville (6-0, 1-0 Big East) trounced Pitt (2-4, 0-3 Big East) at Heinz Field, 45-35.

The Cardinals came out of halftime trailing by four points, but that deficit was short-lived.

On the first play of the second half, Bridgewater hit Parker for a 75-yard touchdown pass after the wide receiver got behind Pitt cornerback K’Waun Williams.

But the Cardinals weren’t done scoring.

Louisville proceeded to score 21 additional points against the Pitt defense, which struggled with Bridgewater’s mobility. Louisville running back Senorise Perry added 101 rushing yards and a career-high four touchdowns for the undefeated Cardinals.

Pitt junior redshirt wide receiver Devin Street admitted that the quick score by Louisville at the start of the second half damaged the morale the team gained in the first half.

“When we came out at halftime, there was a long bomb and I saw a lot of guys deflated,” Street said. “We can’t get deflated when that stuff happens.”

For Pitt, a new week revealed a new area of team concern, as the Panthers suffered their second straight setback.

Bridgewater picked apart Pitt’s secondary throughout the second half, completing passes to nine different receivers.

Pitt redshirt senior safety Jarred Holley said the unit didn’t perform up to its standards.

“You’ve got to be ready. You have to go out there and execute and get the ball back for your offense,” Holley said.

Saturday’s performance by Pitt represents yet another week in which the team struggled mightily on one side of the ball while excelling on the other.

After struggling offensively last week during their 14-13 loss at Syracuse, Pitt showed the same offensive poise it displayed against Virginia Tech and Gardner-Webb, registering 380 total yards.

Redshirt senior quarterback Tino Sunseri continued his string of impressive statistical performances, passing for 287 yards and two touchdowns.

Street also put up another impressive performance against Louisville, catching 11 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown. He was particularly effective on Pitt’s first drive of the game, where he caught three passes for 38 yards.

The drive ended with a seven-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Cam Saddler, who made a tremendous leaping catch in the corner of the end zone.

Highlighting the action in the first half was Pitt junior linebacker Todd Thomas’s blocked punt and recovery for a touchdown that put Pitt ahead 14-7 at the beginning of the second quarter.

But after falling behind on three separate occasions, Louisville capitalized on a short field that resulted from Pitt’s failure to convert on a fourth-down attempt at the Cardinals 42-yard line.

Bridgewater hit Parker for a 27-yard pass to put Louisville in field-goal range. Kicker John Wallace made the field goal, which shifted momentum into the Cardinals’ favor for the rest of the game.

Pitt head coach Paul Chryst said the team needs to work on surviving stretches when other teams momentarily gain momentum.

“At any point in the game when momentum goes away, you’ve got to fight to get it back your way,” Chryst said. “We didn’t do that and that’s where, during the third quarter, you saw the separation.”

Pitt will head on the road for a nonconference matchup with Buffalo (1-4) next week at University at Buffalo Stadium on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.