Football: Costly mistakes result in Pitt loss at Syracuse

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Numerous costly offensive mistakes by the Pitt football team on Friday night doomed the Panthers as they failed to stretch their winning streak to three games.

Despite Syracuse’s inability to score after the first quarter, Pitt’s offense failed to capitalize on its defense’s solid outing as the Panthers (2-3, 0-2 Big East) lost a tight contest against the Orange (2-3, 1-0 Big East) at the Carrier Dome, 14-13.

With both teams moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference next season, this also marked the last meeting between the two longtime rivals as members of the Big East.

Pitt had won its last three games in the Carrier Dome, but like the Panthers’ two-game winning streak entering Friday night’s game, that streak would end.

“You don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot, and I feel like that’s what we did,” Pitt redshirt senior quarterback Tino Sunseri said after the offense struggled to finish drives in the second half.

The Panthers wouldn’t have needed a late comeback if they hadn’t started the game slowly.

After forcing Pitt to punt on its first drive of the game, the Orange took a mere three minutes to cover 70 yards on eight plays, scoring the game’s first touchdown to gain a 7-0 lead.

And just minutes later, Syracuse would double its lead when sophomore linebacker Dyshawn Davis picked up a fumble from Pitt sophomore tight end Drew Carswell and returned it 52 yards for a score.

But the Panthers would fight back, cutting into the lead when senior running back Ray Graham plunged in for a touchdown from one yard out early in the second quarter. And kicker Kevin Harper made the score 14-10 with a 40-yard field goal just before half, although the score would’ve been closer if Harper had made his earlier field goal attempt in the game.

With the Pitt offense beginning to click, it seemed as if the Panthers would take the lead and pull away from the Orange in the second half.

Earlier this week, Sunseri said he liked playing in the Carrier Dome and his early performance certainly reinforced that notion.

The redshirt senior carried Pitt when so many other aspects of its game struggled, finishing 25-for-33 for 319 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

The domed environment made verbal communication impossible, yet Sunseri appeared to be in rhythm with his receivers.

This understanding was most evident between him and his favorite target over the course of the game, redshirt junior Devin Street, who tied his career high in receptions — eight — before the end of the first half.

Street finished with 10 receptions for 130 yards.

In the second half, the Panthers’ offense continued to move the ball, but it just couldn’t seem to register points when it needed to.

Still trailing by four in third quarter, Sunseri hit wide receiver Mike Shanahan for a 47-yard gain, but Pitt failed to take advantage of the long reception and settled for a 27-yard field goal from Harper.

The Panthers wouldn’t score again.

For all of Sunseri’s smart, calculated play up until that point, he nullified it with one infraction.

Down a point with eight minutes to go, Pitt drove to the Syracuse 17-yard line — in range for another Harper field goal that would’ve finally given the Panthers the lead — only to get moved back 15 yards after an intentional grounding penalty on Sunseri and then back even further on the next play after Syracuse cornerback Brandon Reddish caught Sunseri for a nine-yard sack.

Facing 4th and 34, the Panthers punted, and they wouldn’t get the back ball as Syracuse ran out the clock to secure the Orange’s first triumph over Pitt since 2004.

Junior defensive lineman Aaron Donald said the team’s propensity for errors made its comeback attempt that much more difficult.

“The team that makes the least mistakes wins games,” Donald said. “When you make little mistakes, it comes back and hurts you.”

Pitt senior center Ryan Turnley echoed that sentiment, saying the Panthers dug themselves a hole they couldn’t get out of.

“We did battle back. We fought, but we just couldn’t close the gap,” Turnley said. “We were hurting ourselves with the penalties and the sacks and it’s just unacceptable.”

The Pitt football team will now look to regroup from Friday night’s setback this week as the Panthers prepare to face undefeated Louisville at Heinz Field next Saturday.