Sepich: Upset victory over Virginia Tech gives Pitt football renewed hope

Maybe life in the Atlantic Coast Conference won’t be so tough for Pitt after all.

Maybe No….

Sheldon Satenstein, Senior Staff Photographer

Defensive backs Jarred Holley, 18, and Jason Hendricks, 25, congratulate each other during Saturday’s game. The Panthers’ defensive performance improved significantly during the contest against Virginia Tech.

Maybe life in the Atlantic Coast Conference won’t be so tough for Pitt after all.

Maybe No. 13 Virginia Tech entered Saturday’s game at Heinz Field vastly overrated.

Or maybe the Panthers just weren’t as bad as their opening defeats against Youngstown State and Cincinnati suggested.

The truth likely lies somewhere in between, but after the Panthers stunned the Hokies, 35-17, one thing is certain: The Pitt football program and its fans finally have hope once again.

To the shock of the 48,032 fans in attendance, Pitt (1-2, 0-1 Big East) quickly marched its opening drive down the field, taking the lead when star running back Ray Graham confirmed that his surgically repaired knee is healthy with a quick cut to shake a defender on his way to the end zone.

While Graham’s contributions started the upset, it was the improved Pitt defense that helped the Panthers build a substantial advantage over the 10.5-point favorite Hokies (2-1, 1-0 ACC).

In the first half, the defense recorded four turnovers as safeties Jarred Holley and Jason Hendricks combined for three interceptions and redshirt freshman Devin Cook forced a fumble that redshirt sophomore Eric Williams recovered.

Pitt turned those turnovers into 14 points and would’ve scored more if kicker Kevin Harper hadn’t shanked two makeable field-goal attempts.

Quarterback Tino Sunseri – who finished 19-for-28 passing for 283 yards, three touchdowns and just one interception – said converting those turnovers into points was extremely important for the Panthers, especially after Pitt struggled mightily to finish drives against Cincinnati last week.

“Today we were able to convert down in the red zone,” Sunseri said. “We put ourselves in positions to be successful, and players made plays.”

On the other side of the ball, big plays were the only thing that kept Virginia Tech in the game.

With the Hokies looking to engineer a comeback in the third quarter, a 94-yard punt return by sophomore Kyshoen Jarrett and an 85-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Logan Thomas to wide receiver Marcus Davis cut into Pitt’s advantage, but Virginia Tech struggled to consistently maintain drives as the Panthers’ defensive line dominated much of the contest.

Pitt redshirt junior linebacker Shane Gordon stated that Saturday’s defensive performance was a massive improvement over the unit’s lackluster efforts in the first two contests.

“In the first two games, we blew so many assignments,” he said, “but we played really good assignment football today.”

Gordon also said he predicted that his defensive backs would come down with some interceptions.

“I told Holley, ‘You’re going to get an [interception] today,’ and he got one,” he said. “And [Hendricks] came up big with two.”

The defense finished with seven tackles for loss, three interceptions and two forced fumbles.

The game’s defining series occurred early in the fourth quarter when the Panthers, up 28-17 at the time, embarked on a time-consuming 15-play, 88-yard touchdown drive that assured Pitt of its first victory of the season.

Freshman running back Rushel Shell sparked the crucial drive with rushes of 13 and 29 yards as he wore down the Hokies’ defense. He finished with 159 yards on 23 carries – his first career 100-yard game.

Pitt head coach Paul Chryst praised his star freshman after the game and credited the offensive line for playing its best game of the young season.

“I certainly knew he was capable of that,” Chryst said of Shell’s performance. “We love the way he ran, and I loved the play of the offensive linemen and the look in their eye today.”

This solitary win, which marks the first victory in Chryst’s head-coaching career at any level, doesn’t excuse the horrible blowout losses to Youngstown State and Cincinnati.

But defeating a ranked team – something no other Big East program has accomplished yet this season – does prove that this Pitt football team has the capability to challenge for the conference championship in 2012.

And perhaps with more performances like Saturday’s, the Panthers will compete for ACC titles for years to come.