Football: Panthers dominate Kentucky in bowl game

Saturday afternoon, Pitt fought.

The Pitt football team fought the critics. It fought the… This story was updated Sunday, Jan. 9.

Saturday afternoon, Pitt fought.

The Pitt football team fought the critics. It fought the doubts about its future. It fought through a mob of Kentucky fans standing outside the team bus at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala. It even physically fought its opponent.

And Saturday afternoon, Pitt won. The Panthers (8-5, 5-2 Big East) beat Kentucky (6-7, 2-6 SEC) 27-10 in the BBVA Compass Bowl.

“I’m proud of the guys,” Phil Bennett, who served as Pitt’s head coach, said in a post-game news conference. “They handled a tough situation very well.”

Going into the bowl, it seemed like the game might serve as a reprieve for the Pitt football team; a chance to get away from the coaching chaos of the last month.

But Birmingham, Ala., turned out to be more of a pressure-cooker for the Panthers than Pittsburgh. Kentucky’s fan base was better represented at Legion Field than Pitt’s was, and Pitt was playing deep in SEC territory.

The Wildcats’ fans made it difficult for the Panthers to enter the stadium, Bennett said, but that inspired the team. Bennett told the team to run Kentucky over and that’s exactly what Pitt did.

Dion Lewis ran for 105 yards on 22 carries, giving him 4.6 yards per carry despite the fact that his longest run was just 10 yards. He was named the game’s most valuable player following the contest.

It was Lewis’ second consecutive game with more than 100 yards rushing, and it came in the wake of reports that Lewis is leaning toward foregoing his final two years of eligibility at Pitt and entering the NFL Draft.

When Lewis was presented with the MVP trophy, Pitt fans began a rousing “one more year” chant.

Lewis still isn’t sure about his future.

“I have yet to make a decision. I’m just staying focused on the team,” Lewis said. “I’m going to have a conversation with my parents and my coaches, and we’ll go from there.”

Lewis’s decision whether or not to enter the draft is just one storyline of many that will dominate the Panthers’ off-season, such as who the new head coach will be and the inevitable overhaul of the majority of the rest of the coaching staff.

Pitt ran the ball on 46 of its 65 offensive plays, and quarterback Tino Sunseri finished just 9-19 with 96 passing yards, a touchdown pass to tight end Brock DeCicco and one interception.

Sunseri had a solid game on the ground, rushing four times for a total of 53 yards. This included an 11-yard run midway through the second quarter with the score tied 3-3, which ended when Sunseri ran out of bounds at Kentucky’s 47-yard line.

As he ran out, Sunseri was hit by Kentucky linebacker Ronnie Sneed, who was flagged for unnecessary roughness.

Two plays later, Sunseri was hit late again, this time by linebacker Ridge Wilson after Pitt was called for a false start. A massive skirmish broke out and led to multiple unspecified, offsetting personal fouls.

The game was tied 3-3 at the time, but the Panthers scored the game’s next 17 points, giving them a 20-3 lead that they would not relinquish.

Kentucky defensive tackle Ricky Lumpkin said that the Panthers’ physicality threw the Wildcats off their game.

“They look like an SEC team the way they run the ball. They remind you a lot of Auburn and Mississippi State,” Lumpkin said after the game. “We didn’t revert to our training and not retaliate, and that’s what hurt us was the retaliation.”

Pitt was also helped by a strong performance on special teams. Despite the absence of former head coach Dave Wannstedt, who coached special teams, the Panthers held All-American Randall Cobb to 25.25 yards per kick return, just 1.75 yards above his season average.

Pitt’s Andrew Taglianetti also blocked a Kentucky punt shortly after the brawl in the second quarter, and the unit also foiled a Kentucky fake punt on the first drive of the second half.

Wannstedt was not in attendance but did speak to Bennett before the game.

Left tackle Jason Pinkston said it was emotional playing without Wannstedt.

“We all love him,” Pinkston said. “It was hard leaving the hotel, and having him not walking in front of us. I was in tears. It was tough not having him around, but we got this win for him.”

Pitt safety Dom DeCicco said the team played not just in honor of Wannstedt, but also for the coaches that stuck with them through the bowl game.

“We’ve been through a lot these past couple weeks. We felt that we owed it to each other to come out here and get this win with the coaches that stuck by us and Coach Wannstedt,” he said after the game.

As for Bennett, the game was his final at Pitt. He has accepted an offer to become the defensive coordinator at Baylor next season.

Bennett said that this game was the perfect way to go out.

“If you could write a script, this would be it,” Bennett said. “You had success on both sides of the ball and the kicking game was sound. I am very happy for these kids.”