Penalty strung Pitt football continues losing streak with drop to Clemson

Coming into the game on a two-game losing streak, unranked Pitt football (7-3, ACC 3-3) hoped to bounce back by defeating No.18 Clemson (8-2, ACC 7-1).

Clemson’s redshirt senior running back Phil Mafah started the game with a six-yard drive on the Tiger’s 31-yard line. After a big first drive with 2 tackles, sophomore linebacker Rasheem Biles recovered a fumble to give Pitt the ball. 

After forcing a Pitt punt, Clemson marched down the field with help from a personal foul penalty on senior safety Phillip O’Brien Jr. Penalties for Pitt would become a theme throughout the afternoon. Clemson was able to capitalize on mistakes by Pitts’s defense and score off of a connection from junior quarterback Cade Klubnik and redshirt sophomore wide receiver Antonio Williams. 

Down a score, Pitt came back on the field firing. Redshirt junior quarterback Nate Yarnell threw a dime to redshirt junior wide receiver Raphael Williams Jr. for a gain of 24 yards, and on the next play, star junior running back Desmond Reid added a 43-yard rushing play to set the Panthers up for a score. Fifth-year senior running back Daniel Carter punched it in and Acrisure Stadium had a tie game.

After trading punts, the Tigers were able to put their offense into motion in just three plays capped off by a 28-yard pass caught by Williams — his second of the game. Clemson took back the lead.

After punts back and forth ran down the rest of the first half, Clemson ran down the field in 40 seconds and snagged a field goal from first-year kicker Nolan Hauser to give the Tigers a 10-point lead heading into the locker room.

With the ball back in its hands, Pitt was still not able to make magic at the hands of Clemson’s fifth sack of the day. The Tigers would finish with eight total.

After a Clemson punt and an ugly Pitt fumble, Clemson took the ball back up 10. The offenses and defenses for both teams would continue to rotate on and off the field.

After pushing the ball down the field, the Panthers found themselves in a great position on the Tiger’s 44-yard line.

With the third quarter coming to an end, Pitt looked to get on the scoreboard at the start of the fourth. Yarnell launched a heater of a pass to Reid for a gain of 19, leaving Pitt on the second-yard line. But once again penalties set them back. Back to back to back false starts moved Pitt from a second and one to third and 16. The Panthers did not come up empty handed, though, and settled for three.

“You know I think we were trying to huddle with our skill guys, and we just didn’t break out fast enough,” head coach Pat Narduzzi said on the concerning false start penalty situation.

Once again the Pitt defense showed up with big stops, though, and the offense had ball again.

With seven minutes to go, the home-field fans erupted as Yarnell found senior tight end Gavin Bartholomew for a game-tying touchdown. 

The Tigers got the ball back on their own 25-yard line and drove up the field, making an average of 0.5 yards per carry via a lock-down Pitt defense. Clemson came up short.

“Our defense has been outstanding,” Narduzzi said. “ [I had] complete confidence in them at the end of the game with two minutes left and at the end of the half with two minutes left, our defense has been lights out all year.”

With 4:15 to play the Panthers looked to put the game away. More penalties and unsuccessful plays made the Panthers look to redshirt senior kicker Ben Sauls who gave them a three-point lead with 1:36 left in the game.

In just three plays Clemson dismantled a Pitt defense who had its number all game and took a 20-24 off of a 50-yard rush play by Klubnik, breaking the hearts of every blue and gold wearing fan in the building.

Pitt tried to rally back, but their efforts came up short. The Panthers hope to bounce back these next two weeks when they take on No. 22 Louisville and Boston College.