Huskies tear apart Panthers…again

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In a game filled with mistakes, miscues and misreads, the Pitt football team lost Saturday night to the UConn Huskies, 34-14.

In front of nearly 40,000 fans, the Panthers (2-2, 0-1 Big East) out-gained the Huskies (4-0, 1-0) in yardage but couldn’t beat a defensively sound and offensively aware Connecticut team.

Turnovers were abundant for the Panthers as they gave the ball up six times, compared to zero given up by the Huskies. UConn scored 17 points off Panthers turnovers.

“We turn it over and when you don’t come up with any turnovers, you can’t win,” head coach Dave Wannstedt said.

Early on in the first quarter, the game seemed as if it would be a tough one for Pitt. Quarterback Kevan Smith’s first pass attempt was intercepted by UConn linebacker Danny Lansanah.

To add to the misery, Pitt wide receiver Marcel Pestano received an unnecessary roughness penalty on the play to give UConn the ball on the Pitt six-yard line. Lou Allen would then score the first of his two touchdowns with a one-yard run just 1:35 into the contest.

The Panthers responded the following series with little effort. Following three screen passes, two penalties by wide receiver Oderick Turner and a couple of rushes by running backs LeSean McCoy and LaRod Stephens-Howling, the Panthers were forced to punt.

With Connecticut up 10-0, McCoy single-handedly beat the Connecticut defense. Out of the Wildcat offensive formation, McCoy faked a handoff and rolled left.

He then passed, hitting tight end Nate Byham for an 18-yard gain on first down.

McCoy followed his pass completion with a 24-yard scamper in which he broke four tackles down the right sideline.

After breaking the big run, “Shady” did it again. This time, he broke off a 19-yard touchdown burst on second and nine.

The Huskies responded to McCoy’s drive with 24 unanswered points, continually making plays in clutch situations, disappointing the Panthers.

“Tonight was tough when we scored, and then they came right down and scored,” Byham said. “It sort of took the wind out of our sails. It’s frustrating.”

“We have to be able to get off the field on third-down opportunities. We had them in a couple of third-and-long situations, and we weren’t able to capitalize and make plays. We paid for it,” linebacker Scott McKillop said.

Pitt wouldn’t score again until true freshman quarterback Pat Bostick completed a 21-yard strike to Turner.

Bostick stepped up in the pocket, rolled left to avoid UConn cornerback Tyvon Branch and passed to Turner in the right side of the end zone. It was Bostick’s first career touchdown pass.

The young Pitt quarterback entered the game at the midway point after starter Kevan Smith went 3 for 9 for 29 yards and an interception. The Huskies also sacked Smith two times.

Bostick finished the game completing 27 of his 41 pass attempts for 230 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions.

The three interceptions could be attributed to the fact that the Panthers were unable to assemble a running game aside from McCoy’s early touchdown drive, in which he gained 44 of his 70 total rushing yards on.

Stephens-Howling wasn’t effective either; he ran for 17 yards on six carries, but a majority of those yards were square into a collapsing offensive line.

That line not only hurt the run, according to senior offensive lineman Mike McGlynn, but also hindered Smith and Bostick from performing as well as they could have.

“For us to have success, especially with young quarterbacks, we must establish the run,” McGlynn said. “We have three seniors on the offensive line, so it starts with us and we need to do a lot better.”

Notes: According to Wannstedt, Bostick will be starting next week