Ground game key in victory

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — It wasn’t until the Pitt running game suffered its first major loss that… SYRACUSE, N.Y. — It wasn’t until the Pitt running game suffered its first major loss that it produced its first major gain.

In the absence of senior right guard John Simonitis, the Panther offensive line paved the way for running back LaRod Stephens-Howling to have Pitt’s best single rushing performance in six years.

“We had a big focus today,” Pitt right tackle Mike McGlynn said. “One of our guys…John Simonitis is down and I dedicated this game to him.”

Simonitis, whose season ended last week with a broken ankle, saw the Panther offense and Stephens-Howling put up its best rushing game by far this season. Stephens-Howling carried the ball 27 times for 221 yards — the most by any single Panther since Kevan Barlow’s 272 yards against West Virginia in 2000.

“Coming into this week we knew [Simonitis] was out and we had to have some people step up,” Stephens-Howling said. “[The linemen] all got the number 60 (Simonitis’) taped around their wrists, and every time you come in the huddle you see that, and you know they’re ready to work.”

The Pitt offensive line worked as if it was on the first of a 12-hour shift in a steel mill. Freshman Joe Thomas filled in for the injured Simonitis and the unit seemingly never missed a beat. Stephens-Howling noticed.

“I really didn’t have to do much extra,” Stephens-Howling said. “I really appreciate the effort that my linemen did for me. Everybody was working hard.”

Quarterback Tyler Palko also saw the extra effort of the offensive line — but not in the line itself.

“I can tell in LaRod’s eyes when I’m handing the ball off, and he had that look in his eyes,” Palko said. “Every time he took the ball from me, he looked like he had confidence in the guys up front and what they were doing to open the holes up.

“LaRod doesn’t need much of a hole, but he got through it today, and the offensive line did a heck of a job.”

Stephens-Howling had plenty of holes to choose from all day. The 5-foot-7 running back found one gap midway through the second half and, 70 yards later, found the end zone.

The touchdown, which was the longest rush of his career, came as a relief to Stephens-Howling after being caught from behind on several long runs before, something that he said his teammates were getting on him about.

“I saw the end zone that time and thought, ‘I’m not letting anyone catch me,'” Stephens-Howling said.

The game-breaking ability that Stephens-Howling possesses hadn’t been seen previously this season. However, Wannstedt assured that it’s definitely there.

“You guys have all seen LaRod Stephens-Howling and he’s a great player,” Wannstedt said. “Last night I talked to the guys that I didn’t feel had the opportunities to play at the levels they can play. For several reasons he [Stephens-Howling] hadn’t really come out and today he did.”

One of those reasons could have been the play of the offensive line, which Wannstedt praised after the game. But the line’s job was easy, according to McGlynn.

“LaRod, they call him the ‘Johnstown Jet,’ and if you give him a little crease, he’ll make you look good, and that’s all we had to do,” McGlynn said. “We didn’t have to blow our guys down the field. The kid has a lot of talent, and we just created small creases and gave him a chance, and he took advantage of it.”

With the increasing improvement of the offensive line and the inflammable Stephens-Howling, it was only a matter of time before the running game clicked, according to Wannstedt.

“Everybody knew it was coming, and it couldn’t have come at a better time,” Wannstedt said of the rushing performance against a stingy Syracuse defense. Palko thought the same.

“All season we’ve heard ‘Where’s the run game? Where’s the run game?’ and then it shows up in the funniest places,” Palko said. “Any time you have a 200-yard rusher, that’s quite a feat — especially against this Syracuse defense.”

Even though Stephens-Howling, whom ESPN’s Mark May gave a “helmet sticker” for his performance on Saturday, got the numbers, he knows he couldn’t have done it by himself.

“Coach Wannstedt called me out in the team meeting last night — he said ‘LaRod, your day is going to come and you just have to be patient and you have to trust,’ and I was just trusting everybody else to do their job and I had to do mine.”

McGlynn and the offensive line plan on doing their job for their injured teammate, Simonitis.

“We’re going to play off that emotion the rest of the year,” McGlynn said.