LOUISVILLE, KY. – For the first half of Thursday night’s game, the Pitt football team traded… LOUISVILLE, KY. – For the first half of Thursday night’s game, the Pitt football team traded punches with one of the highest scoring home teams in the country.

In the second half, the Panthers were flat knocked out.

Pitt fell, 42-20, in front of a school-record crowd of 42,692 at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium last night. The Panthers were outscored 22-0 in the second half by a Louisville offense that averages 500 yards per game, and now over 58 points per game at home this season.

“It’s tough enough to battle this offense when they need to drive 80 yards,” Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt said, “let alone 50.”

Louisville’s offense didn’t even have to leave the sideline to go up 7-0, 11 seconds into the game, however.

Pitt receiver Terrell Allen fumbled the opening kickoff at the 15-yard line. Cardinals’ cornerback Dean Palmer fell on the ball in the end zone, giving the Cardinals the lead.

Fourteen seconds later, however, Allen landed in the opposite end zone following a 97-yard kick return up the Cardinals sideline, tying the score at seven only 25 seconds into the first quarter.

“That was unbelievable,” Louisville head coach Bobby Portion said of the opening. “For us to kick it off after we scored and them to run it back for a score is unbelievable. The big thing was our offense showed some poise by taking the next kick and scoring a touchdown.”

Louisville (6-2 overall, 2-2 Big East) drove 65 yards in eight plays on their next possession, punctuated by a five-yard Michael Bush touchdown run straight up the middle. The touchdown put the Cardinals up 14-7 with 11:23 remaining in the first quarter.

Although he left in the third quarter after spraining his left foot, Bush finished with 115 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns. His 20 touchdowns on the season ties him with two others for the Louisville school record with three games remaining in the season. It also makes him the NCAA leader in rushing touchdowns this season.

The Cardinals picked up two more first quarter points, making the score 16-7, when Pitt freshman Mark Yesteryear’s snap sailed high over punter Adam Graessle’s head and out the back of their own end zone for a safety.

The quarter could have been much worse, but the Cardinals saw two red zone trips end with turnovers.

On fourth and three, receiver Harry Douglas rushed left on a fake field goal only to fumble out of bounds at the 20-yard line. Later in the first quarter, linebacker J.J. Horne stripped Cardinal receiver Montrell Jones at the Panthers’ seven-yard line where H.B. Blades recovered, foiling another Cardinals drive.

“My hat’s off to our defense, they kept us in it,” quarterback Tyler Palko said “Those guys are averaging a lot of points and (the offense) gave them a lot of chances to score.”

Blades finished with a game-high 14 solo tackles and six assists.

Pitt (4-5 overall, 3-2 Big East) inched closer when a 40-yard Josh Cummings field goal made the score 16-10 with 13:37 remaining in the second.

On the ensuing kickoff, backup kicker Cody Sawhill surprised the Cardinals with an onside kick, which the Panthers recovered. The aggressive maneuver resulted in another Cummings field goal – this time a 25-yarder with 10:05 to go in the half – that made the score 16-13.

Following a Louisville field goal, the Panthers put together their first touchdown drive of the game, a four-play, 63-yard sprint that ended with a Derek Kinder touchdown. On second and nine from the 12, Palko, who finished 17-for-30 for 198 yards and one score, hit Kinder with a curl pass at five. The sophomore receiver turned and sprinted into the end zone, giving Pitt its first and only lead of the game, 20-19, with under one minute remaining in the first half.

The Panthers lead was short-lived, however, as the Cardinals marched 42 yards in 53 seconds to set up a 47-yard field goal by Art Carmody with five seconds remaining in the half, a lead they would not relinquish.

Pitt failed to score a point in the second half, and Louisville drove up and down the field, controlling the clock and the scoreboard. Louisville had the ball for 21 minutes to Pitt’s nine in the second half, and notched 215 total yards – 153 on the ground – to Pitt’s 101.

“You can’t score 13 points on offense against the guys and expect to win,” Wannstedt said. “We knew we had to control the clock and shorten the game.”

The loss leaves any hope for Pitt to defend its Big East Championship and go to a Bowl Championship Series game hanging by a thread with two games remaining in the season, the first of which is next Saturday when Connecticut comes to Heinz Field.

“We have two games left,” Palko said, “and we’re going to come in swinging.” Pitt’s next game is Saturday at Heinz Field against Connecticut.