Pitt rides early rally to win

It was a tale of two quarters.

The first quarter Panthers, looking much like the team fans… It was a tale of two quarters.

The first quarter Panthers, looking much like the team fans have come to expect, bounced back in a big way in the second quarter en route to a convincing 31-17 victory over the South Florida Bulls.

“I feel much better today, it was a nice win,” head coach Dave Wannstedt said.

For three quarters, Pitt showed flashes of last year’s Big East Championship team, but only after a first quarter in which everything that could go wrong for the team did go wrong, leading to 10 South Florida points.

“You can only score seven points at a time, you can’t score 10,” quarterback Tyler Palko said about his team’s comeback victory. “That’s how you have to attack it.”

The Pitt offensive line, which has struggled to protect Palko, allowed three of four total sacks on the first three drives of the game. After a first possession three-and-out, the Panthers regressed on their second drive when Adam Graessle’s punt attempt was blocked by USF’s Ben Moffitt, his second blocked punt of the season. The play set up USF quarterback Pat Julmiste’s one-yard touchdown run.

The bad start would get worse for the Panthers when Palko fumbled the ball on a quarterback sack by the Bulls’ Terrence Royal on their third possession. The costly play would lead to a Kyle Bronson 36-yard field goal, giving the Bulls a 10-0 lead to conclude the first quarter.

All of the Bulls’ good fortune would change in the second quarter, however, when on the very first play, Palko hooked up with Greg Lee for a 69-yard touchdown pass, the longest pass play against USF this season.

“They played a lot of man coverage today, and when you do that, it’s like an insult to a receiver,” Palko said. “Greg made them pay.”

Soon after the ensuing kickoff, USF running back Ricky Ponton fumbled on a tackle by the Panthers’ Tez Morris. After Darrelle Revis recovered the ball, the Panthers made the Bulls pay when Palko found Lee again, this time for a 41-yard completion down to the USF 3-yard line.

Lee finished the game with three catches for 106 yards and a touchdown, his fourth 100-yard game of the season. Three plays later, the Panthers found the end zone again when Tim Murphy caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Palko.

Immediately after the kickoff, USF fumbled again, this time on a Julmiste scramble. The ball was recovered by the Panthers’ J.J. Horne, who returned it eight yards to the Bulls’ 12. The Panthers would capitalize on the turnover with a 1-yard touchdown run from Palko, giving Pitt a 21-10 lead. USF did make a comeback effort after the Palko touchdown, when Julmiste hit running back Andre Hall for a 76-yard touchdown pass. Hall, the Big East’s leading rusher coming into the game, had a combined 210 yards against the Panthers with 19 carries for 79 yards and a game-high 131 yards on seven receptions.

The Panthers 21 second quarter points were the most in any quarter this season by a USF opponent. Soon after the start of the second half, the Bulls inserted Courtney Denson at quarterback, but he would not remain there long. On their third drive of the half, Denson was intercepted by Bernard “Josh” Lay. Palko then found tight end Darrell Strong on an 8-yard TD pass, extending the Panthers lead to 31-17.

Palko, finally looking comfortable in Wannstedt’s redesigned offense, finished 15-of-21 for 203 yards and no interceptions. In the game, Palko passed former Pitt quarterback David Priestly for fifth on the University’s all-time passing list.

“Coach really challenged them [the defense] early in the week about getting turnovers and they did that,” Palko said. “That’s how games are supposed to work, defense helping the offense and offense helping the defense.”

Julmiste would later return at quarterback for USF, but he made little difference, as the Panther defense shut out the Bulls the entire second half. H.B. Blades led the defense with six solo and six assisted tackles in the game.

“They [USF] had been clowning us all week in the papers and stuff, but the game is played on the field, and we came out to play,” Blades said.

Also performing well for the Panthers was running back LaRod Stephens-Howling, who led all Pitt backs with 91 yards on 14 carries. After rotating with Rashad Jennings and Raymond Kirkley for much of the first half, Stephens-Howling handled the majority of the load in the second half because of his breakout speed.

“It was great to get LaRod back,” Wannstedt said. “He gives us that added dimension that we don’t have otherwise.”

The Panthers (two turnovers) and the Bulls (three turnovers) each had costly fumbles. The takeaways especially hurt the Bulls because the Panthers were able to score after each USF turnover.

“We were finally able to get touchdowns off of turnovers today which is real critical,” Wannstedt said.

With the victory, Pitt improved its record to 3-4 overall, 2-1 in the Big East. They have now won consecutive games for the first time under Wannstedt. The loss dropped USF to 3-3, 1-1. The improved Panthers will put their two-game winning streak on the line against the 1-5 Syracuse Orange at Heinz Field this Saturday at noon.

“Our win today gives us an opportunity and an extra incentive to even up our record against Syracuse next week,” Wannstedt said.