The Panther football team has surprised most everyone around the nation, but now that the… The Panther football team has surprised most everyone around the nation, but now that the regular season has ended, it’s no surprise that The Pitt News has named quarterback Tyler Palko as Male Athlete of the Fall and cornerback Darrelle Revis as Freshman Male Athlete of the Fall.

Both have been crucial components of the Panther football team in its journey to the coveted Fiesta Bowl, but it took time for these two young athletes to take off.

After mediocre games against Ohio and Nebraska to start the season, Palko turned things around, throwing for 2,539 yards and 21 touchdowns.

But Palko would trade all the awards, all the touchdowns and all the yards in for a win.

“Those personal awards, I’m not big on those things,” he said. “These things are nice, but obviously they come because of your football team.”

Palko’s numbers increased as the season progressed. During the final five games of the season, he threw for 16 touchdowns, including two games where he threw for five in each, against Notre Dame and South Florida.

In the game at Notre Dame, he became the first quarterback to ever manage five passing touchdowns on the Irish. A week later, Matt Leinhart of USC managed the same feat, but Palko still holds that he was the first.

At South Florida, he threw for 411 yards in the blowout win over the Bulls. He completed the longest touchdown to a Panther tight end in school history: 80 yards.

Palko was quick to give his team credit for his accomplishments.

“I’m going to definitely share with the football team,” he said, “because they’re a bigger part of it than I am.”

Darrelle Revis, a true freshman from Aliquippa, Pa., finished the season with 45 tackles, 11 pass breakups and two interceptions. Highlighting his season was the interception in the fourth quarter of the West Virginia game, which brought Palko and the offense onto the field to drive for the eventual game-winning touchdown.

Revis has been recognized nationally by Rivals.com as a second-team All-American. The Sporting News named him a first-team All-American.

He also was returning punts late in the season for the Panthers. He had a run-back against West Virginia that set the Panthers up in the red zone. The team did not score at that junction, but the return did help in the battle of field position in the low-scoring, defensive contest.

The two will be playing in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1 in Tempe, Ariz. The No. 19 Panthers will be taking on the undefeated No. 5-ranked Utes of Utah. Kickoff is at 8 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ABC.