Palko’s leadership evident on sidelines

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Tyler Palko flip, formerly known as the Doug Flutie flip, was one of… NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Tyler Palko flip, formerly known as the Doug Flutie flip, was one of the biggest plays in Pitt’s 41-38 win over Notre Dame on Saturday.

“He prefers [to call] it the Brett Favre pitch,” head coach Walt Harris joked after the game. “That’s his No. 1 main man in football.”

It was fourth and four, on Notre Dame’s 33-yard line. The Irish held a 35-31 lead and Pitt needed a touchdown.

Palko took the snap, scrambled out to his right, and, displaying his great downfield vision, he flipped a nine-yard pass to Marcus Furman.

“In this situation, it was exactly what he had to do,” Harris said of the flip. “He has excellent vision down the field, especially when he is scrambling.”

The conversion kept the drive, and the game, alive for Pitt.

Palko capped the series with a nine-yard touchdown pass to tight end Erik Gill.

Much like Favre has done in his years as an NFL quarterback, Palko led his team to a last-minute victory, showing his poise and great leadership of his team.

“He’s our leader,” senior left tackle Rob Petitti said. “I look up to him. Sometimes I try to be a leader, but sometimes I get down, and I look to him for encouragement.”

After Notre Dame came back to kick a field goal to tie the game, Palko gathered the offense along the sidelines.

He told them that this is what they live for. It is what they dream about at night. And with 1:11 left and 80,795 fans screaming loudly, Palko made their dreams come true.

“I looked every one of those guys in the eye,” Palko said. “And I knew we were going to get it done. You have to live for this stuff. That’s what I try to get these guys to understand; you got to live for being in big games and being in tight situations.”

Petitti listened to what his quarterback said and took the field for one of Pitt’s most important drives in his college career.

“He told us, ‘You’re going to remember this touchdown for the rest of your life,'” Petitti said of Palko’s speech.

Pitt did not score the touchdown, but the players will still remember what they did on that drive for the rest of their lives.

They drove 55 yards, through the chanting crowd and the stingy Notre Dame defense to set up a shot at a game-winning field goal.

“We never lost faith for a moment,” defensive tackle Vince Crochunis said. “We saw the clock. We thought for sure we’d at least be able to get three and win this game.”

And that’s just what Pitt did. Josh Cummings nailed the 32-yard field goal, sending Notre Dame players to their locker room with heads hanging low.

Palko finished the game with Favre-like numbers, too.

He threw for 334 yards on 26 completions. He broke the record for touchdown passes against Notre Dame with five.

“Tyler Palko, you know, fabulous, he has really come a long ways,” Harris said. “Thank goodness he’s just a sophomore, and the great thing about him is he’s as hungry as there is anybody that I have had the opportunity to coach.”

In his last seven games, Palko has been, for the most part, flawless, completing 61.5 percent of his passes for 1,963 yards and 16 touchdowns. In this span of games he has only thrown two interceptions.

These numbers are opposite of the numbers seen at the beginning of the season, and Harris believes his success is because he has adjusted to the speed of the game.

“Early in the year, he had trouble cause the game is so fast,” Harris said.

Now that the game has slowed down for him, Palko is having fun.

“Having fun is winning,” he said, adding, “You can have fun and knock people on their tails all day.”