Tyler Palko: Captain Comeback or just lucky?

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko is beginning to look like an NFL… PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko is beginning to look like an NFL quarterback.

Palko’s game play is reminiscent of Jim Harbaugh’s, who was drafted by the Chicago Bears in 1987 and played for the Indianapolis Colts from 1994 to 1998. Side by side, the two would be complete opposites, but in the fashion they win games, they’re much in the same.

Harbaugh’s nickname was “Captain Comeback.”

Palko is quickly putting together a presidential-sized campaign for this nickname because of his greater play in the fourth quarter.

The Panthers have scored a total of 56 points in the fourth quarters of five games this season. In contrast, the offense has only scored 53 points in the first three quarters combined (not including defensive touchdowns).

His statistics in the second half of games thus far are astounding. He has completed 48 of 80 passes for 682 yards and scored six touchdowns (one by rushing). Most impressively, he’s only thrown one interception in the second half all year.

In the game against Temple on Saturday, Palko found himself and his team in a familiar place — on the losing end of a 16-6 score going into the fourth quarter.

But there’s no reason to panic; “Captain Comeback Junior,” is here.

He led Pitt to three fourth-quarter touchdowns to seal the deal against Temple. It took some mistakes from the Owls, however, to fuel the comeback.

“If we face a team that doesn’t make some of those mistakes Temple made down in the fourth quarter, we lose,” Palko admits.

The fourth-quarter mistakes that Palko is referring to are the two three-and-outs that were sandwiched in between all three of Pitt’s touchdowns — a club sandwich that Primanti Brothers couldn’t even put together.

Another major mistake that Temple made that allowed Pitt to come back was the lackluster offense on the goal line. The Owls were stopped on two occasions, in the first and third quarters, when they had fourth and goal on the one-yard line.

The Pitt offense also had its struggles. It could not get things going in the first three quarters, and according to Palko, it’s not a youth issue anymore. He says that the team is too many games into the season to be blaming it on inexperience.

So what is it about the fourth quarter?

Palko says that he does not change the way he plays from first to fourth quarter, no matter what the score is.

“Whether it’s Nebraska, Florida State, USC or Temple, it doesn’t matter, you’re still down,” Palko said. “We need to have more of a street-fight mentality. You keep swinging, somebody will go down.”

Despite being down by two scores going into the fourth quarter, Palko says there’s never a reason to panic

“You can’t really get frustrated,” Palko said. “On offense you need to stay poised.”

And that’s how the Panthers looked in the fourth quarter. They seem to have fun in the clutch.

“We thrive on the fourth quarter,” wideout Greg Lee stated with a smile.

Lee thrived Saturday when he caught a 50-yard touchdown pass to bring the Panthers within three points.

After the defense held Temple to a three-and-out, Pitt drove 56 yards to take its first lead of the game, 20-16. The drive was capped by Raymond Kirkley’s first of two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

“We need to start doing it from the first to the fourth, you know, instead of waiting so long,” Kirkley said. “That would help out a whole lot.”

It would help immensely.

It would relieve some of the pressure placed on the defense, and it would not create an urgency to score points in the final minutes for the offense.

A lead would be a nice for the Panthers. In the last four games, Pitt has held a lead for 10:51 — most of which came in the fourth quarter of the Temple game.

“I’d rather be comfortable and stay ahead all game,” Kirkley said. “I want one of them to come along this year.”

It may come along for Kirkley, but he and his team know that if it doesn’t, there’s always room for comeback with Palko at the helm.

And it’s tough to get Palko away from the steering wheel of this offense. He was shaken up late in the Temple game, but head coach Walt Harris said there was no way Palko was going to miss a down.

“It’d take an act of Congress to get him out,” Harris said.