Goal-line defense proves itself again this week

To Boston College, one yard might seem more like a mile. The Panther defense, as it did last… To Boston College, one yard might seem more like a mile. The Panther defense, as it did last week against Temple, made its biggest plays within the five-yard line on Saturday.

“A lot of teams get down on the goal line, [and] they just give up,” freshman cornerback Mike Phillips said, comparing Pitt’s attitude on the goal line to other schools.

On Saturday, Boston College twice found itself on the one-yard line in the game, and on both occasions, the Panther defense held. Once the Eagles had three chances to punch it in from the one and the other time their fourth-down play was stopped at the Panther one.

“It’s about physical domination,” defensive tackle Thomas Smith said.

On the Eagles’ first offensive drive, which started on their own 25-yard line, they moved the ball 74 yards to the one-yard line.

H. B. Blades came up with two big tackles on first and second down, keeping Eagle running backs A.J. Brooks and L.V. Whitworth out of the end zone.

Following a false start penalty, Boston College quarterback Paul Peterson took the snap at the six-yard line, rolled out to his right under pressure, and tossed the ball out of the back of the end zone.

Boston College was forced to kick a field goal, and the Panthers escaped only allowing three points.

Late in the fourth quarter, as Boston College trailed 17-10, the Eagles set up to march down the field at their own 23-yard line.

Twelve plays later, ball spotted on the five-yard line, Peterson threw a pass to wideout Grant Adams, who headed straight for the goal line. Cornerback Darrelle Revis, who was covering him, wrapped his arms around Adams, making a game-saving tackle, keeping him, and the ball, out of the end zone.

“I just grabbed him back and knocked him down,” Revis explained.

The true freshman made several key plays in the game to propel the Panthers to a win, as did his counterpart Mike Phillips. Phillips made the biggest defensive play of the game in overtime.

On third and 10, Peterson completed a pass to Larry Lester, who caught a pass on a crossing pattern for a first down. Phillips moved in for the tackle, and as he did, he managed to jar the ball loose. Smith dove on top of the loose ball and secured the fourth Panther victory of the season.

“My hand just happened to be there and knocked the ball out,” Phillips said. He added that he was going for the tackle, not the strip.

Prior to the Boston College overtime possession and after Pitt had kicked the go-ahead field goal, the defense huddled together.

“We just knew we had to stop them, just knew we had to stop them,” Smith said.

And stop them they did.

Pitt also limited the running attack of Boston College to only 56 yards, 50 of which came on the first drive of the game.

“You take out those runs from the first drive — they really didn’t do much for the rest of the game,” Harris said.

The low rushing statistics are impressive for two reasons. One is because Boston College was averaging 183.6 rushing yards per game. The second reason is because Pitt was allowing an average of 130.8 yards per game prior to the start of Saturday’s game.

“It’s supposed to be O-line U., and they had a total of 56 net yards rushing, which is truly awesome,” Harris said, complimenting his defense.

Pitt will play Rutgers next week at home, a team that is only averaging 98.2 rushing yards per game — the worst in the Big East.