Turnovers plagued Pitt, spoiling chance for upset

Forget the 11 penalties, seven of which were dead-ball, offensive fouls.

Disregard the fact… Forget the 11 penalties, seven of which were dead-ball, offensive fouls.

Disregard the fact that Pitt rushed for only 30 yards.

Nevermind the notion that a last-second catch was all Pitt needed to tie the game.

It was two interceptions and a fumble, all occurring within 10 yards of the Panthers’ end zone, that ruined their chances of defeating Nebraska at Heinz Field on Saturday.

“You can’t win when you turn over the ball like that,” senior left tackle Rob Petitti said.

And Petitti was not mistaken.

Tyler Palko and the offense took the field for their first drive of the day, and after a few plays, Palko threw a pass right into the hands of Cornhusker cornerback Fabian Washington. Washington returned the ball to the 3-yard line. That led to a Nebraska field goal and a 3-0 lead.

Two series later, Pitt would be pinned down by the goal line. On third down, Palko would again place the ball nicely into the hands of a Cornhusker, this time Wali Muhammad. He would return the ball to the 2-yard line, and the Cornhuskers would punch it in for a touchdown, making it 10-0 Nebraska.

After Pitt’s Marcus Furman returned a kickoff for a touchdown, the Cornhuskers found themselves in another punting situation. Standing back to receive the punt was Allen Richardson. He stood under the punt, signaled for a fair catch, and misplayed the ball. Nebraska recovered the fumble on the Pitt 6-yard line, and on the first play from scrimmage, the Cornhuskers passed their way into the end zone to take a commanding 17-7 lead early in the second quarter.

Nebraska would actually have to work for its final touchdown of the game, and, truth be told, it should have been the Cornhuskers’ only touchdown of the game.

The defense played well on Saturday. The 24 points is a deceptive statistic. Pitt’s offense basically spotted Nebraska 17 points and placed the defense in bad situations. Pitt sent its defense onto the field on four different occasions in which Nebraska started its drive within 10 yards of Pitt’s end zone.

“It definitely, as a player, makes you feel like you’re in there alone,” Pitt linebacker Clint Session said of the burden placed upon the defense.

It was mainly Palko’s early first-half mistakes that led to Session’s lonely feeling, but inexperience is to blame, according to head coach Walt Harris.

“I think our youth and inexperience made it difficult and hard for us to have a chance,” Harris said, adding. “We put a lot of obstacles in front of us.”

One of the inexperienced players who took the blame was Palko. He explained after the game that it was poor decision-making on his part that led to the interceptions by the goal line.

Last week, he said he was too anxious and that’s why he was not able to execute like he should. Anxiety played its part again this week.

“Your clock does go faster when you’re back there [by the end zone],” Palko explained. “You can’t take a sack down [by the goal line]. Sometimes you have to get rid of the ball quicker.”

To Palko’s credit, he did not take the sack. He just got rid of the ball too quickly. But with nine games left on the schedule, he can just put this one in his pocket, call it experience, and learn from it. As Harris said after the game, you can’t gain experience without playing.

And Palko had his moments. On the final drive of the first half, as well as on the last two drives of the game, Palko seemed to have settled down into his role as a starting quarterback for a Division I football team.

“The potential is there,” Harris said. “We’ve just got to put it all together.”

The fact that Nebraska is a non-conference opponent makes this loss easier to accept for Pitt. The Panthers have one more week to put it together before the real season starts. After the game against Furman next week, Pitt will begin its Big East schedule.

And that’s where every game will mean do or die for the Panthers.