Sept. 30, 2002: Rutherford, Panthers shoot down Rockets

Editor’s note: This is the third in a “Greatest Games” series that will appear in The Pitt… Editor’s note: This is the third in a “Greatest Games” series that will appear in The Pitt News the day before each Pitt football game this year. Each part in the series will detail Pitt’s greatest game against that week’s opponent, and will contain the original game story as it appeared in The Pitt News. This story was written by Matt Wein and published Sept. 30, 2002.

Saturday was a day of career highs at Heinz Field as quarterback Rod Rutherford threw for more than 300 yards and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald established himself as a big play threat in Pitt’s 37-19 victory over Toledo.

Fitzgerald caught six balls for 121 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Panthers in receiving.

Rutherford finished 18 of 27 for a career-high 316 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

“I’m real proud of Rod,” Pitt head coach Walt Harris said after the game. “Rod really is proving to people that he can play quarterback here and I think that our passing game is a big part of that.”

The Panthers’ offense started slowly. On Pitt’s first drive of the game, Rutherford lofted a perfect 49-yard pass to a wide-open Roosevelt Bynes for what would have been a touchdown, but Bynes couldn’t hold on and the Panthers later punted.

Toledo (3-2, 1-0 Mid-American Conference) scored the game’s first points on the first drive of the second quarter when Rockets quarterback Brian Jones hooked up with wide receiver Carl Ford for a 44-yard touchdown. Kicker Jason Robbins missed the point after and Toledo’s lead stayed at 6-0.

Ford finished the day with eight catches for 103 yards.

Though Jones completed 14 passes for 154 yards in the first half, the Pitt defense recovered two fumbles and held Toledo to 31 rushing yards on 15 carries before the break.

Despite leading the defense with 12.5 tackles, cornerback Torrie Cox said there were several things the defense could have done better.

“We had a lot of missed tackles,” Cox said. “We just have to go back and practice a little harder.”

Linebacker Gerald Hayes and safety Tez Morris had seven and 10 tackles, respectively, in the win.

When the Panthers (4-1, 1-0 Big East) took the ball in the second quarter, their offense came alive.

A 15-yard completion to running back Raymond Kirkley set up an 18-yard touchdown pass from Rutherford to receiver Lamar Slade, and the Panthers took a 7-6 lead. Slade caught four balls on the day for a total of 45 yards.

Two drives later, Pitt was facing a third-and-five on its own 34-yard line when Rutherford threw a 65-yard strike to Fitzgerald who was tackled at the 1-yard line. Kirkley ran the ball into the end zone on the next play and the Panthers went up, 14-6.

On the following drive, Hayes jarred the ball loose from receiver Donta Greene’s hands and tackle Dan Stephens picked it up to regain possession for the Panthers on the Toledo 26-yard line.

With 2:49 left in the half, Rutherford engineered an eight-play scoring drive that featured an 11-yard pass to tailback Marcus Furman and was capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass to Fitzgerald.

“We came out focused, we watched a lot of tape, we knew a lot of play action would get them,” Rutherford said. “We just had to execute well, which I think we did today.”

In the second half, the Rockets came out throwing. Jones completed passes to Manny Johnson and Chris Holmes for gains of 13 and 15 yards respectively. Toledo drove 59 yards on 10 plays to the Panther 18-yard line before an interception by linebacker Brian Beinecke.

The Pitt offense took over and marched 85 yards in just under seven minutes on a scoring drive that included a 39-yard pass to tight end Kris Wilson. Rutherford finished off the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run. Wilson caught two passes for a total of 56 yards in the game.

Kicker David Abdul came on to attempt the extra point, but missed. Abdul also misfired on field goals of 34 and 23 yards, but was good on a 37-yard attempt with 13 seconds left in the game.

Down 27-6 going into the fourth quarter, Toledo’s offense began to show signs of life. Jones completed 22- and 13-yard passes to Greene, and tailback Quinton Broussard threw a 25-yard pass off a flea-flicker to tight end Greg Grothous. Tailback William Bratton then scored on a 4-yard run. Robbins again missed the point after and Pitt’s lead stood at 27-12.

Jones finished 31 of 45 for 306 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He also ran for 32 yards.

When the Panthers got the ball back, tailback Brandon Miree’s 39-yard scamper set up a 26-yard touchdown pass to Fitzgerald.

Miree finished with 48 yards on six carries to lead Pitt’s rushing attack. Fullback Lousaka Polite added 36 yards on 10 carries as the Panther offense rushed for 153 total yards.

“We’ve definitely got to get the running game going,” Rutherford said. “That’s our focus from here on out.”

Though the Rockets would mount another touchdown drive, it would not be enough and the Panthers held on to collect the victory.

The win was the Panthers’ third in a row and keeps them a perfect 20-0 against opponents from the MAC.

“These are the type of games that we need to get out of the way to help us with the upcoming games. I can’t wait for next week,” Cox said. “We have a great team and when we put it together, it’s going to be something serious.”

The Panthers’ next game will take place Saturday when they travel to New York to take on Big East rival Syracuse.