Missed kick spoils Pitt Comeback

The extra point is kicked from such a short distance; it seems like it should be automatic… The extra point is kicked from such a short distance; it seems like it should be automatic once a football team scores a touchdown.

Don’t tell that to Walt Harris.

“It was a lot of hocus-pocus,” Harris said after Pitt was called for two illegal shift penalties before missing an extra point Saturday during its 14-12 loss to No. 21 Texas A’M.

After gaining just 34 yards in the first half against the Aggies’ defense, the Panthers finally found a way to advance the football toward the end of the second half.

With one minute and 39 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Pitt looked to be in trouble, starting a drive from its 16-yard line, trailing 14-0. But six Rod Rutherford completions and a defensive pass interference later, the Panthers had moved to the Texas A’M 16 as the quarter ended.

The fourth quarter started with Rutherford hitting Larry Fitzgerald, who had 10 catches for 103 yards, with a pass for a 7-yard gain and then found Erik Gill for 8 more yards to put Pitt at the 1-yard line.

One play later, Rutherford dived into the end zone to pull the Panthers within eight with 13:49 remaining in the game.

And then came the extra point from hell.

Pitt lined up using the swinging gate formation, with the entire offense off to the left except for the center, kicker and holder, who lined up for the kick.

According to Harris, if the defense lines up over the center, then it makes it easier to try for two points instead. But if the defense lines up with the rest of the line, the offense shifts, setting up for the kick.

“We’ve done the same thing for a whole year and never had it called,” he said. “[The officials] were saying that we were doing something that no one else called. It’s very difficult to live with.”

The Panthers were penalized twice before they could get a legal kick down. Instead of an extra point from the 3, kicker J.B. Gibboney was wide right from 30 yards out.

“I’m kind of bitter about that [extra point] situation because I don’t know what the call was,” Shawntae Spencer said. “That’s tough to swallow.”

The missed kick was not the only thing to blame for the Panthers’ lack of success against Texas A’M.

While the defense was able to hold the Aggies in check for most of the first half, Pitt managed just one yard rushing in the first half and did not pick up a first down until 12:16 of the second quarter.

The Panthers fell behind 7-0 in the second quarter after Bethel Johnson partially blocked an Andy Lee punt. The ball bounced and rolled out of bounds at the Pitt 49, giving Texas A’M its best field position of the half.

The Aggies needed just three plays to punch the ball into the end zone as Derek Farmer, who had 94 yards rushing on 21 carries, scored from 1 yard out.

Texas A’M struck again with 8:42 left in the third quarter.

After Rutherford and the Panthers were unable to convert on the first of two failed fourth down attempts, the Aggies took over at their own 36-yard line.

Farmer ran for 11 yards on first down and, after a sack and delay of game penalty, Dustin Long completed two long passes to Terrance Murphy to put Texas A’M at the Pitt 13 yard line.

A questionable pass interference call on Spencer moved the ball up to the 3-yard line and, two plays later, Farmer scampered up the middle untouched for his second touchdown of the game.

“We had trouble matching up physically,” Harris said. “I think we were up against some really good people and I don’t think we were as airtight as we needed to be.”

The Panthers had one more chance after the defense stuffed Joe Webber on fourth down with 7:44 left in the game.

After a sack by the Aggies’ Jarrod Penright, Rutherford completed a pass of 13 yards to Fitzgerald and then found Lamar Slade for a 6-yard gain.

Three runs for 23 yards by Brandon Miree, who had 14 carries for 65 yards, put the Panthers at Texas A’M’s 32-yard line

Then, on the fourth down, Fitzgerald snagged a Rutherford pass out of the air for an 8-yard gain and a first down to keep the drive going.

After a defensive pass interference penalty put the ball at the 2-yard line, Rutherford found tight end Kris Wilson tip-toeing in the back of the end zone for the score.

“[Rod] made a play,” Harris said about the pass. “He gunned it in there kind of sidearm and Kris made a tremendous catch.”

Since the Panthers missed the extra point earlier, they were forced to try for two points and Rutherford’s pass for Fitzgerald fell incomplete.

“Honestly, that play went haywire from the huddle,” Rutherford said. “It was a mistake on my behalf. We weren’t in the right formation.”

Pitt got the ball back with less than a minute remaining, but Penright sacked Rutherford again and the ball came loose. Randall Webb recovered it for the Aggies and Texas A’M ran out the clock.

After being out-gained in the first half by 120 yards, Pitt recorded 198 yards of offense in the second half compared to the Aggies’ 127. The Panthers also won the time of possession battle, holding onto the ball for 32:31.

“We had a little bit more fire in us [in the second half],” Miree said. “People were really making blocks and really doing their jobs. The holes were there.”

“In the second half, we came out playing the way we’re supposed to play and once we start doing that throughout the whole [game], I think we’ll be a good team,” Rutherford said.

But not everyone was pleased that Pitt was able to hang with one of the top teams in the nation.

“We didn’t really plan on hanging in there,” linebacker Gerald Hayes said. “That’s like saying we are second best.”

“I don’t think anyone is going to look at [the loss] as a positive,” center Chad Reed added. “We don’t go into games to hang with teams, we go into games to win.

“In our eyes, we should have won that game.”