Pitt falters in second half, loses 24-20 to Iowa

Something changed at halftime for the Pitt football team.

Quarterback Chad Voytik summed up the first halfof the game Saturday, not just for the offense but the team as a whole.

“We were rolling pretty good,” Voytik said.

But after scoring 17 points and holding Iowa to just seven over the first two quarters at Heinz Field, the Panthers added a field goal and nothing more for the rest of the game. Meanwhile, Iowa scored two touchdowns, as it came from behind to win 24-20.

Opinions differed after the game about what changed for the Panthers. Redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Adam Bisnowaty said Pitt’s solid early performance might have caused some players to — consciously or not — slow down during the second half.

“We kind of eased into it,” Bisnowaty said. “When you’re up on a big team like that, you feel good about yourself and you just gotta stay focused and keep getting after it.”  

The Panthers (3-1 overall) needed to have a solid passing game against the Hawkeyes (3-1 overall), who had had the top rushing defense in the Big Ten and ranked seventh-best nationally this season. For most of the game, the Panthers had it.  

Voytik threw 130 yards in the opening half — a career high — and added 120 more and an interception on the game’s final play. He couldn’t explain why the team’s play differed as much as it did from beginning to end.

“They executed and we didn’t,” he said. “We didn’t slow down. I didn’t feel like we were calling the same plays.”

On the final drive of the first half,which ended with a Chris Blewitt field goal,  the redshirt sophomore threw for 89 yards.

Running back James Conner ran for 100 yards in the first two quarters but managed just 55 afterward. It was the fifth straight time he’s reached triple digits. Pitt ended with 185 rushing yards total.

“Coming into halftime, we ran the ball well, threw the ball well [and] kept a decent lead. You feel like you do the same things [the rest of the game and] you’ll accomplish a victory,” Conner, a sophomore, said.

Before Saturday, the visitors kept its opposition to 65.7 run yards per contest, setting up a somewhat predictable rhythm to this game: Pitt running and Iowa stopping that — or trying to.

“I don’t think, this game, anybody was trying to fool anybody,” head coach Paul Chryst said.

In the second half, Iowa changed who threw the ball. Starter Jake Rudock stayed on the bench for the rest of the game, and his replacement, C.J. Beathard, made an immediate impact. On his second play, the sophomore found a streaking Damond Powell downfield, who managed to collect the pass with his right hand before being tackled 62 yards from the line of scrimmage.  

Beathard finished with 98 yards, while completing seven of eight attempts. Pitt’s defense did not record a sack in the game.

“I don’t think we really made him uncomfortable much,” Chryst said.   

Mark Weisman scored untouched on a 10-yard run three plays later to reignite his team’s comeback and pull within three points, 17-14.

Blewitt made a 29-yard field goal on the following drive. But momentum had begun to shift.

Iowa answered back with a kick of its own from 52 yards to bring the deficit back to three to start the final quarter.

Pitt didn’t have a response this time, going three and out to give possession back to the Hawkeyes, who took advantage.

Compiling a 13-play 52-yard drive, Iowa took 7:47 off the clock as well as its first lead of the game, 24-20, on a one-yard run, which left 6:59 remaining before the final whistle.

Voytik led yet another prolonged movement up the field, gaining the offense nearly 50 yards, but the progress stalled on the edge of the opposing red zone, as the team managed no positive yardage after three plays but still had to score. So, 10 yards away from a first down,  the Panthers went for it. No conversion.

With a minute and a half left, Iowa ran the ball for 19 yards, and secured a first down, which subsequently forced Pitt to use all of its three timeouts to stop the clock.

Needing a touchdown, the home team received the ball with 25 seconds left and began its series 80 yards from the end zone.

Pitt got the ball back with 25 seconds left beginning at its 20-yard line, after a Iowa punt, and moved quickly to the Iowa 49, but a Voytik interception on second and 10 ended any chances at scoring.

“You always have a chance,” Voytik said. “We just didn’t execute this time.”