Second-quarter explosion carries Pitt over Louisville, 45-34

Just four minutes into Pitt’s football game against Louisville, its chances of winning the ACC Coastal Division ended, but not because of any play at Heinz Field.

No. 17 North Carolina defeated Virginia Tech just after Pitt’s game began, eliminating the Panthers from playing in the ACC Championship game.

Pitt’s (8-3, 6-1 ACC) second-quarter offensive explosion Saturday led to a 45-34 win over the Cardinals (6-5, 5-3 ACC). While the Panthers gave themselves a commanding halftime lead thanks to 35 second-quarter points, the Cardinals chipped away in the second half, but by then it was too late.

Despite the ramifications of North Carolina’s win, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi wanted to focus on his own team and what it’s accomplished this year, reaching eight regular season wins for the first time since 2009.

“Our kids are excited about win No. 8, which is just another step forward,” Narduzzi said. “We can’t think about what we didn’t do at North Carolina. They deserve to be where they are, but I wish we could have a rematch.”

Narduzzi said he had to give a different variety of halftime speech to his team, as it does not often hold such a large halftime lead. Louisville only led briefly in the first half, when quarterback Kyle Bolin found tight end Keith Towbridge for a 29-yard catch and run touchdown to give Louisville a 10-7 lead late in the first quarter.

To open up the second quarter, Pitt quarterback Nathan Peterman found receiver Tyler Boyd deep for a 35-yard touchdown pass. Boyd had two defenders draped on either side but still hauled in his sixth touchdown of the year.

“I felt like they didn’t really gameplan strongly,” Boyd, who finished the game with 103 yards on 11 catches, said. “We just kept executing, and when my name was called, we finally hit one deep.”

After another Louisville punt, Pitt capitalized on good field position, when Peterman found Dontez Ford for a 32-yard touchdown pass to give the Panthers a 21-10 lead.

For the second straight game, Peterman threw for at least three touchdowns, when he found fullback George Aston for a four-yard play action pass to extend Pitt’s lead to 28-10. On Saturday, Peterman threw four scores, all in the second quarter, and finished with 232 passing yards.

“They told me it was four [touchdown passes] in the second quarter, I didn’t know everything was in that quarter,” Peterman said. “It’s just guys making a lot of great plays, the run game helped set up a lot of those passes. The first one to Tyler, he just beat the guy so bad and made a great play.”

Louisville picked up its first first down of the second quarter with less than four minutes until halftime, and three plays later, Bolin found Treveon Samuel for an 18-yard score, cutting Pitt’s lead to 28-17.

But Pitt wouldn’t go to half that easily. It scored two touchdowns in the half’s final minute, from another Aston score and an Avonte Maddox pick-six.

“It feels good, but you know, it was just four-yard catches that happened to be in the end zone,” Aston said. “It’s cool, and as long as we win, I feel great about it.”

The other standout on the defensive side was senior Ejuan Price, who recorded a game-high five sacks, the most by a Pitt player since Bryan Knight’s four against Bowling Green in 2000. Price said he was surprised Louisville continued to let Pitt into the backfield.

“You would think they would throw the ball away, but they were just holding it, and it was kind of throwing me. It was like sitting ducks, or something,” said Price, who also recorded a team-high 10 tackles.

After Louisville backup quarterback Lamar Jackson threw a 49-yard touchdown, Pitt entered half with a commanding 42-24 lead. Even though Louisville cut into that lead later, Narduzzi said he was never worried about the outcome at that point.

“At the half, I said, “Hey we aren’t worried about winning this game, it’s just by how many points are we going to win this game,’” Narduzzi said.

That tally marked the most first-half points the Panthers have scored since hanging 42 on Delaware to open the 2014 season.

Pitt’s opening drive in the second half stalled, and the Cardinals set up a quick field goal drive occupying less than two minutes to cut Pitt’s lead to 42-27.

The second quarter totaled 49 points between the two teams, but the third quarter scoring featured only Louisville’s early field goal.

Early in the fourth, though, Louisville put together a sustained touchdown drive, capped by Jackson’s two-yard rush to make it a one-possession game, 42-34. But Chris Blewitt’s late field goal gave Pitt its final 45-34 lead.

The team killed the clock in the second half thanks to its power running game, led by Ollison, who finished with 152 yards and topped 1,000 for the season.

“It was great for us to get the run game going to open up the pass,” Ollison said. “Louisville had a really solid front three and front four, it was just about having great blocks and having a body on those guys and moving them. George [Aston] did a great job blocking.”

Pitt wraps up its regular season next Friday when it hosts Miami for a noon game.