Football bully slams Pitt
Clemson sets tone by scoring on first play from scrimmage
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Pitt’s normally bright blue jerseys were grass-stained and rain-soaked, starting to resemble its normal navy uniforms more than the vibrant throwback threads they busted out for this special occasion.
Occasionally, Pitt pushed back against the biggest bully in ACC football, but for the most part, No. 2ranked Clemson beat up the Panthers and spoiled their first trip to the conference championship, 42-10. A backbreaking interception just before halftime helped seal Pitt’s fate, but only after the Panthers rebounded from a putrid start on the league’s biggest stage, then
foundered again Saturday night at Bank of America Stadium.
The cavernous home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers seemed even more imposing as soon as the unbeaten Tigers hit the field on offense. Pitt (7-6) won the coin toss but deferred — remember that for later — and on the first snap of the game, ACC rushing leader and player of the year Travis Etienne smacked a leadoff home run.
Etienne found a hole and broke through it, racing 75 yards just 13 seconds into the game, maybe before the Panthers could even settle in and enjoy the moment. It was the fastest score in the 14-year history of the ACC final, and the longest play from scrimmage, too. Things got worse before they got better for Pitt.
The Panthers went threeand-out on their first possession, then forced Clemson (13-0) to do the same. But an offense that was wobbly from last week’s near-shutout at Miami unraveled even more with this stretch: Pitt broke the huddle six times in a row across two possessions, resulting in a loss of 1, a loss of 9, a loss of 4, a false start, a delay of game and another false start. Two plays after that penalty — one of eight for Pitt in the game — quarterback Kenny Pickett was hit from behind and fumbled. Nimble defensive tackle Christian Wilkins corralled it and returned it 18 yards to Pitt’s 3.
Etienne waltzed in for another touchdown on the next play, and just like that, the Panthers dug a 14-0 hole for themselves with 9:29 left in the first quarter. But as Pitt’s defense linked together three consecutive stops, the offense found some life and started moving the ball, mostly on the ground, highlighted by Qadree Ollison’s 26-yard stiffarm-and-scamper that set up his 1-yard touchdown, making it 14-10 midway through the second quarter.
With Pitt clawing back to trail, 21-10, as the first half wound down, Pickett and the offense set up for a drive at their 20 with 1:03 to go. But instead of running out the clock and getting to the locker room safely, with the ball back after halftime, the Panthers tried for more. After a first-down scramble for 11 yards, Pickett threw three times in a row and missed on all three, and the last turned catastrophic.
On a soft pass intended for Aaron Mathews, Clemson cornerback A.J. Terrell jumped in front of it and picked it off, returning the interception 31 yards to the 10 with 29 seconds remaining. Another turnover brought back inside the red zone, and another one-play touchdown drive as quarterback Trevor Lawrence and receiver Tee Higgins hooked up for their second score to turn a two-possession game into a 28-10 halftime advantage for the Tigers.
Pitt couldn’t get back into a rhythm offensively after the break, despite the defense stiffening again and forcing punt after punt. Pickett found Rafael AraujoLopes to convert a fourth down across midfield midway through the third quarter, but that drive died anyway when the 5-yard completion was wiped out by an illegal shift penalty.
Much like the Miami defeat that ended the regular season on a dour note, Pitt was dropped for a loss nine times, but did finish with 192 yards rushing, held below 200 for the third game in a row after putting up 492 against Virginia Tech. The passing game was nonexistent, with Pickett completing just 4 of 16 for 8 yards, his third game this year under 65 yards. It was the fewest in a game for the Panthers since at least 2000.
Pitt averaged only 3.1 yards per play, marring an effort from the defense that wasn’t as weak as the final score suggests. Clemson, which entered averaging 45.7 points per game, totaled 419 yards of offense — its second fewest this season — and was 4 of 12 on third down. Etienne took advantage of some less-than-stellar tackling at times, and the Panthers couldn’t force a turnover, but the Tigers were held scoreless in the third quarter.
Darrin Hall led Pitt with 86 yards rushing on 14 carries, and went over 1,000 for the season. He joined Ollison at that benchmark, making the duo the first in school history to get there. Ollison ran for 56 on 13 attempts, passing Billy West and LeSean McCoy to move into seventh place on Pitt’s career rushing list.
Now, coach Pat Narduzzi and his team will wait to find out where they’re sent for a bowl game. Getting sent to one at all will be an improvement from a year ago, but they’ve yet to win a bowl since Narduzzi arrived and would see their hopes of a winning record vanish if they can’t do it this year.
At Pitt’s practice facility on the South Side, a picture of Bank of America Stadium hangs in coach Pat Narduzzi’s office, a reminder of where his program wants to finish every season of ACC play. For the first time, the Panthers got there. They came, they saw, but they couldn’t conquer against one of the top dogs in college football.