Pitt has come a million miles, still has a million miles to go
That Pitt played in the ACC championship Saturday night shows how far the long-irrelevant program has come. Millions of miles. That Pitt was clobbered by Clemson, 42-10, at Bank of America Stadium shows how far it still has to go. Millions of miles.
Analyzing the game is easy. There is a reason Clemson has won four consecutive ACC championships, will be in the College Football Playoff for a fourth consecutive year and will be chasing its second national title in three seasons. Its talent is superior to just about every team in college football. It wasn’t
hard to see that edge against Pitt.
Pitt certainly wasn’t good enough to overcome its worst start of the season and some lousy offensive strategy by its coaches. Clemson took a 7-0 lead on ACC player of the year Travis Etienne’s 75-yard touchdown run on the game’s first play. It went up, 14-0, after Pitt’s first two possessions went incomplete pass, run for minus-1 yard, sack for minus-9 yards, punt, pass for minus-4 yards, false start, delay of game, timeout, false start, run for 1 yard and lost fumble by quarterback Kenny Pickett. It doesn’t get any worse than that.
Give Pitt credit for fighting back to 14-10 midway through the second quarter. At that point, it was hard not to think about Pitt’s incredible 43-42 win at Clemson in 2016, Clemson’s only loss in a national championship season. Pitt still was in this game late in the first half, down 2110, when the coaches let the team down. Pickett, a sophomore in his first season as a starter, isn’t good enough yet to throw three consecutive times from his 31 in the final minute of the half against one of the best defenses in college football. His poor third-down pass was intercepted by cornerback A.J. Terrell and returned to the Pitt 10. Clemson scored on the next play to take a 28-10 lead with 25 seconds left. Pickett was 3 for 12 for 5 yards in the half and finished the game 4 for 16 for 8 yards.
Pitt was disorganized offensively almost all night. It had four false-start penalties, an illegal-shift penalty, a holding penalty and an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty. It also had to waste two timeouts. It was so bad that it had to call a timeout before it ran its first play in the third quarter after a touchback gave it the ball at its 25. I can’t make that up.
What’s harder to wrap my arms around is what kind of season it has been for Pitt with one minor bowl game left.
On one hand, Pitt won the ACC Coastal Division title. I realize the teams on that side of the conference are mostly mediocre — or worse — but that’s still a significant accomplishment for a program that is trying to build under Pat Narduzzi, who is nearing the end of his fourth season. Congrats are in order for that.
I also give Pitt big props for playing a rugged non-conference schedule. It took on two undefeated teams — Central Florida and Notre Dame — and nearly won at Notre Dame. It also faced Big Ten power Penn State. There was only one Albany on the schedule. Again, congrats are appropriate. Every team should play such a schedule. The college game would be a lot more fun.
But Pitt lost that game to Penn State, 51-6. To its bitter rival. With in-state recruiting at stake. At home, no less. It lost by 31 points at Central Florida. It lost at North Carolina, the only ACC win for the Tar Heels, who fired their coach last week. It also inexcusably did a no-show at Miami in its final regular-season game.
All of it has left Pitt with a 7-6 record. If it loses its bowl game — at least it’s going to one after missing out last season — it will finish 7-7 with a three-game losing streak.
How can I call that a good season?
How can anyone?