QUICK STRIKE
Narduzzi breaks his drought as MVP Pickett leads late charge
DETROIT — Maurice Ffrench offered a knowing smile when asked about what lies ahead — for Pitt, not for him.
“They’re going to be explosive next year for sure,” Ffrench said last week. “I wish I had one more year to be in that second year [with offensive coordinator Mark Whipple].”
At least the outgoing senior wide receiver left his mark — and he wasn’t alone.
Ffrench tallied 12 catches in Thursday night’s Quick Lane Bowl, boosting his 2019 total to 96. That’s a single-season receptions record at Pitt, passing Larry Fitzgerald’s 92-catch benchmark from 2003. And Ffrench’s 96-yard touchdown catch — the Panthers’ longest passing play ever — served as a catalyst in Pitt’s 34-30 win over Eastern Michigan.
Pat Narduzzi’s bowl drought at Pitt is over. Kenny Pickett and the offense put up 458 total yards. And after a depressing finish to the regular season, the Panthers can enter the 2020 season with a bit of optimism.
Pitt, which lost its last two games and was skipped over in the bowl selection process in favor of three 6-6 teams, survived a heart-racing thrill ride in Detroit to finish its 2019 season with an 8-5 record. Eastern Michigan, meanwhile, falls to 67.
Narduzzi — who lost in the 2015 Military Bowl, 2016 Pinstripe Bowl and 2018 Sun Bowl — earned his first bowl win at Pitt thanks to a wild touchdown catch from Taysir Mack with less than a minute to go.
Pickett, who finished 27 for 39 for 361 passing yards and three touchdowns, pushed Pitt on a 10-play touchdown drive that started at the Panthers’ 9yard line and involved two third-down conversions. The junior quarterback, who was named the game’s MVP, capped the march with a 25-yard strike to Mack — who had a
cornerback draped all over him.
It was the final touchdown of what’s been a weird season for the Panthers — and ultimately, a game representative of Pitt’s rollercoaster campaign.
The Panthers’ night on offense began in typical 2019 Pitt fashion ... with a turnover. In the regular season, Pitt turned it over at least once in nine of 12 games, most recently giving possession away four times in a debilitating regular-season finale loss to Boston College. That yearlong trend continued as Pickett fumbled away Pitt’s first series, gifting Eastern Michigan fine field position.
Already leading 3-0, the Eagles engineered a 5-play, 59-yard touchdown drive to snare an early 10-0 lead. But the Panthers responded. A 44yard field goal by Michigan native Alex Kessman cut the Eagles’ advantage before an improbable hookup from Pickett to Ffrench unfolded.
Backed up to their own 4yard line, Eastern Michigan had a reasonable shot at a safety. But play-action and misdirection caught the Eagles’ defense out of position, and Pickett capitalized, finding Ffrench on a deep crossing pattern. The speedster burst past his man-toman cornerback, glided down the opposing sideline, juked a safety and skated into the south end zone.
The pro-Eastern Michigan crowd quieted as Pitt fans — the minority, but in the moment raucous — celebrated the program’s longest passing play. Previously, Alex Van Pelt’s 91-yard pass to Dietrich Jells in 1992 held that distinction. But the wild affair was far from its finish. What else would you expect from the 2019 Panthers?
Well, maybe not a tipped pass touchdown. That’s a first.
Eastern Michigan quarterback Mike Glass, more than a nuisance all night with 394 total yards of offense, targeted wide receiver Quian Williams on a one-on-one route down EMU’s sideline. Pitt corner Damarri Mathis — an underrated member of Pitt’s defense and someone who had to step up with Jason Pinnock out for an undisclosed reason — had it covered. But he let a pick bounce off his hands and into Williams’ path. A path that led him to a 50-yard score.
Naturally, Pitt knotted it up before the break. An 8play, 75-yard drive, extensively featuring true freshman running back Vincent Davis, ended in the Florida native scooting into the end
zone for an 8-yard score (his fifth of the season).
The two squads traded field goals in a largely uneventful third quarter. You know, aside from the six-player, 15yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called on Pitt.
Pitt, down 20-17, caught what seemed to be a gamesaving break. Senior safety Damar Hamlin intercepted Glass and returned it 14 yards down to Eastern Michigan’s 14-yard line. The Panthers were in prime position to find the end zone and take a lead — something that eluded Narduzzi’s squad all evening.
But Hamlin and his teammates — Mathis, Saleem Brightwell, Paris Ford, Dane Jackson and Cam Bright — got too carried away, celebrating in the end zone like an NFL defense would after a turnover. All six were flagged, pushing Pitt back to the Eastern Michigan 29-yard line. Kessman later settled for a field goal.
In the fourth quarter, the teams traded TD drives.