A great win for Pitt.
I say this, mostly sober. With full knowledge that USF was not a good team. That Pitt got plenty of help from the numerous penalties committed by the Bulls.
I’ve followed this team closely through the Walt Harris era. This was the kind of game Pitt wouldn’t necessarily lose, but it would be one where the outcome would remain in doubt to the very end. Where it would be 50-50 by the end whether Pitt came away with a win or a loss. Not today. Not with this team, not with the way Harris is coaching and this team is playing.
Pitt took control of this game early. And despite special teams that made me want to add bourbon to my coffee, and a defense that I would trust as much as a condom in the wallet of a high schooler; the game was over early in the second quarter.
Not sure what the snafus are right now with that stats online. ESPN’s are blank. Sportsline has huge gaps. Fox Sports look correct. Here’s play-by-play.
The game was an 11 am start, Eastern Standard. Still drinking coffee at that point. Must have been interesting for Pitt fans on the West Coast to essentially roll out of bed and catch kickoff.
Obviously the fans in Tampa are not early risers. The stands look empty. Scattered pockets, but it doesn’t even look close to half-filled. The “official” attendance ends up being declared at 23,417.
Pitt starts with the ball. Murphy in the backfield and they say that Kirkley is out with a rib injury suffered in the WVU game. News to me. I don’t recall reading any mention of that during the week. Pitt methodically marches down the field to score a touchdown on a sweet 18 yard fade pass to Greg Lee. Murphy ran the ball for 7 yards and on a short pass gained 26 more. Lee’s first catch for 14 yards put him on top of the Big East receiver rankings for total receiving yards. How did the guy who leads the BE in receiving yards, and receiving yards/game only make 2nd team BE?
The extra point gets blocked so Pitt is only up 6-0.
USF gets their chance and immediately self-destructs. Two consecutive penalties — a false start and a holding have them back inside their own 10. Then a pass is attempted and hits the receiver right on his hands. Unfortunately for USF, Josh Lay hits the receiver and the ball pops high into the air right to Malcolm Postell who takes it in for a TD. Extra point was good. 13-0 Pitt.
[As ESPN comes out of commercials, we are treated to the sight of USF’s Cheerleading or Dance Team. I noted that their wonderfully skimpy outfits said “Sun Dolls,” though I thought maybe they read “Sun Bulls.” Now in the interest of accuracy, I can confirm it was the dance team, and it did indeed say “Sun Dolls.” You have to love a squad that is coached by someone who uses “princesslisa” as her e-mail name. No, she’s not high maintenance. In this respect, USF will be a welcome addition to the Big East. But I digress.]
USF’s next possession is scary. They seem to be moving at will on Pitt. Johnny Peyton has a couple of nice catches for first downs. Then they turn the ball over again. On a pass, the receiver makes the catch and despite having the first down, tries to stretch for a couple more yards. As he does, the ball is stripped and Pitt recovers the fumble.
Pitt takes over at its own 14, and moves down the field. Pitt is forced to settle for a field goal just at the start of the 2nd quarter. Still, it is 16-0 Pitt. 10 points off of turnovers, and nearly 3 quarters to go.
USF does nothing with the ball, and on the punt commits a dumb personal foul. This USF team is just not good.
Pitt has great field position. Tight End, Eric Gill, makes a 46 yard gain off about a 15 yard pass. He just had tacklers bounce off of him. Pitt stalls inside the 15, and then has the field goal attempt blocked. A blocked extra point and FG. That isn’t a positive trend.
USF continues to have everything go wrong. On 2nd and 6 from their 24, the QB has his pass batted up in the air at the line of scrimmage. Postell again comes down with it. He takes it 17 yards to the 7. Pitt scores on another TD pass to Lee. This time a nice slant inside. USF can take solace in blocking another extra point. What the hell is going on with the special teams? Pitt is up 22-0 with almost 10 minutes left in the half.
USF finally puts a drive together. Funny thing. They didn’t commit any penalties and they march 78 yards down the field for a TD capped off by a halfback pass to the QB that Pitt bit so hard on. Extra point was good 22-7 Pitt, with nearly 5 minutes left in the half.
Pitt flagged for holding on the kickoff, so they start at their own 15. Good, god, but the stadium is quiet. Pathetic attempts to make noise are not working.
Pitt drives. Well really does nothing except for 4 big plays. Lee makes a nice over the shoulder reception for 31 yards and Marcus Furman gets a screen/dump off pass that he takes for 24 yards. Then another deep ball to Lee caught easily for 32 more yards to set up 1st and goal at the 7. Palko throws a simple lob/fade to Lee for the third TD pass (all to Lee). Pitt manages to block correctly and the extra point is good. 29-7 with 1:24 left until halftime.
The kickoff goes out of bounds for the second time. What is going on with the special teams/kicking? Getting a bit worrisome for the bowl game.
USF goes 3 and out. Pitt is content to let the half go.
- Pitt never punted in the 1st half.
- Greg Lee had 6 receptions for 106 yards and 3 TDs. (Once more, how was he only second team All-Big East?)
- Palko was 13-18, 241 yards, 3 TDs
- Tim Murphy had 11 carries for 55 yards, plus 26 yards receiving
- Postell had 2 INT, 1 TD
Pitt does its best to help USF to start the second half. The kickoff drew a flag because Pitt somehow managed a delay of game penalty.
USF looks good in the opening drive. With a mix of runs to the outside and short passes, they get to the Pitt 20. Then they proceed to run up the middle twice for only 3 and 0 yards. 4th and 2 and they go for it. Rather than option run or just short pass for the first down, they try for a TD. Horribly inaccurate pass, and Pitt takes over on downs.
USF lost the game there. They were taking it to Pitt. Making a statement that they weren’t going to roll over. It looked like they made an adjustment to take advantage of Pitt’s weaknesses. Then they got greedy and stupid. It didn’t matter that Pitt went 3 and out on the ensuing possession and USF scored a TD to make it 29-14, the game was over for USF when they blew the opening possession.
Pitt immediately countered with a 92 yard drive in just 3 minutes. DelSardo made a nice catch for 20 yards and then Lee caught a 39 yarder to set up 1st and goal. Pitt scored on a screen pass to Furman. It was Furman’s first TD of the year. Extra point was good. 36-14 Pitt. On the drive Palko broke 300 yards passing, and Lee brought his reception totals to 8 for 153 yards.
Lee was done after that drive. He ended the regular season with 1,204 total receiving yards (leading the BE, 6th best in the country and 3rd best in a season at Pitt); 61 receptions (2nd in the BE, 6th best in Pitt history); 9 TD catches (2nd in the BE); his BE leading avg. receiving yards/game increased to 109.45 (6th in the country); and it was his 6th 100+ yard receiving game. How was Lee not 1st team All-Big East?Feel free to explain it to me.
The biggest concern out of this game was the continued poor play of special teams as 2 kickoffs went out of bounds; and several were short allowing good field position.
USF did nothing again, and forced to punt. The ball went into the endzone for a touchback. Only 1 second left in the third quarter when Pitt starts from their own 20. This was a doozy. Palko drops back and throws the ball about 20 yards downfield to TE Eric Gill who was wide open. The cornerback (cornerback?) who was covering him let him slip (slip? Have you seen the size of Gill?) behind him and tried desperately to make a play on the ball. Missed and Gill rumbled all the way for a TD. An 80 yard TD to end the quarter. With the extra point it was 43-14. Palko now had 5 TD passes and 398 yards.
USF quickly gave the ball up. Pitt took over, and on the first play, Palko threw a pass to DelSardo good for 13 more yards. At that point Palko was also lifted with 14 minutes left. Joe Flacco came in.
Palko ended the day with 411 yards on 19-28 passing, 5 TDs and 0 INT. The 411 yards was 5th most for a Pitt QB in a game. That gave him 2,816 yards for the season. That puts him 6th on the Pitt single season passing records. He had 23 TDs for the season (leading the Big East).
The entire Pitt bench was emptied in the 4th quarter. I sighted Brandon Mason and Darren McCray playing RB, Joe Stephens and Darrelle Strong at WR. Steve Buches got some time at TE. It was a great thing to see Harris get everyone into the game.
Some thing that makes me nervous is that Murphy had one carry at the start of the 3rd quarter (-3 yards) but never went back into the game. Was he hurt? Why was he kept out the rest of the 3rd quarter?
Fine, fine win. Next stop Tempe.
