Duke out-stupided Pitt.

That’s about as succinct a summary of this past weekend’s game as I can offer.

It was a cold, wet and miserable evening on an especially muted and somber day. And on a better day. A nicer day, the absolute stupidity of the game. The ridiculousness of it all. Well, it might have been a lot more amusing and fun as it was happening.

Instead, with the backdrop of Squirrel Hill. With the dismal weather. There was an undercurrent of anger and still more frustration at was happening on the field.

Pitt’s defense, which had looked so stout and so much like a unit that might have found itself a couple weeks ago. Well, they reverted back to form.

Back to the unit that we saw against Syracuse. Against UCF. Against UNC. Disorganized, sloppy. Gashed for big plays. Careless and unable to get stops in 3d and long, short, whatever (After the first 3 quarters, Duke hadn’t attempted a single punt and was 8-10 on 3d down.). All for long stretches. Yet showing brief moments of good play. A few series in a row where it would appear to be getting it together.

The big difference. The defense had its surge of competence late in the game when it really mattered.

Duke’s offense had their way with Pitt. In the air and on the ground. Almost 400 passing yards and over 200 rushing yards. 619 yards of total offense by the Blue Devils.

Disturbingly, only the second highest amount of yardage Pitt’s defense has allowed in the Narduzzi era. That Oklahoma State debacle last year set the bar exceptionally high at 676. The OSU beatdown, by the way eclipsed the 668 yards Pitt allowed in the win over Syracuse the year before. Amazing. Three straight years of a game where the Pitt defense allowed 600+ total yards, and yet Pitt is 2-1 in those games.

But I digress.

Pitt, though, continued to be a road paving offense. The ground game piled up 484 yards. Quadree Ollison continues to be the workhorse and has enjoyed a great season. The debut of V’Lique Carter overshadowed Ollison a bit.

Carter, a freshman defensive back from West Palm Beach, Fla., changed to the other side of the ball Saturday and rushed seven times for 137 yards and two touchdowns to help lead Pitt to a 54-45 victory against Duke in front of a crowd of 31,510 at Heinz Field.

In the first game of his collegiate career, he showed rare speed, once splitting two defenders who had an angle on him during a 31-yard touchdown run that cut the Duke lead to 35-32 in the third quarter.

“I was like, ‘OK,’ ” he said of the attention he received before the game. “ I was already feeling it. I (said) I’m going to have a great day.”
…
Narduzzi said he was saving Carter for the conference games. He even had him change his jersey from No. 21 to No. 19 after pregame warmups to support the subterfuge.

But if the freshman remains productive, the coach will have no qualms about burning Carter’s redshirt season, which would happen if he plays in the final four regular-season games.

“If he keeps doing that, he’ll be playing a fifth, too, maybe a sixth,” Narduzzi said.

Yeah, no. I think all calculations on holding Carter’s redshirt are out the window right now.

Duke had chances to put Pitt away for good in the 4th quarter. But found ways to miss those opportunities. Pitt — to the team’s credit — took advantage of it. Even as they had to settle for a field goal to tie with 2:33 left. At that point, it seemed like Pitt and Narduzzi — like the Syracuse game — were playing for the tie and OT. Yet, to still leave Duke that much time left on the clock when the stops have been minimal and Duke had only punted once. Lets just call that decision-making: questionable.

But Pitt got the ball back with 1:25 left and 82 yards to go (okay, much less given the way Kessman was kicking). And a passing game that was god-awful — both by the receivers missing passes and Pickett missing receivers. I mean, 4-15 for 78 yards to that point. Yeep.

The passing game rose from its grave. The short passes broke for big chuncks — Hall, 24 yards; Lopes, 17. And then Pickett placed a perfect 25 yard pass to a sliding Maurice Ffrench in the endzone. Nope, didn’t see that coming.

Just for good measure a safety to end the game.

And now it is down to Virginia for a Friday night game against the 1st place team in the Coastal, the University of Virginia. Keep having to stop the computer from trying to auto correct that to Virginia Tech.

And here’s the thing. Is there anything we can really take from this game that we don’t already know? Other then V’Lique Carter. Pitt’s offense is almost entirely on the ground. The defense is a wreck — and now getting riddled with injuries as Keyshon Camp is out for the rest of the season.

Virginia is a fundamentally sound team on both sides of the ball. They have a mobile QB, but aren’t a wide-open offense. UVa Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall keeps things simple for what should still be a rebuilding program.

I kind of think that is  good for Pitt.  As they definitely don’t do better against teams that are not airing it out more then they run it.

Pitt is 1-2 on the road. UVa is 6-0 at home.