BLACKSBURG, Va. (EYT) – Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi didn’t want to talk about playing calling at the end of the game when his Panthers, trailing by six, failed to score on four straight plays from the 1-yard line with under a minute to play in a 20-14 loss at Virginia Tech.
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“We’ve got four downs from the one,” Narduzzi said. “We’ve got to punch it in. You need to block them. You need a yard. We can sit here and talk about play calls, you have to block them. You need a yard, four downs to get a yard. We could run four different plays. It doesn’t matter. You have to get one yard. We know they are a good football team. We know they have a good run defense. But it’s a yard. We’ve got to be able to get a yard.”
Watch Narduzzi’s full post-game comments.
Pitt unbelievably was in a position to win the game after freshman Kenny Pickett hit Jester Weah with a 74-yard pass to the 1-yard line on a fourth-and-4 play from the Pitt 25 with 1:02 to play. But Weah was caught by Reggie Floyd just before reaching the end zone.
“I didn’t think anyone could catch Jester Weah,” Narduzzi said. “I know he wished he would have just dove into the end zone.”
Still, Pitt had four cracks to pick up three feet.
But on a day that saw the Panthers rush for just 55 yards, those three feet were impossible to get.
On first down, Darrin Hall, who saw his string of three straight 100-yard rushing games come to a screeching halt when he managed just four yards on 15 carries – he did catch five passes for 63 yards 0 was stopped when he tried to go over right guard for no gain by Andrew Motuapuaka and Drake Deluliis.
After a Pitt timeout, Hall tried to go over right tackle but was again met by Motuapuaka and Houshun Gaines again for no gain.
Pitt then tried a fade pass on third down but Pickett’s attempt to hit Weah was defended by Greg Stroman setting up a fourth-down-and-the-game play.
Out of the shotgun, Pickett handed off to Hall on a read option but Virginia Tech swarmed the Panthers running back for a 3-yard loss with Floyd and Deluliss in on the tackle.
It was yet another disappointing if not too familiar ending for Panthers fans who witnessed their team allow 10 points in a three-minute span midway through the fourth quarter to blow a 14-10 lead they had taken on a trick play early in the fourth quarter.
Lining up to kick a 32-yard field goal down 10-7, Pitt was lined up in the swinging gate formation with Bossory, the long snapper, on the far right of the line but eligible. Ryan Winslow took the snap and threw it to Bossory for the score.
Virginia Tech was unfazed answering with a 10-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a 27-yard Brian Johnson field goal to get the Hookie within one, 14-13.
Pickett was then intercepted by Stroman around midfield and the Virginia Tech player returned the ball to the Pitt 40-yard line setting up a 23-yard Josh Jackson to Cam Phillips touchdown pass for the lead with 6:23 to play.
Pitt had two opportunities to answer but had to punt with 4:06 to play before getting the ball back on a Hokies punt with 1:34 left.
The teams traded first-quarter scores with Jackson giving Virginia Tech a 7-0 lead on a 4-yard run but Rafael Araujo-Lopes tying the game when he caught a 13-yard scoring pass from Ben DiNucci, who was pulled later in the game in favor of Pickett.
A 30-yard Johnson field goal early in the second quarter staked Virginia Tech to a 10-7 halftime lead.
“That’s a good football team out there today,” Narduzzi said. “Give Virginia Tech credit. We did enough things not to win the game.”
DiNucci was 4 of 8 for 54 yards, the touchdown and the interception before being pulled in favor of the freshman Pickett, who went 15 of 23 for 242 yards with the costly interception.
Weah had four catches for 104 yards, while Quadree Henderson led the ground game with 26 yards on two carries.
Jackson was 17 of 37 for 218 yards, a touchdown and an interception while adding 32 yards rushing and the score for the Hokies. Phillips had eight catches for 117 yards and the touchdown, while Deshawn McClease ran for a game-high 70 yards.
With the loss, Pitt fell to 4-7 overall and 2-5 in the ACC while being eliminated from bowl eligibility. Virginia Tech improved to 8-3, 4-3 in conference play.
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