“We will play them at our place as part of our scheduling plan”. But Franklin almost got ejected from the game following his second sack, where he initially was called for targeting Pittsburgh quarterback Nate Peterman above the shoulders before Syracuse successfully challenged the play. Until Syracuse finds an offensive coordinator willing to take shots down the field, it’s going to be hard for the team to compete in the ACC.
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The Panthers are persistent, scrappy, hard-nosed, relentless, and display a phenomenal amount of character.
How could you not like what you are seeing with this Pitt coaching staff? Narduzzi has his team believing in itself.
Syracuse countered with a field goal to tie it at 20. Pittsburgh gained 29 yards on two plays and ended the half on Blewitt’s 30-yard field goal that hit the left crossbar and caromed through to make it 17-13. “I had a lot of confidence in that punt fake”. Punter Ryan Winslow took the snap, rolled to his right and floated a pass to linebacker Matt Galambos for a 12-yard gain and the first down.
Pittsburgh Panthers rank at 64 for scoring 31.0 points where as Syracuse Orange rank at 36 for allowing 19.5 scores. But the backbreaker came on a Pitt fake punt on 4th and 8 with under five minutes in the game that kept their drive alive.
Having a big team come to a non-Power Five team’s stadium can be a draw for fans. And SU’s defense held Pittsburgh to only 23 points after giving up 44 and 45 points the last two weeks. Whether Syracuse saw that or not, it worked, because Pitt faked the punt the other way. We would, in a ideal world, love to play every year…our desire is to play Penn State every year. Eric Dungey threw to Erv Philips on the next play and the H-back finished the play by racing into the end zone for a touchdown.
Pitt: WR Tyler Boyd, who has 41 catches for 396 yards and four TDs this season, is the most prolific receiver in school history with 204 career catches, ahead of Devin Street (202), Latef Grim (178), Antonio Bryant (173), and Larry Fitzgerald (161).
Early in the third quarter, disaster almost struck again for Syracuse. Narduzzi has quickly brought a winning mentality to a team that has been accustomed to just falling short.
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The Seminoles (6-1, 4-1) are coming off their first loss of the season, a 22-16 loss at Georgia Tech where the Yellow Jackets returned a blocked field goal for the winning touchdown on the final play of the game. Pitt will finish with four home contest to only one on the road. That could be a huge battle for first as well. He indicated that the key today was a little easier than last week’s 56 yarder. Last week, Virginia’s field goal on the final play of regulation forced overtime, where they eventually won. If Pitt can beat both North Carolina and Duke, it appears that the Panthers could be destined to get into the ACC Championship Game against Clemson or Florida State.
