Pitt withstands comeback to beat Penn State, 42-39

Pittsburgh RB James Conner (24) finished Saturday’s game vs. Penn State with 117 yards and a touchdown. (AP Photo)

 

Pittsburgh and Penn State hadn’t played since 2000 before Saturday. The return of this in-state rivalry was a doozy.

After storming out to a big lead, Pitt, playing in front of a raucous crowd at Heinz Field, withheld a furious Penn State comeback attempt in a nail-biting 42-39 win. The Panthers rushed for 341 yards in the win, led by junior James Conner. Conner, in his second game back after a cancer diagnosis, led all players with 117 yards and a touchdown on the afternoon. He also had this critical receiving touchdown on a shovel pass from QB Nathan Peterman in the fourth quarter:

The shovel pass was just one of many wrinkles the Panthers offense used throughout the game. Pitt relied heavily on misdirection plays — mainly sweeps to a wide receiver or H-back — in the first half to gash the porous PSU front. That powerful ground attack, coupled with two Penn State  fumbles, allowed the Panthers to jump out to a 28-7 lead. Those two turnovers, both fumbles by quarterback Trace McSorley (one on a sack, another on a poor read option exchange) gave Pitt short fields, allowing scoring drives of 12 and 30 yards in the first half.

Penn State cut the lead to 28-14 at halftime on a Saquon Barkley touchdown run, one of his five — yes, five — total touchdowns on the day.

Things swung a bit more in Penn State’s favor in the second half, but the Nittany Lions couldn’t quite complete the comeback.

After the teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, Penn State had its first chance to tie the game early in the fourth. Pitt led 35-28 when Conner fumbled deep in his own territory. The momentum seemed to be firmly in PSU’s corner, but the Pitt defense came up with a big stop, forcing the Nittany Lions to settle for a Tyler Davis field goal to cut the lead to 35-31 with 12:04 to play.

And after that big stop, Pitt’s special teams unit came up with a huge play — an 84-yard kickoff return by the speedy Quadree Henderson to give the Panthers the ball at the PSU 10. The Penn State defense stuffed two running plays to start the possession, but new Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Canada went back to the shovel pass and Conner waltzed in for an easy, and eventual game-sealing 12-yard score on third-and-goal.

Penn State didn’t go down quietly. McSorley, making his second career start, quickly led the Nittany Lions down the field, and Barkley finished things off with his fourth rushing score of the game. A two-point conversion from McSorley to DaeSean Hamilton cut Pitt’s lead down to 42-39 with 5:00 remaining.

The Penn State defense, which struggled for much of the afternoon, forced a three-and-out on Pitt’s next possession, giving its offense a chance to tie or win the ballgame, but the offense just couldn’t come through. PSU’s first missed chance came when McSorley found Hamilton behind the defense, but the nicely placed ball hit off the usually sure-handed receiver’s fingertips for an incompletion. A few plays later, the Nittany Lions converted on a fourth-and-16 completion from McSorley to DeAndre Thompkins down to the Pitt 31. However, McSorley was intercepted two plays later by Ryan Lewis on an ill-advised throw:

McSorley was looking for big freshman Irvin Charles, but forced the ball into double coverage for an easy interception. Penn State had more than two minutes left in the game, but McSorley looked for the home run, and it cost him.

This is a pretty big win for Pitt and head coach Pat Narduzzi, especially on the recruiting trail. Penn State has long been perceived as the top program in the state of Pennsylvania, but losses to Temple and Pitt in back-to-back seasons doesn’t exactly reinforce that perceived status.

This is year three at PSU for James Franklin, and a loss to an in-state foe doesn’t do much to calm the hot seat rumblings that are beginning to surface. It could have been much worse, however. This game had all the makings of a blowout early on, but Franklin’s team (which is very young) responded and nearly pulled off an improbable comeback.

The offense is clearly an improved unit (it had nowhere to go but up) with former Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead running the show. If the Nittany Lions can bounce back next week vs. Temple and pull off an upset or two in Big Ten play, Franklin should be able to keep his job.