The Sunday Afternoon Quarterback #3: An Ugly Win is Still a Win

#13 Penn State Nittany Lions 17 – Pittsburgh Panthers 10

One hundred and twenty-six years of rivalry ended on a rainy day in Beaver Stadium with Penn State clawing, biting, and scratching their way to a 17-10 victory over their bitter in-state rival Pittsburgh. This was the 100th meeting between the two teams and on a lightning delayed rainy day in State College, Penn State will hold the series lead 53-43-4 for the foreseeable future. There are currently no scheduled games between these two teams after the current four game series wrapped up on Saturday. Penn State would go 3-1 against Pitt during the four game series winning the last three. Pitt’s only victory came in 2016 with a 42-39 win that effectively would keep Penn State out of the College Football Playoffs when the final rankings were announced.  

Saturday’s game kicked off at noon which put it in a really bad spot for the amount of things I needed to accomplish in order to watch it. I was having a few co-workers over for a day of smoked food on the grill, a few beers, and college football. I recorded the game so I could fast forward and watch parts of it while prepping and cooking food, but as I tuned in live I discovered that most of it wouldn’t be worth watching after all.  

After a 40 minute weather delay, the game would start with Pitt receiving the ball first.  The Panthers would manage three yards of offense on three plays before punting the ball away. The Nittany Lions drive started with a 16 yard pass to Pat Freiermuth. Three plays later on third down, quarterback Sean Clifford would take off for a 13 yard gain. With second down on the Pitt 42, Clifford would be sacked and fumble, and Penn State would recover but suffer a 13 yard loss and be forced to punt it away. 

The Panthers would then put together a 6 play 50 yard drive that included a 48 yard pass from Kenny Pickett to A.J. Davis on third down. A fumble by Pickett later in the drive would force Pitt to punt, pinning the Lions at their own 2 yard line. The Nittany Lion offense needed only 5 plays to go 98 yards and put the first points on the board. On third and nine, Journey Brown took the handoff to the left side, broke through the line and cut back across the field for an 85 yard gain to the Pitt 12 yard line. After a Pitt pass interference call, Devyn Ford found pay dirt on second and goal from the 1 yard line. Penn State would take the lead at 7-0.

Back to back punts would end the first quarter with the Panthers starting at their own 8 yard line. Kenny Pickett engineered an 18 play 85 yard drive. Pickett, who would throw for 372 yards on the day, went 12 of 13 on the drive. The Penn State defense would hold Pitt to a 25 yard Alex Kessman field goal after a first and goal at their 9 yard line. Penn State 7-3. 

The Penn State offense sputtered on the next drive, mustering one yard on three plays before punting back to the Panthers. Pickett and the Pitt offense again drove the field, putting together an 8 play 78 yard drive that was capped by Vincent Davis’s three yard touchdown run and what would be Pitt’s last lead of this rivalry series. Pitt 10-7. 

Penn State would receive the kickoff and have two minutes to put points on the board. Starting at their own 13 yard line, Clifford completed a 40 yard pass to Ricky Slade on 3rd and 8 to keep the drive going. Slade would convert a 4th and 1 later in the drive, setting up what would be a record breaking field goal by Jordan Stout. With :01 remaining on the clock, Stout would drill a 57 yard field goal from the Pitt 39 and knot the game up heading into half. Penn State 10-10.

K.J. Hamler returned the 2nd half kickoff 20 yards, setting up the Lions at their own 21 yard line. After 14 yards in 5 plays, the Lions would be forced to punt it away. The Panthers’ offense would only move the ball 17 yards before punting back to Penn State. Sean Clifford, starting at his own 12 yard line, moved the Nittany Lions 88 yards in 13 plays. Noah Cain was the work horse of the drive, rushing for 40 yards and the go ahead 13 yard touchdown run ending with a lead that Penn State would hold onto for the rest of the game. Penn State 17-10. 

Pitt was far from finished though as the next four series saw the teams trade punts until Pickett moved the Panthers down field with a 29 yard pass to Taysir Mack, setting Pitt up with a 1st and goal at the Nittany Lion 1 yard line. The Penn State defense held on, forcing two incomplete passes and stuffing Pickett on a run. Coach Pat Narduzzi elected to kick a field goal instead of going for the touchdown. Alex Kessman lined up for a 19 yard field goal that he would kick into the left upright and bounce away. Penn State couldn’t run out the final 4:35, giving the Panthers one more drive to tie the game. 

Starting at his own 16 yard line with 1:49 to go, Pickett would find Taysir Mack 4 times for 54 yards on the drive, allowing for one final pass into the end zone that would be batted down by Cam Brown. Penn State 17-10 along with bragging rights over Pitt for who knows how long. Penn State has a bye next week before traveling to Maryland for a Friday night showdown.  

A big shout out to Army who bounced back from their heartbreaking overtime loss to #7 Michigan last week by putting on their most offensive output to date beating UTSA 31-13. Also, the Cal Bears moved to 3-0 with their 23-17 win over North Texas.  

Until next week, WE ARE…

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee and Jeff

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