Pitt Football
Pitt Gets Back in Win Column, Upsets No. 14 Louisville 38-21
PITTSBURGH — As a modest (to say the least) Acrisure Stadium crowd cleared out at the half Saturday night, the Panther Pitt took a hit, too. But a large, loud mass of royal blue remained seated in the student section.
The rain continued to fall in sheets as the second half wore on, but it started to sound like a crowd again as C’Bo Flemister dove into the end zone a dozen yards from the Panther Pitt late in the third quarter. It was loud as M.J. Devonshire picked off Louisville quarterback Jack Plummer and raced 87 yards back toward the royal blue mob a few plays later.
Pitt still needed a few defensive stands in the fourth quarter — shutting down a strong Louisville offense in the second half — to put the 14th-ranked Cardinals away, but Pitt still walked off the field with a 38-21 upset win over the Cards.
Christian Veilleux, in his first collegiate start, completed 12-of-26 pass attempts for 200 yards and two touchdowns, showing very promising flashes throughout, and the Pitt defense racked up three sacks, six tackles for loss and three turnovers — with three more turnovers on downs.
It just took a little bit of time for Pitt to start looking like a football team in the beginning.
It looked bleak — really bleak — early as Pitt mustered -4 yards on its first three possessions. The bye week appeared to have done more harm than good, especially as Louisville looked sharp on its first possession.
A poor Caleb Junko punt, which capped a -12-yard first drive, set the Cardinals up at the Pitt 40. And five rather effortless plays later, Louisville struck first as Jack Plummer connected with Chris Bell on a 7-yard touchdown reception in the back of the end zone.
But you know what they say, the fourth time’s the charm, right? Kenny Johnson took a sweep six yards to get Pitt out of the negatives, Rodney Hammond Jr. gashed the Cardinals for an 18-yard gain and it set up a 46-yard touchdown strike from Veilleux to Bub Means.
Pittsburgh Panthers defensive back Phillip O’Brien Jr. (5) October 5, 2023 David Hague/PSN
Louisville answered, retaking the lead early in the second quarter with a 2-yard dive from Isaac Guerendo, and appeared to be driving toward another before a strip sack (and recovery) by Samuel Okunlola. And Veilleux led Pitt on perhaps its best drive of the season, completing 4-of-6 pass attempts for 59 yards to set up a C’Bo Flemister touchdown dive.
The Cardinals struck late in the first half, Guerendo diving into the end zone from a yard out with 25 seconds left to take a 21-14 lead into the half.
But a defensive stand, Bangally Kamara stuffing a 4th-and-1 rush attempt at the Louisville 34, to open the second half gave Pitt a chance to get one back on the Cards. It didn’t result in a touchdown, but Ben Sauls connected on a 46-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 21-17. Another defensive stand, resulting in a punt from the Cards’ end zone, gave Pitt a chance to take the lead.
And what did Pitt do? Take its first second half lead since Week 1 against Wofford. Flemister scored his second of the night, rumbling into the end zone from three yards out to cap a beautiful 13-play, 61-yard drive that burned up nearly seven minutes of times off the clock.
.@Pitt_FB takes their first lead of the game!! pic.twitter.com/puYZVV5Ls1
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) October 15, 2023
Pitt held a 24-21 lead late in the third quarter, and the Devonshire pick-six stretched that lead to 10 points as Neil Diamond’s Sweet Carolina blared on the PA system during the third quarter intermission. Another interception at the start of the second half, A.J. Woods hauling in an errant Plummer pass, got the Panther Pitt jumping again.
🔄 That INT by @AJWoods09
📺 @TheCW @TheCW_Sports#H2P » #PittHC23 pic.twitter.com/XG3xzpzJnR
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) October 15, 2023
Pitt played it conservatively on its possessions in the fourth quarter, going three-and-out three times, but it didn’t result in any lasting harm — just a missed field goal from Louisville’s Brock Travelstead and two turnovers on downs.
It wasn’t always easy, with some suspect play-calling down the stretch, but Pitt put the Cardinals away with a 31-yard touchdown toss from Veilleux to Konata Mumpfield to stretch the lead to 17 points. And that was the ball game.
.@pitt_fb adding more points late in the 4th!!🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/SWcYL76BD4
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) October 15, 2023
Pitt will be on the road next week in Winston-Salem, N.C. to take on Wake Forest, a Demon Deacons squad coming off a loss to Virginia Tech, and kickoff is currently scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium.
I really, really, really don’t like that Pitt’s QB used to suit up for Penn State
but i’ll take the win
If you can’t start at Penn state go to pitt
Just think if Pitt had about 5 or 6 more PSU players transfer in. They would have more talent and quality depth. I would take as many as I could. I hate PSU, but they have good players and a good program.
I hear ya Ace, but hey, he’s a Panther now and I’m sure he’s loving it in the ‘burgh. Just like Petrishen before him and Devonshire from Kentucky and Simon from ND and the list goes on. Sometimes it takes these kids a few years to realize that the grass ain’t always greener at those bigger schools.
Not sure how 12 of 26 looks good, but somehow it did. Veilleux just looked smoother. With that said Cignetti sure tried to ruin the QB improvement with predictable almost Matt Canada like play calling. Bring Whipple back, give him a run game coordinator and I think we got something. Good win and something to build off of. H2P!!!
What about 18 for 26. Four drops and means could have caught the deep out. #24 dropped a flat pass. #0 got hit in the gut with one so did #9. And #86 dropped near the end Zone.
Remarkably improved play triggered on two explosive back to back Run plays leading to the deep Play Action.
A simple Offense with execution looks much better when done so with timely big plays on Defense.
Veilleux had a rough first quarter but he got better as the game went on. The guy definitely has some potential.
The team seemed to have different vibe – play harder as a team, and seemed better planned. Veilleux stats may not look good, but liked his presence. I wish these changes were done 2 games ago.