Pitt hung in and pulled out a 17-10 win over South Florida. Both teams were only able to muster a field goal in the first half and neither quarterback played particularly well, each passing for less than 150 yards.
The Panthers looked like the better team for much of the game, but were hampered by poor pass interference penalties time after time. In all, Pitt racked up 11 penalties for 116 yards.
Offensively, Pitt couldn’t get much of anything going as far as big plays. But the Panthers rushed for 150 yards, which included a 100-yard performance by Dion Lewis. Lewis has now found the end zone in his past five straight games and his 22-yard run to put Pitt ahead for good was spectacular.
Pitt had a chance to ice the game and go up by ten with under two minutes left, but kicker Dan Hutchins missed a 43-yard field goal, giving life to USF.
It was short lived, though.
While Pitt hasn’t always done a good job with time management under Dave Wannstedt, South Florida couldn’t have done much worse at the end of the game. They got the ball back with 1:31 left in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get out of bounds on several plays and repeatedly took too much time. The kicker came when there was about 20 seconds left and USF was around midfield. Instead of spiking the ball, QB B.J. Daniels took up a lot of time before completing a short pass near the middle of the field.
Pitt is now 6-4 on the season and with two games remaining, still controls its own destiny to win the conference. The Panthers are now faced with a short week before the Friday Backyard Brawl with West Virginia.
For more post-game analysis, stop by Pitt blog Cardiac Hill.