Acrisure Stadium hosted an unusual event on Saturday afternoon — an ACC football game between Pitt and Cal. The Golden Bears, making their first trip to the Steel City since 1966 and doing so as a conference member for the first time ever, played like a team just one week removed from blowing a 25-point lead at home and making its third cross-country trek in seven weeks.
No. 22 Pitt (6-0 overall, 2-0 ACC) was glad to revel in Cal’s miscues and, after falling behind early, wore down the Golden Bears (3-3 overall, 0-3 ACC) to earn a narrow 17-15 win. The Panthers didn’t convert a third down until the third quarter, and freshman phenom Eli Holstein looked human for the first time this season. But a stifling effort from the defense powered them to a 6-0 start, the program’s first since 1982.
Sophomore Braylan Lovelace, a native of nearby Leechburg, grew up a Pitt fan, and his two sacks were critical as his hometown team beat the Golden Bears to earn this remarkable start.
“I’ve been coming to Pitt games since I was young. I’ve always been wanting to come here, wanting to put on the script,” he said. “I know all my family, they’re all big Pitt people and they’re smiling right now.”
The Golden Bears slowly applied more and more pressure to the Panthers after falling behind by 11 points by the 10:04 mark of the second quarter. The first poor showing of the year from Pitt’s offense allowed its opponents to crawl back and make it just a 17-15 deficit by the 10:30 mark of the fourth quarter.
Unable to generate any kind of offense, Pitt gave Cal the ball back with 8:19 left in the fourth quarter, and quarterback Fernando Mendoza was able to lead his unit within range of a potentially game-winning field goal while running the clock inside of two minutes. But kicker Ryan Coe’s 40-yard attempt was sent wide right. Pitt’s defense had to finish off the win by holding Cal short of field goal range again with 50 seconds left — a fitting end to a game that unit dominated.
The Panthers held Cal to just 15 points and 4.3 yards per play. They sacked Mendoza six times and forced stops on 10 of the Golden Bears’ final 13 third-down plays. By far the most unheralded of Pitt’s three phases through five games, defensive coordinator Randy Bates’ unit came through on a day when the typically explosive offense was anemic.
“Certain games, [the offense] carried [the defense], and in this game, I think we kind of carried them a little bit,” said defensive end Jimmy Scott, who landed three sacks. “So we’re both leaning on each other, and that’s how we win football games.”
The Panthers fell behind early, as Cal’s offense dominated possession downs. The visitors converted on 3rd-and-19 and 3rd-and-9 on a game-opening touchdown drive. Golden Bears speedster Jaivian Thomas raced 21 yards untouched around the Pitt defense to give his team a 6-0 advantage. Cal attempted a trick play on the two-point conversion, but kicker Lachlan Wilson couldn’t connect on a short pass to long snapper David Bird.
Pitt was aggressive in its pursuit of a response after falling behind early. Eager to get his offense out of neutral, head coach Pat Narduzzi attempted a conversion on 4th-and-5 from midfield. Desmond Reid rewarded his head coach’s confidence with a 19-yard reception and later punctuated the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run that put the Panthers ahead 7-6 at the 5:07 mark of the first quarter. Reid scored his second touchdown of the game on a 72-yard run. Pitt needed just 1 yard to convert on that fourth-down play.
Reid and Holstein said offensive coordinator Kade Bell drew the play up on the sidelines.
“I was just trying to get the first down. The plan wasn’t even to score,” Reid said. “But once I [saw] that hole open up, I just hit it and it was on from there.”
The Panthers’ first scoring drive came at a cost, though, as starting offensive linemen Branson Taylor and Ryan Jacoby went down with injuries that would prevent them from returning to the game. Terrance Enos Jr. and Jason Collier Jr. took over in their places.
Pitt then extended the lead with a 58-yard field goal from Ben Sauls, who has yet to miss an extra point or field goal attempt this season. That kick tied the Pitt record for longest field goal in school history and was 1 yard short of the stadium record.
Cal wouldn’t find the end zone again until the 10:30 mark of the fourth quarter. Pitt’s defensive line hounded Mendoza for three quarters and sacked him six times, a season high. But the Golden Bears finally broke through with a 78-yard scoring drive powered by tight end Jack Endries, whose four receptions went for 75 yards and a touchdown.
But when Reid wasn’t able to break off long runs, the Pitt offense struggled to move the football. Holstein ended the first half just 6 for 13 passing for 55 yards. Then a Cal secondary that leads the country in interceptions added to its tally in the third quarter by baiting Holstein into a pair of picks with well-disguised zone coverage.
Still, Holstein’s mistakes did little to impact the game, mostly because the Panthers defense shut down the Golden Bears offense almost entirely. But miscues from the visitors — 12 accepted penalties for 110 yards — certainly didn’t hurt.
The Panthers once again looked far from perfect but, as they have been all season, were remarkably resilient and clutch.
“We strive for perfection and we'll take excellence,” Narduzzi said. “It's never going to be perfect. ... That's why you've just got to play one play at a time, not look at the scoreboard and just try to win every play.”
Quotable
It took the Panthers until the 6:43 mark of the third quarter to convert a third down without the help of a Cal penalty. They gained a first down on just one of their 11 third-down plays.
This was the offense’s worst showing of the year. It gained just 277 yards and scored 17 points — both season lows. Holstein, who ended the game 14 of 28 passing for 133 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions has earned much of the credit for this offense’s hot start to the year, and when that unit faltered, he took responsibility..
“Me,” Holstein said when asked what was behind the Panthers’ offensive struggles. “I played like a freshman today. I kind of forced things, not taking what the defense gives me, trying to do too much, trying to make plays in unnecessary situations. I’ve just got to trust the plays, trust my guys, trust the offense, get the ball to those guys and let them make plays.”
Key stat
Pitt sacked Mendoza six times and came up with 11 tackles for loss on Saturday afternoon. Of their 48 total stops for a loss this season, 22% came against the Golden Bears. Of their 18 total sacks, 33% came this week. The defensive front’s ability to create big plays has been questioned all season, and it broke through at a most opportune time.
“I think it was really just all about taking that extra step,” said Lovelace, who logged two sacks and three tackles for loss. “We’ve really been emphasizing all week taking that extra step. It’s why we had been missing a couple times. But taking that extra step, really getting our hips into it is how we finished those sacks.”
Up next
The Panthers will enjoy their second and final bye week of the season before hitting the meat of their ACC schedule. They’ll host Syracuse for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on Thursday, Oct. 24 after returning from the open week. ESPN will carry the broadcast.
First Published: October 12, 2024, 11:10 p.m.