Another missed opportunity in a season full of them

In some cases, those opportunities were winnable games against opponents who haven’t exactly had good seasons. Cincinnati in Week Two was an example of that; the Bearcats still haven’t won a game since beating Pitt - seven losses and counting.

West Virginia the following week was another example. The Mountaineers have been better than Cincinnati - they’re 5-3 and nearing bowl eligibility - but they are flawed and scored just 17 points against Pitt.

And the loss at Wake Forest two weeks ago was yet another example. The Deacons were playing with their third quarterback and did very little in the way of anything good for most of the game, but the Panthers couldn’t seize the opportunity.

Those three games stand as missed shots as should-be wins - games against opponents that Pitt should be able to defeat in most standard scenarios.

But Saturday night’s loss to No. 4 Florida State was a missed opportunity of a different kind.

The Seminoles are one of the best teams in the country, a perfect 9-0 after beating Pitt 24-7 and securing a spot in the ACC Championship Game in the process. They’re one of the best teams in the country, and they’ll be a challenge for anyone to beat.

Pitt had a chance, though.

For starters, Florida State walked onto the field at Acrisure Stadium with its two NFL prospect receivers, Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson, in street clothes. Coleman and Wilson have combined to catch 63 passes for 943 yards and 11 touchdowns. They’ll both be getting paid to play football next year - real contract salaries, not just NIL money - and their absences took a lot of the punch out of the Seminoles’ offense.

Not all of the punch, of course. Florida State leads the ACC in scoring, the Seminoles have weapons all over the place.

And yet, Pitt’s defense contained those weapons - or, at the very least, kept them out of the end zone for large stretches of the game. FSU had nearly 300 yards of offense in the first half on Saturday, but all of that yardage resulted in just 10 points. And even though FSU finally broke through for a couple of touchdowns in the third quarter, holding the Seminoles to three trips to the end zone despite giving up more than 500 yards of offense represents a fairly solid day at the office for Pitt’s defense.

Everyone who has watched the Panthers this season knows what’s coming next.

It was the offense.

Once again, Pitt’s offense failed to capitalize. When the Panthers’ defense held Florida State scoreless for the first 15 minutes, Pitt’s offense gained just 19 yards. When the defense still only yielded 10 points in the first half, the offense produced just one touchdown, fumbling away an opportunity at the goal line and punting five times.

When the defense turned FSU’s first possession of the second half into a three-and-out that gained a net total of minus-14 yards, the offense came back with a five-play drive that, after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of unknown origin, gained a net of five yards.

And when the defense finally cracked, when the top-scoring offense in the ACC finally started scoring, Pitt’s offense managed a four-play drive for 14 yards, an eight-play drive for 21 yards, a five-play drive for 26 yards and a two-play drive for 25 yards.

Florida State was always going to break through and reach the end zone. But before that happened, Pitt’s offense had ample opportunities to create a cushion for that inevitable scoring.

Instead, that window of 41 minutes and 34 seconds of game time during which Florida State scored just 10 points was unexploited by the Panthers. They had a chance to score, take a lead and put the No. 4 team in the country on the ropes for a bit.

They couldn’t do it, though, and another opportunity was missed. Just like it was missed against Cincinnati in this venue two months ago. Just like it was missed in Morgantown. Just like it was missed in Winston-Salem.

Missed opportunities have doomed Pitt to a 2-7 record and a failure to reach bowl eligibility for the first time in six years.