WINSTON-SALEM (N.C.) - Pitt walked into BB&T Field on Saturday with an opportunity it had never had since joining the ACC in 2013:
Clinch the Coastal Division championship.
And while it wasn’t always pretty and it certainly wasn’t easy, the Panthers got it done, beating Wake Forest 34-13 to win the division title and earned a spot in the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 1 in Charlotte.
The conference title game will have Pitt facing Atlantic Division champion Clemson in a rematch of the classic 2016 game that saw the Panthers upset the then-undefeated Tigers 43-42 on the road. That game will be discussed at length over the next two weeks, but to get there, Pitt had to put in another heroic performance on Saturday.
The Panthers trailed Wake Forest 10-6 at halftime, but it wasn’t the first time this season they have been down after two quarters. In fact, the last two times Pitt trailed at halftime were the games at Virginia and against Duke - both times, the Panthers came back to win, and they repeated the feat.
There was the offense, listless with just one touchdown and 58 rushing yards in the first half but exploding in the second half. Led by Kenny Pickett’s first career 300-yard passing game, the Panthers scored touchdowns on each of their first three possessions to keep the pressure on the home team and then added one more score on the fourth drive - a throwback pass to left tackle Stefano Millin, just for good measure.
And there was the defense, which had played a solid first half in allowing just 10 points on 151 yards before turning it up the second half. The Panthers forced a trio of three-and-outs and a field goal on Wake Forest’s first four drives after halftime; then, when the Deacons absolutely needed a touchdown to stay in the game, Jason Pinnock took a pass away from Sage Surratt for his second career interception and a nail in the Deacons’ coffin.
Pickett finished with the best stat line of his career - 316 yards and three touchdowns on 23-of-30 passing - and the defense kept Wake Forest’s up-tempo offense in check, giving up 285 yards and just one touchdown.
But the outcome was more important than the stats. For the fourth week in a row, Pitt came into a game with a chance to control its own destiny in the Coastal Division. Each week, the pressure increased as the opportunity for control grew until, finally, the Panthers entered Saturday’s game with a chance to finish the deal.
They seized the opportunity, and while they will have a chance to post a third eight-win record in Pat Narduzzi’s four years as head coach next week in the regular-season finale at Miami, the players and coaches will fly back to Pittsburgh Saturday night as champions.
