Trying to navigate a college football season with an unblemished record is not an easy task. In order to get there, teams typically have to follow certain strengths to stay unbeaten, and there is no secret that Pitt’s offense carried the team through its first five wins of the season.
On Saturday, the script flipped.
In Pitt’s 17-15 over Cal at Acrsiure Stadium, it was some stingy defense by the Panthers that fueled the team to remain unbeaten and move to 6-0 for the first time since 1982. Pitt certainly needed that kind of defensive output, because for the first time all season, the Panthers’ high-flying offense was mostly grounded.
“In certain games, they carry us, and in this game, we kind of carried them a little bit,” sophomore defensive end Jimmy Scott said after recording three sacks on Saturday. “We’re kind of both just leaning on each other and that’s how we win football’s games.”
Pitt’s offense produced a season-low in both yards and points against Cal. The Panthers only scored 17 points, all of which came in the first half, leaving a tall task on the defense to hold the lead, which they ultimately did.
The Panthers held Cal to 63 rushing yards on 40 carries. The team generated six sacks on Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza and also 11 tackles for loss in the game. In a dominant third quarter, the Golden Bears were held to negative-3 yard for the entire frame. Pitt also held its ground in tense moments, including a stop on a Cal two-point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter, which would have tied the game.
Braylan Lovelace, Pitt’s sophomore linebacker, chipped in with a career performance. He totaled seven tackles, and recorded two of Pitt’s six sacks. Lovelace said it is never necessarily a contest with the offense to perform better, because it takes a full team effort to get a win.
“I feel like we always, offense and defense, try to match each other every game,” the Pitt linebacker said. "That’s why we’re 6-0. We work together instead of a competition each time.”
Still, the offense left a lot of plays on the field. Freshman quarterback Eli Holstein was held in check for the first time in his young career with only 133 yards, no touchdowns, and two costly interceptions. Pitt’s most productive offensive player on Saturday was running back Desmond Reid, who scored both of the team’s touchdowns, including a 72-yard dash in the first half.
As a veteran, Reid understand the ebbs and flows of a college football season, and attributed that to Saturday’s poor showing from the offense. He also credited the side of the ball that proved to be the difference in finding a way to win anyway.
“Every game is not going to be good as an offense,” Reid said after his third 100-yard rushing game of the season. “We’re not going to do what we want to do every game, but the defense came in the clutch and that’s something we’ve been looking for since the season started. They did their thing today and they’re the reason I’d say we won. They fought. They got stops and they did what they were supposed to do.”
Cal had 12 offensive possessions, and only three of those netted points. The Bears moved the ball at times, with tight end Jack Endries being a particular thorn in the Panthers’ side, but the defense stiffened when it had to down the stretch.
After struggling to stop third-down conversions in the first half, Pitt limited Cal to 1-7 on those chances after halftime. The Panthers’ defense had to do most of the heavy lifting, but also found itself in a familiar place at the end of the game.
Pitt needed to generate one more stop to preserve the win on Saturday, something they have been called on to do a few times this season. After the Pitt offense failed to stay on the field following the Bears’ missed field goal to potentially take the lead, Cal got the ball at its own 20-yard line with :47 seconds remaining, trailing by two points.
Though, the Bears’ game-winning drive never really got moving.
Pitt ended the game with a turnover on downs. It marked the fourth time the Panthers’ defense has effectively ended a game this season. Pitt generated turnovers in the final play in the wins over Cincinnati and West Virginia. The Panthers also recorded a sack on fourth down in last week’s win against North Carolina.
When the pressure is on and the game is on the line, this Pitt defense has shown it is right at home in those scenarios.
“We’re always built for situation like that,” said Lovelace. "We like when the game is in our hands. We like the pressure. Pressure makes diamonds.”
The Panthers have played in pressure-packed situations all year. Saturday’s win amounted to the team’s third one-score victory in the midst of the team’s first 6-0 start under Pat Narduzzi. Each win represents a new milestone for this team, and as Pitt enters a bye week undefeated, the defense can hold its head high with a resounding performance when the team needed it most.
