The Pitt Panthers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 38-21 upset victory over No. 14 Louisville at Acrisure Stadium. Pitt used a smothering defensive effort in the second half to stun one of the more high-powered offenses in the ACC. Christian Veilleux also notched a victory in his first career start. Here are five takeaways from Pitt’s win.
They won…that the takeaway
I do not think anything else really matters other than the result itself. Pitt needed a win and got one on Saturday, and beat a half-decent Louisville team along the way. Sure, knocking off a ranked team is great and all, but the Panthers just needed to get a victory of any kind to snap a four-game losing streak and they got the job done on Saturday night when they needed it most.
The game started slow for the Panthers and was not always pretty, but Pitt buckled down on defense after halftime and got just enough offensive production to steal a win over a Louisville team who entered the game as a seven-point favorite, 6-0, and ranked No. 14 in the country.
There were some shaky moment along the way. The Panthers punted on their first three possessions and netted -9 yards on those drives. Pitt fell behind 7-0 early during that stretch of bad offense and then later 21-14 just before halftime, which was a backbreaking score by Louisville at the time because they scored just moments before the break after Pitt seemingly gained some momentum, not to mention they were set to get the ball coming out of the half.
Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm curiously went for a fourth down in his own territory on his opening second half possession and the Panthers stuffed the attempt, which ultimately led to a Pitt field goal. While that was only three points for Pitt, it did feel like a turning point. The Panthers started to figure out the Louisville offense, and stopped them again, which led to a lengthy Pitt scoring drive, giving the Panthers their first lead of the game at 24-21, and first lead in the second half of a game since Wofford. From there, the defense kept Louisville out of the end zone and added a score of their own to help put the game on ice.
Veilleux showed promise in debut
Christian Veilleux earned his first starting assignment on Saturday and delivered an impressive win over a ranked team. Veilleux finished the day 12-of-26 for 200 yards and tossed two touchdowns. He also totaled 17 rushing yards, but above all else, he did not turn the ball over once. Veilleux was only sacked one time as well and made enough of the right plays to lead Pitt to a much-needed win.
Was it always perfect for Veilleux and the offense? Of course not. On the second play of the game, a bad snap sailed over his head for a 15-yard loss, not that it was his fault, but it felt like, well, the rest of the season to this point.
Pitt did not really generate much offense until its fourth possession and that is where Veilleux got to show off his arm strength. He connected with Bub Means for a 46-yard bomb to even the score, and that seemed to give him some confidence for the rest of the game.
The first scoring drive of the second half was important for Pitt’s overall outlook in the game, but also for Veilleux on a personal level. The Panthers marched 61 yards in 13 plays and along the way he connected with Kenny Johnson for a 15-yard gain on a crucial third down and his own 11-yard scamper set up a C'Bo Flemister score. The Pitt defense did a lot of the leg work in the second half, but Veilleux’s dime to Konata Mumpfield put the nail in the coffin for Louisville.
Veilleux had some good moments and Pitt got the win, but the Panthers still only generated 288 yards of total offense. Pitt was just 3-of-14 on third downs and recorded only 12 total first downs for the game. There were some positives to take from this game, but still a lot of room for a lot of improvement on offense.
Dominant defense
The Louisville offense looked pretty potent in its win over Notre Dame last week and at times, they showed that same type of explosiveness against Pitt on Saturday. The Panthers, however, drew a line in the sand in the second half, and the Cardinals never crossed it.
That line, of course, was the goal line.
Louisville did not score a single point in the second half and entered the game as the No. 19 scoring offense in the country. The Pitt defense became opportunistic and buckled down after the halftime and flipped the momentum early on in the third quarter.
The Pitt defense stuffed Louisville on a fourth down attempt on the Cards’ first drive out of the break. It was one of four Louisville drives that ended with a Pitt fourth-down stop. Louisville other second half possessions read: punt, interception, interception, missed field goal.
The Cardinals never even crossed into Pitt’s red zone.
MJ Devonshire stole the show with the third pick-six of his career. AJ Woods added another interception of his own and Brandon George slammed the door shut on the last drive with a sack, one of four the Panthers recorded on Saturday.
Pitt’s defense has always had a little ‘bend, but don’t break’ to it, and that was the case on Saturday. Louisville did post 430 yards of offense, and looked sharp in the first two quarters, but Pitt found a way to change the scope of the game in the second half.
Devonshire does it again
MJ Devonshire has a knack for making big plays and he showed it once again on Saturday. The Panthers’ cornerback picked off a Jack Plummer pass in the third quarter and used his jets to take it 86 yards for a score to give Pitt a 31-21 advantage late in the third quarter.
Not only was it a big play for Devonshire and the Pitt defense, it was a game changer, like he has done many times before in his career. He ended Pitt’s 2021 victory over North Carolina with a walk-off interception. His pick six was the game winning score in Pitt’s win over West Virginia last year and he led off the game with an interception returned for a touchdown over Virginia in 2022 on the first play of the game to set the tone.
When Devonshire makes a big play, it seems to affect the outcome of games. He has not had the season he had hoped for this year individually and with his team, but he has had moments, but none bigger than what he did on Saturday.
Devonshire, a native of nearby Aliquippa, make the play with Darrelle Revis in the house. Pitt honored its former star and recent Hall of Fame inductee, who himself is also from Aliquippa and a mentor to Devonshire. He is in the right spot at the right time a lot, and Pitt needed the jolt of a defensive score to surge ahead for a win.
A new outlook for next week
Pitt is now 2-4 on the season, which certainly feels a little better than 1-5, though not by much. I did not expect the Panthers to really come out and win this one and I’m sure not many of you reading this would have disagreed. The 2023 Pitt football season really spiraled out of control quickly the past couple of weeks and the feeling going into the game was not overly optimistic.
Louisville looked like a buzzsaw when it demolished Notre Dame last week and the 6-0 Cardinals came into this game ranked No. 14 in the country with a potent offense led by new head coach Jeff Brohm and a pretty stingy defense to boot.
Conversely, Pitt had lost four straight coming into this one and opted to go with a first time starter at quarterback. Couple those two things with mounting injuries and the disappointment of a 1-4 start, there was not a lot pointing towards a Pitt victory, but they still found a way and at least made the final six games more interesting.
Now that it is over, is there any sense of feeling optimistic heading into next week? I think there should at least be some intrigue if nothing else. The rest of this year is all about the development of Christian Veilleux and seeing him perform each week is still the highlight of the season moving forward and he did enough against Louisville to show signs for optimism.
I think it’s still too early to think this team is going to totally reverse course and climb back to bowl eligibility, but up next is Wake Forest, who is 3-3 and has lost three straight games. The Demon Deacons are coming off a 17-point defeat to Virginia Tech, the same margin Pitt lost to the Hokies back on September 29th.
Just when you think you’re out, they pull you back in, right?
