Five Takeaways: 5 things that stood out in Pitt's 42-16 win over Miami

The Pitt Panthers crushed Miami 42-16 in the regular season finale on Saturday night to improve to 8-4 on the season. The Panthers used a balanced offensive attack and some big plays on the defensive side of the ball ton control the game from start to finish. Pitt has now won four straight games and the team now waits its bowl destination.

Here are five takeaways from Pitt’s win over Miami.

A perfect November

Following a 42-24 loss to North Carolina on October 29th, the Pitt Panthers sat with a disappointing 4-4 record. It was not the season many had envisioned for this team and making a bowl game did not seem like a lock at the time. Rather than panic or fold as a team, Pitt bounced back and went a perfect 4-0 in the month of November. The Panthers played stingy defense all month long, and the offense really had a breakout performance in the final game of the year to punctuate the perfect November.

Pitt’s 2022 season will always be met with varying opinions, and a lot of ‘what ifs’ will be talked about this team for years to come. The Panthers dealt with numerous injuries throughout the season and never really meshed and met the lofty preseason expectations. There were some head scratching losses along the way, but in the end the team chose to finish the season strong and that should be commended. On Saturday night, Miami really looked like a team ready for the season to be over, and while Pitt’s not going for any type of championship with this four-game winning streak, ending the season this way certainly looks better than what the Hurricanes displayed on Saturday night.

There feels like there is something to play for as the team heads into a bowl game. Pitt can get to 9 wins, which has only happened four times since 1982. Pitt has 19 wins over the past two seasons, and with a win in the bowl game, they can get to 20. That has not happened for this program since 1981-82. Pitt may have not had the ideal follow up to last season’s ACC Championship, but they can still accomplish something that hasn’t been done in a long time. For that reason alone, the bowl game should bring some anticipation.

Jared Wayne with a huge game

There were plenty of standout performances in Pitt’s win over Miami on Saturday night, but Jared Wayne certainly stole the show. The senior wide receiver caught 11 passes for 199 yards and three touchdowns. All three of those marks are personal bests for the fourth year player out of Canada.

Wayne’s first quarter touchdown went for 66 yards as he had a great individual effort to find the end zone. He evaded multiple tacklers and out ran the defense for Pitt’s longest passing play of the year. Pitt’s passing game has struggled quite a bit this season, but through that, Wayne was able to put together a very strong senior season.

For the year, Wayne now has 55 catches for 1,006 yards and five touchdowns. He and quarterback Kedon Slovis seemed to develop a pretty strong connection down the stretch. Wayne went over 90 receiving yards in four of Pitt’s final five games, and came up with multiple plays that traveled over 20 yards.

It has been a steady rise for Wayne throughout his time in Pittsburgh. He was not a highly recruited player, but worked his way onto the field as a true freshman. After an injury riddled sophomore year, Wayne blossomed into a very reliable No. 2 option on Pitt’s ACC Championship team a season ago. He was asked to be Pitt's top option on this team and he delivered with a 1,000-yard season.

Wayne now has 141 catches in his career, good for tenth place in school history in that department. He also has 2,251 receiving yards, which is good for 12th all-time at Pitt. Wayne needs nine more receiving yards to pass former teammate Jordan Addison in career yardage at Pitt.

Following last week’s win over Duke, Wayne was asked if he intended to come back to Pitt for a fifth season. He was unsure of a decision at the time, but after a game like this, it may have helped his draft stock. It will be an interesting and important decision to watch heading into the offseason.

Slovis best game in months

Kedon Slovis has had a season he would probably like to forget. After a successful run at USC, Slovis was unable to really bounce back at Pitt this season. In 11 starts, Slovis has thrown for 10 touchdown passes and 9 interceptions. He did finish the year with a really strong performance, however. In fact, it may have actually been his best game in a Pitt uniform.

Slovis went 18-of-28 for 256 yards and three touchdowns. He did throw one interception on kind of a weird play where his arm was hit from the back side and the ball went right to a defensive linemen, but otherwise it was a really sound performance for the Panthers’ quarterback.

The offense just seemed to click all game long. The running game was working throughout the contest and Slovis was connecting with Wayne for big chunks of yards. For the first time since early September, the Pitt offense just looked like…well it looked like how it was supposed to look.

Pitt finished with 504 yards of offense (256 passing, 248 rushing). They had six scoring drives, and four of them traveled over 70 yards. Despite winning the previous three games, the Pitt offense did not do much in the second half, but on Saturday they produced two lengthy scoring drives.

It remains to be seen with Slovis and the Pitt starting quarterback job next season. It is unclear if he will return in 2023, but it does feel like there is a good chance of that happening. He showed some positive signs in recent games, especially against Miami, and the offense finally had a complete performance. If anything, that’s something to build on heading into bowl practice and the offseason assuming he is returning.

Abanikanda continues his sensational season

Pitt star running back Israel Abanikanda did not finish the game against Duke last Saturday and his status was a bit unknown throughout the week. Abanikanda was available on Saturday against Miami and he churned out yet another strong performance. The Pitt running back carried the ball 15 times for 111 yards and two touchdowns.

Saturday was Abanikanda’s 9th 100-yard game of the season. He now has 1,431 yards on the year, which is the eighth-highest single season total for a Pitt running back in school history. The junior from Brooklyn is now the fourth running back in Pitt history to rush for 20 touchdowns in a season. Tony Dorsett, James Conner, and LeSean McCoy are the only others to accomplish that.

Abanikanbda has been that good this season.

This 2022 season will be mentioned among the best in school history and his name will can be talked among some of the other great running backs Pitt has produced through the years. The Miami game was not one where they had to lean on Abanikanda, which was probably a good thing for a player that did not finish the game the week prior.

He was able to make his presence felt and stay healthy while doing it. Pitt was able to use Rodney Hammond and C’Bo Flemister to close out the game, as Abanikanda rested.

Abanikanda is only a junior and he does have two years of eligibility to use if he wishes. I am not sure if he is a top 2-3 round draft pick, but he obviously would be selected somewhere. Running backs tend to not have long professional careers and we’ve seen a recent trend where some college running backs looking to drafted choose to sit out bowl games. Saturday night may have been the last game for Abanikanda in a Pitt uniform, and he ended it on a high note. He is the first ACC player to rush for six straight 100-yard games.

A dominant defensive effort

The Pitt defense once again rose to the occasion and produced another memorable performance. The Panthers pitched a first half shutout against Miami, and cruised to a win on Saturday night. Pitt forced two turnovers, registered six sacks, and held Miami to 3-of-12 on third down conversions.

The Pitt defense made a splash play right off the bat. After Miami drove deep into Pitt territory, senior linebacker Sir’Vocea Dennis picked off a Tyler Van Dyke pass and flipped the field with a return. That play was a big one, as it was the last snap taken by Van Dyke in the game. With its star quarterback on the bench, the Miami offense posed a little threat to the stifling Pitt defense throughout the rest of the game.

Javon McIntyre picked off a pass on Miami’s next possession. Erick Hallett joined the party with a fumble recovery in the first half. Late in the second quarter, Miami opted to attempt a fake field goal attempt and the Hurricanes came up short to preserve the first half shutout. Miami finally had some success on offense after halftime, but it was well after Pitt had control of the game.

Oh, and this was all done with Pitt’s best defensive player unavailable on Saturday. Prior to kickoff, it was reveled that All-American candidate Calijah Kancey along with fellow starter Habakkuk Baldonado did not travel with the team due to injuries. Despite not having its best player, the Panthers defense played with a next-man-up mentality.

Junior defensive end Dayon Hayes sparked the pass rush with three sacks, including one on Miami’s final drive to keep the Hurricanes out of the end zone. DeAndre Jules also added a sack from the defensive line.

The Pitt linebackers had a particularly strong game. Dennis and Tylar Wiltz each recorded sacks. Wiltz had a team-high 8 tackles. His sack late in the first half in the red zone seemed to be a game changer as Miami finally had marched the ball deep in Pitt territory, but he shut the door.

The success in the month of November can largely be attributed to the defense. Pitt did not allow a touchdown against Syracuse, they opened the game with two defensive touchdowns against Virginia. The Panthers also had a game changing defensive score last week against Duke, and displayed a rather complete performance today despite being short handed. Pitt’s offense finally held up its end of the deal against Miami, but you really have to give extra credit to this defense to help spark this four-game winning streak.