Pitt lost to Louisville on Saturday night by a score of 24-10. The Panthers held a lead going into the fourth quarter, but the offense sputtered repeatedly in the second half and was unable to score a touchdown. The Panthers dropped to 4-3 on the season with the loss and now own a 1-2 record in ACC play.

Here are five takeaways from Pitt’s 24-10 loss to the Louisville Cardinals.

A Disaster of a loss

It is hard where you can pinpoint this loss to one specific area, because there were mistakes at pretty much every level for this team. Pitt committed three first half turnovers and four total for the game, the latter of which went for a touchdown to set the final on a Kedon Slovis fumble.

On Saturday, the offense failed to score more than one touchdown in a game for the first time since 2020, when the Panthers lost 45-3 to Notre Dame. Pitt was outscored by Louisville 17-0 in the fourth quarter. The second half yielded three punts, two turnover on downs, a fumble, and one field goal. It simply was not good enough, and the first half really was not much better.

It was ugly.

Pitt’s offense played conservatively in the second half, seemingly because of the three turnovers in the first half. A talented Louisville defensive line loaded up against the Pitt run game, and teed off on Slovis when he dropped back to pass. The Panthers showed little fight offensively in this second half, and only got the ball to the red zone one time after the break.

Penalties have been a reoccurring theme this season, and the Panthers were flagged seven times in this game. Special teams have also hurt this team, and a juggled punt return by MJ Devonshire cost the team valuable field position. The defense gave this team a chance to win, but they did surrender 10 explosive plays and both of the Louisville offensive touchdowns were wide open plays. Pitt did not deserve to win on Saturday, and they looked ill prepared to take on a conference road game coming off of a bye week.

A Disaster of a season

Pitt entered the year ranked No. 17 in the preseason AP Poll. For good reason, too. The Panthers were coming off an 11-3 season and returned 15 starters and had a senior-laden team. The defending ACC champions also secured some high-profile players in the transfer portal, and it looked like this team would simply retool for another run at a conference crown.

The season started with a dramatic win over heated rival West Virginia in the largest home crowd Pitt has ever had in a nationally televised game. Pitt also went toe-to-toe with Tennessee, who very much looks like a national title contender. It still looked like they were the team many of us thought they would and could be, but in the games that have followed, Pitt has not resembled anything close to a top-20 team.

The Panthers have dealt with plenty of injuries throughout the first half of the season, but something felt off in the Western Michigan and Rhode Island games. Pitt managed to gut out some wins, but the offense looked out of sorts, many chalked it up to keeping it simple against overmatched opponents. In the end, there were some real offensive deficiencies being unearthed, and now it is now coming back to bite them.

The Panthers lost to a bad Georgia Tech team at home that just fired its head coach days before the game. Now Pitt can add a loss to a Louisville team to its resume. The Cardinals are hovering around .500, and are coached by Scott Satterfield, who is seemingly on the hot seat himself.

Pitt is now sitting with a 4-3 record, and the season is not going as it was scripted in the offseason. The Panthers will have some opportunities to win some games down the stretch, but at this point they aren’t playing for anything more than bowl eligibility. The playoff talk is over. Repeating as ACC champions is done, and now even winning the Coastal is a total long shot.

Pitt needs to explore a QB change next week

Kedon Slovis has now started six games at quarterback for Pitt this season, and has a 3-3 record to show for it. For the season he has 1,325 yards with five touchdowns and five interceptions. He threw two costly picks on Saturday, and squandered two early scoring chances when Pitt could have easily seized momentum against a struggling Louisville team. The first interception was a forced ball into traffic when he had an underneath route open for an easy first down. The second was an ill-advised throw under pressure, and it effectively became a jump ball with no Pitt receivers nearby to make a play. Both were poor decisions.

Slovis’ stat line on Saturday reads as this: 16-29 (55%) for 158 yards, no touchdowns and two picks. The offense simply didn’t move the ball on most of its possessions against Louisville. Pitt’s field goal drive netted only 28 yards, as they failed to take advantage of starting near midfield after an AJ Woods interception. There were obvious times during the game it felt like Pitt needed to make a change at quarterback, and now with a week to prepare, it may become more of a reality.

Pitt’s offensive game plan was simple on Saturday. It featured a lot of runs and smart easy throws. Pitt moved the ball in the first half, but they continued to shoot themselves in the foot with turnovers. Because of that, the offense went even more conservative in the second half.

The type of offense Pitt is running right now is certainly something a guy like Nick Patti could operate or even Nate Yarnell for that matter. Slovis had plenty of pedigree coming into this season after a nice career at USC, but for whatever reason he isn’t grasping this offense. The playbook appears very small and simple for a senior quarterback that had NFL aspirations. If that’s the case, you might be able to make a change. Heck you might have to make a change. You aren’t asking Slovis to do a whole lot, so maybe a fresh set of eyes under center could help spark things. At this point, what could it hurt?

There were a few positives

Pitt had good moments and plays on Saturday. Once again, Israel Abanikanda was a monster. He rushed it 28 times for 129 yards and scored Pitt’s only touchdown. Abanikanda also produced three catches for 50 yards as well. He has continually carried this offense throughout much of the season, but he did need a little more help on Saturday.

Aside from his first half fumble, getting Rodney Hammond back on the field is important for the rest of the season. Hammond gives Pitt another offensive weapon, which they are clearly lacking right now. Hammond has been reliable with the football prior to Saturday, so I don’t think that’s a lingering concern with his fumble. Having a 1-2 punch at running back is generally going to be Pitt’s best approach moving forward, especially if they opt for a quarterback change.

The Pitt defense only allowed 17 points on Saturday. They had one turnover, two sacks, five tackles for loss, and put constant pressure and laid some big hits on Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham. Louisville was only 4-of-13 on third downs and 0-2 on fourth downs. The Cardinals averaged 5.5 yards per play. The defense did allow some big plays, but for the most part they continued to give the offense a chance to win all game along. In a lot of respects, it may have been Pitt’s best defensive game of the season, and it was more than enough to win. They deserved better.

UNC on the horizon

The ACC Coastal has long been the butt of jokes across college football. Looking up and down the division, many of the teams with expectations this season have fallen hard, most notably Pitt and Miami. Having said all of that, North Carolina certainly looks like the best of the bunch in the division, and that is who Pitt faces off with next week. It will not be an easy task.

The Tar Heels have a prolific offense with quarterback Drake Maye sailing the ship. He already has over 2,200 yards and 24 touchdowns on the season. Maye will be the most talented quarterback Pitt will face this season besides Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker. Pitt has defended North Carolina well since Mack Brown has taken over the program and Narduzzi is 2-0 in head-to-head meetings. But, both of those wins were at home. Pitt travels to North Carolina next week, where the Panthers have never won a game.

Pitt should have had its wake up call against Georgia Tech, but apparently that was not the case. It will be interesting to see how this team responds to this performance against Louisville, and just this season overall. This team expected a lot heading into the year, and they have not delivered. They have five more games in the regular season, and it’s hard to project what those will look like after what transpired on Saturday.