The Pitt Panthers dropped to 2-7 on the season following a 24-7 loss to No. 4 Florida State. Pitt hung in with the heavily favored Seminoles for most of the game, but some missed opportunities proved costly in its upset bid. Here are my five biggest takeaways from Saturday’s game.

Missed Chances

Konata Mumpfield had an unforgettable play in Pitt’s game against No. 4 Florida State. Unfortunately for Pitt fans, it is going to be a play that will haunt them for a long time when it comes to thinking what could have been in a potential upset bid against undefeated Florida State. Mumpfield got behind the Seminoles’ defense for an 82-yard reception, but he fumbled the ball into the end zone, and it was ruled a touchback. It negated an apparent touchdown that would have emphatically given Pitt a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Florida State’s Fentrell Cypress tracked down Mumpfield on the play and got the ball free. Cypress may have also grabbed Mumpfield’s face mask along the way, but in a way that sequence perfectly encapsulated the 2023 Pitt football season. The Panthers’ 2-7 start to this season feels 82-yard gain to the end zone that did not result in any points.

Pitt did grab a 7-0 lead moments later, but obviously the Mumpfield play felt like a missed chance to go up by more, and it was a game filled with squandered opportunities for the home team. Florida State did not score on its first six possessions, but the Pitt offense did little to take advantage of the defense coming up with multiple stops to start the game.

Pitt got the ball out of halftime, trailing 10-7, but promptly went three-and-out. The Panthers’ defense again produced a stop, got the ball back and Pitt drove into field goal range, but tight end Gavin Bartholomew got an unsportsmanlike penalty for saying something to an official well after a play, and the 15-yard flag took the Panthers out of field goal range.

That particular flag was the spiraling out of control point, but once again there were many penalties to pick from against this team. But to put it as plainly as possible: Pitt had the ball, down three, in the opponent’s territory twice to start the second half and did not score a point.

Meanwhile, Florida State took advantage of some Pitt miscues and started to look like the No. 4 team in the country after a shaky start. The final score shows a little bit of a blowout for sure, but Pitt had chances to change the makeup of this game in the second and third quarters, and let those opportunities walk out the door.

Veilleux struggles

Pitt sophomore quarterback Christian Veilleux made the fourth start of his career, and once again the results were mixed, which has been the book on him so far this season. Veilleux can make some pretty throws, but again it was a pretty lackluster stat line. The Pitt signal caller went 15-for-35 for 244 yards and one touchdown and one interception. In fairness to Veilleux, he was pretty close to having a second touchdown, but we know how the Mumpfield play worked out.

The Florida State defense was pretty good and it was clear the pressure eventually got to Veilleux. He was sacked a total of three times, but he felt the face of the ‘Noles pressure throughout the game. Veilleux did a good job pot protecting the ball for most of the game, an improvement from last week, but he still tossed a tough interception in the third quarter.

We now have a four game sample size of Veilleux as a starting quarterback for Pitt. I have been encouraged by some of his moments and throws over the course of these four games, but Pitt has scored fewer than 20 points in three straight games. There is still a struggle to sustain drives and churn out first downs. He has been able to hit on some chunk plays, like the big throws to Means and Mumpfield on Saturday, but he was supporting a 52% completion percentage coming into this game and hit on fewer than 50% of his passes against the Seminoles.

There is no question Notre Dame and Florida State are very good teams and those aren’t easy starts to make as a young quarterback, but the offense has been stagnant for three straight games now. Veilleux showed promise against Louisville. He was able to guide Pitt to four offensive touchdowns versus the Cardinals, but he has only led three touchdown drives over the last three contests. It’s hard to ignore, and it’s worth monitoring in the final three games. Pitt should give Nate Yarnell an opportunity if it makes sense, and Veilleux not leading the team to the end zone seems like that kind of opportunity.

It was a commendable effort, I guess

There has been a lot of noise around the Pitt program throughout this trying season, but it felt pretty loud in the past week. Pitt was coming of a dismal 58-7 loss to Notre Dame last week. The heat coach had a choice comment in a press conference and the team reacted to it over social media. Given the turmoil around the team, the nature of last week's loss, and the opponent coming to Acrisure Stadium, there was very little to suggest Pitt would hang with Florida State on Saturday.

But they did and it was a pretty big surprise in my opinion. Pitt could have produced a lackluster effort on Saturday to the surprise of nobody, but they came to play and win and I don’t think most of us would have predicted that. Am I giving them credit for a moral victory?

Hell no.

The Pitt team, Pat Narduzzi, Frank Cignetti, and anyone around this football program still absolutely has to carry the weight of a 2-7 start. There is no disputing that and they do not deserve to be off the hook for it because they didn’t fold against Florida State.

I was curious how Narduzzi’s comments would resonate in the locker room, because last Saturday definitely turned into a firestorm over social media. From my view, the Narduzzi’s comments did not linger into this week, nor did it effect the team’s play. I thought came out pretty inspired and it was clear this team was ready to compete to win a football game against Florida State, and again, it got away from them late, but they put up a fight for most of the contest after an embarrassing effort last week. Pitt got over the head coach’s comments from last week, that’s great and all, but now it’s back to figuring out why they are sitting with a 2-7 record nine games into the season, not much of a consolation.

Gutsy defense...for nothing

I am trying to wrap my head around the actual numbers here, but despite allowing 501 yards of total offense on Saturday, I thought Pitt’s defense did everything it could to stay in the game and actually played pretty well. The Panthers played tough, took some chances, and gave the offense every opportunity to seize control of the game and that side of the ball once again failed to hold up its end of the bargain.

Florida State was without two of its best offensive weapons on Saturday, but the Seminoles still have a loaded roster with one of the best quarterbacks in the country. It was not an easy assignment for the Panthers and they stood up to the challenge against a team competing for a national championship.

Florida State came up empty on its first six possessions on Saturday, but again, there was little production on Pitt’s side of the scoreboard to take advantage. The Panthers’ defenders made some plays. Donovan McMillon and Brandon George each finished with ten tackles. For George, it may have been the best game of his career period. He was excellent and played winning football on Saturday.

There were also mistakes. The Panthers had some costly and untimely penalties on defense. Pitt also yielded some lengthy third down conversions on Florida State’s go-ahead touchdown drive. Those are things you would like to clean up, but it’s hard to argue they didn’t do enough for a win.

Pitt held Florida State to 24 points, the first team to hold them under 30 all season. The Panthers posted 11 tackles for loss, and made a lot of good plays behind the line of scrimmage. Florida State was also only 5-of-14 on third downs. Pitt did enough on defense, but it feels like this is not the first time I have written that this season either.

Syracuse on deck

Pitt and Syracuse agreed to do something cool prior to the start of this season. The Panthers and Orange scheduled their annual game to be played at Yankee Stadium in New York City. The matchup was to help commemorate the first football game played at the original iconic stadium in The Bronx, also between Pitt and Syracuse.

It sounded like a great idea at the time, but now you have a 2-7 Pitt team riding a three-game losing streak going up against a Syracuse team which has dropped four in a row themselves. And the game will be played in a mostly empty baseball stadium in the November.

On second thought, maybe a trip to Syracuse would not have been sir bad after all…

Pitt lost its seventh game of the season today, meaning the Panthers will be bowl ineligible for the first time since 2017. Narduzzi had led Pitt to bowl eligibility in eight of his first nine seasons, but the 2023 campaign has been a sudden step back for the program that had just won the ACC two years ago.

So what is left take from this season? There are three games left, all a little more forgiving than Florida State, but at the end of it there will be no bowl, no extra practice. This kind of comes down to pride, which Pitt did show a little bit of on Saturday, but will that continue as each passing game feels more and more meaningless?

This thing, the 2023 season, ends in three weeks. I think that will feel like a merciful end to the fans, and maybe even the players as well. This has been a tough season to swallow on many levels and I think everyone may be ready for it to end on some level.

So what should we looking for in Pitt’s game with Syracuse next week? A win. Period. Pitt is 18-3 over its last 21 meetings with the Orange. This team just needs to find a way to get it done against a program it consistently beats.