The Pitt Panthers lost to Boston College on Saturday by a score of 34-23. The defeat dropped Pitt’s record to 7-5 on the year, as the Panthers ended the year with five straight losses. What stood out from the game?
Here are my five takeaways
Completed the collapse
In the recent history of Pitt football, there is only one other season that comes to mind in terms of just flat out collapsing down the stretch. In 2006, Pitt raced out to a 6-1 start, and ended the year with five losses and got left out of a bowl game to end the year at 6-6.
The 2024 team did them one better by starting 7-0, the program’s best since 1982, before setting on a journey of a five-game losing streak to end the year. What was once the most exciting Pitt start to a season in four decades, became one of the most deflating finishes this program has ever had to endure.
On Saturday, Pitt fell behind to Boston College early, showed some fight in the middle quarters, before ultimately falling by a score of 34-23. The Panthers’ five-game losing streak has followed a similar path. The offense simply can’t sustain drives, the team makes too many mental errors, and before you know it, they are fighting an uphill battle.
It’s hard to evaluate this season, because I think over the past month or so, they simply revealed themselves to be nothing more than a 7-5 team. This is who they are, and likely who they always have been all along, unfortunate as that may be.
But that does not excuse individual player performances over these past five games, and especially the coaching either. This team was not prepared well down the stretch, and did not adjust when opponents countered to them. That’s a failure and there is no way to dismiss that on behalf of Pat Narduzzi and the rest of his coaching staff.
If you find yourself sitting on an unexpected 7-0 start, there has to be more resolve to take advantage of it, and the 2024 Pitt Panthers did not do that. This team wasted what could have been a statement season by this program.
Injury bug was real
It was hard for Pitt to really be a threat in this game, because if you looked at the personnel on offense, it hardly resembled the team that was clicking in September. Pitt played without quarterback Eli Holstein, running back Desmond Reid, and saw another game of musical chairs with the offensive line.
Pitt had plenty of self-inflicted reasons that led to its five-game blowup down the stretch, but this team had to have been one of the most unluckiest in the country when it came to injuries this season. For the entire second half on Saturday, Pitt was one play away from having a walk-on go in the game at quarterback and also at running back. True freshman Juelz Goff was the only available scholarship running back when the second half started.
At a certain point, it just gets hard to compete that way.
Everything can always come back to recruiting, and you would like to build better depth. I think that needs to be an emphasis this offseason, and every offseason, but in Game 12 playing with you’re No. 5 running back sort of is telling of just how this season played out from an injury standpoint.
Even the really good teams in college football can only absorb so many losses before they feel the repercussions, and if you aren’t one of those talent-loaded top-10 teams, then they catch up with you much quicker as we saw with the 2024 Panthers.
Revisionist history on the skilled guys
If you wanted to spin any kind of positive out of this game, then I would say Pitt looked to have two really good playmaking wide receivers and a tight end that could be an asset in the passing game.
Konata Mumpfield was a force with eight catches for 144 yards and a touchdown against Boston College, which was statistically the best game of his three-year Pitt career. Kenny Johnson added five catches for 63 yards, and made several impressive plays on third downs to keep drives alive. Plus, Gavin Bartholomew added the first two-touchdown game of his career.
Throughout the season, Pitt rotated on offense, split the reps, and tried to get everyone involved in the passing game. I think that is just part of Kade Bell’s scheme. But with respect to players like Poppi Williams and Censere Lee, I think Pitt may have underutilized Kenny Johnson and Konata Mumpfield this season.
There should have been more of an effort to get these guys prominently featured. At times, it felt like Desmond Reid was the only real weapon for this offense, but I don't think that to be true, and even in a 34-23 loss to Boston College, that was somewhat apparent.
I think the offensive operation started to change once the offensive line injuries mounted. Plus the two-quarterback dance Pitt has played for four games did not help matters either. I just think throughout the struggles of this offense over the past month, and maybe even longer, they actually had some good weapons who went missing for too long of stretches and I think sometimes scheme was to blame.
Defense with lackluster showing
I don’t think the Pitt defense is too unaccustomed being asked to shoulder some extra burden from a light offensive output. On Saturday, I don’t think they really came to play as well as they could have, and certainly did not have the necessary lights out performance needed to merit a win.
It’s a hard thing to ask the defense to be dominant, but it’s not asking too much to make some simple plays. The Boston College offense had three scoring drives travel over 50 yards in just three plays.
There was another touchdown, where Pitt was in press man coverage on third and long for some reason, and the Boston College receiver made a great catch, kudos to him for that. But along the way on that drive, the Eagles benefitted from some wobblers from quarterback Grayson James because the Pitt secondary was out of position, either in the form of pass interference penalties or miraculous catches by an uncovered tight end.
The Panthers made things difficult for the most part against the Boston College rushing attack. Leading BC rusher Kyle Robichaux needed 21 carries to get 71 yards, and that’s what you would expect of a Pitt defense, but letting a first-time starter like James look comfortable in the pocket was not ideal. The Eagles had six passing plays of 25 yards or more. The Panthers did not generate any turnovers and had very few splash plays on Saturday, which is what they needed to create for a struggling offense.
On deck for the Panthers
Well, the 2024 regular season is now completed. The Panthers will await their bowl fate for a week, as those things usually get announced following the conference championship games. The madness of the offseason already started to creep into the program, but it will be full steam ahead in that department on multiple fronts beginning in the immediate aftermath of the regular season.
In the coming days and weeks, you will start to see current Pitt players hit the transfer portal. Some of those will be players that were somewhat expected to move on, and others could be potential blows to the team.
As we know, there is nothing too outrageous when it comes to player movement in college football, and anything and everything is on the table. Nobody can sit here and say they know who will be on Pitt’s team next year, but that would be a true statement whether Pitt finished 10-2 or 7-5.
It’s just part of the game these days.
Pitt defensive tackle Nahki Johnson already announced his intentions to enter the portal, and he won’t be the last to do so. It’s an ongoing process that will change by the day.
On the other side, Pitt will likely start to make more offers to players entering the portal. The offseason happens all across the sport, not just in Pittsburgh. There will be talented players Pitt can and will pursue, and also land. Over the years, Pitt has done well with some portal additions. Guys like Eli Holstein, Desmond Reid, Konata Mumpfield, and Donovan McMillon have all made significant impacts and the coaching staff will have to work hard to find players of that caliber again this offseason.
While the transfer portal will attract a lot of attention, there is another change to watch. In recent years, signing day occurred in the third week of December. That changed this year, and Pitt’s 2025 recruiting class will be signing this Wednesday. Between that and the portal movement on each side, there will be plenty of storylines to track before the Panthers play in a bowl.
The season may be over, but college football never really stops these days.
