The Pitt Panthers dropped their fourth straight contest following a 37-9 beatdown by Louisville on Saturday afternoon at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium. Pitt threw an interception on its opening drive, and truly never recovered after that.
What stood out from that game? Here are my five takeaways.
A program-wide defeat
There was not one element from Pitt’s performance on Saturday that can be painted as a positive. From the offense, the defense, and also the coaching, there was not one area of the team that would receive a ‘winning’ grade stemming from the Louisville game. The Panthers are in the midst of a four-game losing streak, and that alone is bad enough, but during this stretch, this marked the second time the team was hardly even competitive in a conference game on the road.
Pitt had a good opening drive going, but that was about all you can say about this game, because it vanished almost immediately. The Panthers marched down to the 7-yard line quickly, but Eli Holstein, who returned to the lineup after missing last week’s game, threw a poor interception to Louisville linebacker Stanquan Clark, when it seemed like Konata Mumpfield was open in the back of the end zone.
Louisville got down the field quickly for a field goal, but that’s when the game turned for good, all the way back on Pitt’s second possession. Desmond Reid ripped off back-to-back 14 yard runs, but then Eli Holstein was sacked and had his leg rolled underneath the defender and had to exit.
Nate Yarnell, who started last week, but did not practice at all this week, came into the game. Yarnell never got going, injuries started to mount around him, and Pitt’s defense never adjusted to Louisville’s offense. Once the momentum got going, it was seemingly tough for the Panthers to reverse it, but that can’t be the excuse. Obviously, winning under all of these circumstances was going to be difficult, but not even settling in and competing on Saturday was a bad look.
Four in a row
In just about any sport at any level, you are what your record says you are, and that’s the story of Pitt’s season. Right now, this is a 7-4 football team and they earned every bit of that mark through 11 games.
They were once a 7-0 team as well. Pitt managed to get off to its best start in 40 years, they can have credit for that. That’s fine by me. But this team also has to wear this four-game losing streak. There is nobody to point to for squandering all of that early season momentum other than themselves.
Pitt took its best start since the 1980s and wasted it. Period.
As evidence by these four most recent results, this was a team that was never destined to win 10+ games and complete for an ACC title. The 7-0 start was a little smoke in mirrors, which is fine. Sometimes a schedule can create a run. But also, in the preseason, most figured them to be a 5-7 win team, which is exactly what they have shown themselves to be.
Although, when you start a season the way this Pitt team did, it only creates excitement, energy, and momentum around your program. The way the 2024 Pitt Panthers managed to throw all of that all away is one that will be tough to figure from years to come. The reasons are pretty standard, though. Injuries across the field started to mount, some holes on the roster started to get exposed, opposing teams figured out their tendencies and now the season leveled off to where this team truly is.
This program and team is not devoid of talent, but this four-game losing streak also illustrated that there are plenty of areas where they simply need to improve this offseason to compete at the top of the ACC.
Quarterback woes
With all due to respect to redshirt freshman David Lynch, who made his college debut against Louisville, but if he is on the field, then it’s a pretty good indicator Pitt is having quarterback issues. As we know, that was problem No. 1 for this team against Louisville.
After missing last week’s game against Clemson due to not being cleared from a concussion, Eli Holstein was back in the starting lineup on Saturday. On his first possession, he led Pitt deep into Louisville territory before throwing his seventh interception of the season.
His day was then cut short. On Pitt’s second drive, the freshman quarterback rolled to his left, and Louisville defensive end Ashton Gillette came from behind to sack him, and Holstein’s leg got rolled underneath in the process. It was an ugly-looking injury, which likely ended his season.
Holstein was cleared to play earlier this week, and was the No. 1 quarterback during practice. Yarnell started last week against Clemson, and nearly led an upset win with 350 passing yards, but he was also sacked eight times by the Tigers. As a result, it was revealed Yarnell missed the entire week of practice and it showed in his performance.
Yarnell finished 11-of-23 for 96 yards with one touchdown, and also an interception. He looked out of sorts from the beginning, as Pitt’s offense scored its only touchdown on its ninth drive of the game.
It was clear Yarnell didn’t seem right, and with the game basically out of reach, Pitt turned to Lynch to finish it off. The freshman walk-on was 5-of-7 for 43 yards and also threw an interception, meaning all three of Pitt’s quarterbacks had a pick on Saturday. Interestingly enough, it was Lynch who got the nod for mop-up duty and not Ty Diffenbach, who is on scholarship and would seemingly be ahead on the pecking order.
With Holstein likely out next week, and Yarnell not exactly 100%, then there is a bit of a mess brewing for the season finale against Boston College.
Listless effort on defense
Pitt’s defense put together a mostly brilliant performance against Clemson last week before suffering a late-game breakdown. That group that is near the top of the nation in sacks, tackles for loss, and defensive touchdowns did not really generate any splash plays against Louisville.
In fact, all they did was allow them.
Louisville had Pitt’s number from the opening drive, and the Panthers never really slowed them down until the game was well out of reach. On Saturday, Louisville’s offense accounted for 505 yards, as seventh year senior quarterback Tyler Shough picked apart the Panthers through the air, and seven ballcarriers combined for 212 yards on the ground.
Pitt allowed seven passes to travel 15 yards or more. The Panthers also yielded seven rushes of ten yards of more. Louisville managed to grind out 26 first downs, went 7-of-12 on third down conversions, and averaged 6.9 yards per play.
Pitt had missed tackles in the secondary, had holes against the run, and never really seemed to bother Shough in pass rushing situations either. Louisville was a step ahead of the Pitt defense, and attacked some of the usual weak spots in this scheme, but also benefitted from Pitt miscues as well. There is no denying Louisville has a talented offense and Jeff Brohm is a pretty gifted coach, but usually Pitt can stand up and make adjustments, and they didn’t really have the answers today.
One more to save face
Back in August, many thought Pitt would be about a 7-win team this season, but this is not the script anyone would have figured they would take to get there. The Panthers are simply in a bad way right now, and while it’s an improvement from last year’s 3-win debacle, I don’t know how much being better than that team really factors into the equation.
When you start 7-0, it lets the imagination run wild. It happened all around the Pitt program, and to drop the way the team has its undeniably deflating.
Would a win against Boston College fix all of that? Not really, but it beats the alternative. Pitt is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. There is no remedy to sooth a four-game losing streak, but you also don’t want to let this thing slip to five losses in a row either.
On the surface level, Boston College is a beatable team. The Eagles have their own reasons for already having five losses this season, but will likely enter next’s game with a different perspective than Pitt. Boston College beat North Carolina 41-21 on Saturday to create some momentum and confidence, and will get the advantage of playing next week’s game at home.
Pitt certainly is capable of beating the Eagles, but with the piling up of injuries and the way this team has played since the start of November does not exactly inspire much confidence.
