DALLAS — The No. 18 Pitt Panthers dropped a 48-25 decision to No. 20 SMU on Saturday night at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. This game represented the biggest challenge of the season to date for Pat Narduzzi’s team, and yet the Panthers laid an egg with a lot on the line.
What stood out from Saturday’s game in Dallas? Here are my five takeaways.
A listless effort
On the second play of the game, SMU produced a 43-yard gain, thanks largely due to a missed tackle from Pitt cornerback Rashad Battle. The Mustangs were able to punctuate the drive with a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead just minutes into the game, and it was a lead that was never really in doubt. At the time it looked as though Pitt needed to settle down, but in reality it was SMU just setting up shop to dominate the overmatched Panthers.
Pitt failed to show up on Saturday night, and that is putting it mildly.
There was not one area of the team where you could say they performed at a high level, not even at an OK level. The tackling on defense was poor, the offense continued its downward spiral for the third straight game, and Pitt’s special teams took a step backwards from a strong performance last week. I mean, Ben Sauls even missed a field goal.
To be blunt, it was all a disaster.
The Panthers had a huge opportunity on Saturday to make a statement, cement their place at the top of the ACC standings, and make a move up in the national polls. But at every turn, this Pitt team looked ill-prepared and not ready for the fight SMU was willing to bring. Pitt earned every single bit of this 23-point loss.
Offense was grounded
There should be a lot of credit given to SMU’s defense for the performance they put together, but at the same time, it was also just more of the same for Pitt's offense. This is the third straight game the offense was out of sync, and this trend is getting hard to excuse anymore.
Pitt's starters have generated only five offensive touchdowns over the last three games, and scored only one tonight. The Panthers tacked on two fourth quarter scores with Eli Holstein on the sideline.
Obviously, this is a concerning trend, but what is the root of it all? There are plenty off things to consider, but it really seems to start with the quarterback. Holstein has been less decisive in just about everything he does these days. He is slow to make his reads, waits too long when he does decide to run, and when he finally does make that decision, he does not seem to have the same burst he had earlier this season.
Holstein, in fairness, lost his left tackle to the season, and I think Branson Taylor’s injury has bothered this team more than anyone could have reasonably expected. There also seems to be some adjustments from the rest of the league catching up to Kade Bell’s offense. Pitt has not had an element of surprise these past three games, and teams seem to have a clear ride on what they are trying. Opponents are sort of smothering Desmond Reid, and daring Holstein to beat them, which seems to be working.
Hunters become the hunted
The sharks did not have their day, that’s for sure. Pitt’s big play defense was non-existent against SMU on Saturday. The Mustangs hung 48 on the Panthers, the most points Pitt has allowed since the 58-7 drubbing to Notre Dame last season.
SMU polished off six of its drives with touchdowns. The Mustangs gashed Pitt for seven explosive plays of 20 yards or more, with at least three of those being the result of the Panthers missing tackles. Pitt only sacked SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings once, did not force any turnovers, and allowed Brashard Smith to gash them for 182 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns.
This was also a SMU team that turned the ball over six times last week and was without its top two receivers, but Pitt did very little to make Jennings uncomfortable in this game. The Mustangs found soft spots in Pitt’s coverages, gashed them in the running game, and simply made them pay for every mistake they made.
Squandered chances
The loss to SMU hurt this team on many levels. First of all, the Panthers have fallen behind in the ACC race with now SMU and Miami as the only unbeaten teams in conference play. Pitt still has an outside chance of making the title game, of course, but needs to win out and needs one of those top teams to falter. Heading into Saturday, Pitt was one of the few power-four teams that completely controlled its own destiny, but now that is off the table.
Not only did the loss sting in the conference race, but also nationally. The Panthers did not have any votes in the preseason polls, so Pitt had to earn its No. 18 ranking by winning every game on its schedule. It has taken quite a bit of effort to climb as far as they did, but these past few weeks very few teams lost ahead of them.
On Saturday, No. 17 Kansas State took a defeat as well as No. 9 Iowa State. There was an opportunity to climb the ladder a bit with a win, but those hopes were dashed by the end of the first quarter seemingly.
A lot to play for
It’s a common phrase after a team loses its first game in college football, whether that is in September or November. Coaches and players will say some version that they have a lot to play for, or that all of their goals are still ahead of them.
We heard a little bit of that in the postgame press conference from Narduzzi and seniors Gavin Bartholomew and Brandon George. While it is all cliche ‘coachspeak’, it’s also true of Pitt’s current situation. One loss should not define the other seven games to date. Pitt starting any season 7-1 is still noteworthy, and something that does not happen every year for this program.
So I’ll echo those thoughts and say it myself that there are a lot of goals still out there for this team to reach.
I don’t think Pitt was ever truly a threat to go 12-0, and Saturday was a sobering reminder of that. At the same time, I don’t think the team was as bad as they performed, not that that matters now. But this team has the ability to regroup. They showed throughout the first seven games that they have some talent and good players, and I think there are still wins in the tank for this group.
Pitt needs to handle business next Saturday for starters. Virginia will bring a 4-4 record into Acrisure Stadium, and also a three-game losing streak. The Cavaliers aren’t a total pushover, but this is also a favorable matchup for a team coming off of a loss.
