Gold defeats Blue 17-10
The Pitt football program is hosting its annual Blue-Gold game on Saturday from Acrisure Stadium to conclude spring football for the year. Follow along for updates
FIRST QUARTER
Gold 3, Blue 0 4:59 1Q
G — Sam Carpenter 44-yard field goal
The game started with the Gold team on offense first, which also meant Pitt fans' first look at new quarterback Eli Holstein. The Alabama transfer engineered a 14-play, 54-yard drive in 5:01 which resulted in a Sam Carpenter kick to grab an early lead. It was a little sloppy on both ends. There were four collective penalties by the Blue and Gold, also a botched snap which almost resulted in a fumble, and also an interception that was negated by a penalty on the defense. Either way, Holstein made some nice throws, and completed three of them, all to Kenny Johnson. He was certainly locked in on Johnson as a target, but did show off a few nice throws, even with some bad ones. The Gold had some good moments on the opening possession as well. redshirt freshman defensive tackle Isaiah Neal registered a sack (two-hand touch) on the first play of the game.
SECOND QUARTER
Blue 3, Gold 3 2:30
B — Ben Sauls 50-yard field goal
Blue safety Javon McIntyre picked off an Eli Holstein pass and returned it eight yards to give his offense good field position. The Blue team, behind presumed starting quarterback Nate Yarnell, did produce a scoring drive, albeit an unconventional one. The Blue had a 9-play, 1-yard drive, and capped it on a Ben Sauls kick. Despite the ball not moving forward on this drive, Yarnell has been solid going 8-for-10 so far in the game. He is working behind what is effectively the third-team offensive line, and penalties have hurt the Blue. Yarnell dumped off a beautifully executed screen pass to Desmond Reid who took it in for a touchdown, but a penalty thwarted that threat, leading to a lengthy Sauls' field goal.
Gold 10, Blue 3 :19
G — Daniel Carter 6-yard pass from Eli Holstein
After a few rough possessions, Holstein looked comfortable running a two-minute drill as he got the gold team down the field in chunks and found spring game legend Daniel Carter for a six-yard touchdown to give his team the lead just before the break. Holstein had two big plays to senior tight end Gavin Bartholomew that got things moving. The first went for 18 yards, then later in the drive it was a 27-yard connection where Bartholomew fought off some tackles for extra yardage. Holstein finished the first half 10-of-22 for 128 yards one touchdown and one interception.
THIRD QUARTER
Gold 17, Blue 3 2:25
G — Kenny Johnson 18-yard pass from Ty Diffenbach
The backup quarterbacks took over for each team at the start of the third quarter, and the offensive production certainly reflected that. There were four consecutive three-and-outs collectively by the offenses led by Christian Veilleux (Blue) and Ty Diffenbach (Gold). Eventually, the Blue was stopped on downs, setting up Gold near midfield. Diffenbach found Kenny Johnson for a 20-yard gain then a few plays later connected with him again for an 18-yard score on a screen pass. Near the end of the third quarter, Johnson has been a bright spot with six catches for 77 yards and a touchdown.
Gold 17, Blue 10 :13
B — Lamar Seymore 34-yard pass from Nate Yarnell
For whatever reason, Yarnell re-entered the game for the Blue team and the starting quarterback did what you would expect. He engineered a quick strike six-play, 80-yard touchdown drive in 2:12. Yarnell finished off the drive on a beautifully thrown pass to redshirt freshman Lamar Seymore on a 34-yard score. I would assume Yarnell's day is now done, and we'll call it 12-of-16 for 108 yards and a touchdown. Not a bad day's work.
FOURTH QUARTER
Due to the two-hour window set forth by the ACC Network, Pitt had to speed things up in the fourth quarter with the spring game. The clock continued to move with the walk-on quarterbacks like Jake Frantl and David Lynch getting some chances, as well as freshman quarterback Julian Dugger. The offense did not move it much, and the game ended with a Gold victory.