Kenny Pickett didn’t throw for 300 yards in a single game at Pitt until the 12th start of his career.

Christian Veilleux did it in start No. 2.

But while Veilleux hit for 305 yards and two touchdowns on 28-of-45 passing at Wake Forest on Saturday, Pitt’s offense experienced a long slump in the middle of the game, bookending a pair of impressive touchdown drives around nearly 50 minutes’ worth of unproductive possessions.

So when the Deacons caught a bit of a momentum on offense at the end of the game, the Panthers had no cushion and ended up dropping a very winnable game against a very beatable opponent.

“Just execution,” Veilleux said after the game. “We have to execute on offense, and if we do that, we sustain drives, time of possession goes up and we end with either a field goal or a touchdown, and that’s always the goal. We didn’t do a good job of executing today.”

Veilleux’s not entirely accurate in that assessment. For two drives, Pitt’s offense looked as good as it has all season. The Panthers opened the game with a 75-yard march that featured Veilleux completing 6-of-8 passes for 64 yards, including a seven-yard pass to Kenny Johnson for the freshman receiver’s first career touchdown reception.

And when Pitt got the ball back after Wake Forest scored to take a 14-10 lead with three minutes to play in the game after, Veilleux did it again: 67 yards on 4-of-6 passing capped by a 21-yard touchdown throw to Bub Means.

Those drives hinted at what Pitt’s offense - particularly the passing game - can be when it is working. But in between, things didn’t work nearly as well.

On 10 possessions between Pitt’s two touchdowns, Veilleux completed 17-of-29 passes for 133 yards, the Panthers converted 4-of-15 third downs and they scored just three points. Six drives ended with punts. Two ended with turnovers on downs. One ended with a 10-second runoff and the clock running out at the end of first half. And one ended with a field goal.

Three points on 10 possessions isn’t enough to win in college football (or any level, really), and by failing to build a lead, Pitt allowed Wake Forest, playing with its third-string quarterback, to hang around.

Scoring more could have put pressure on the Deacons’ offense, but the Panthers didn’t do that and that kept the game in reach for Wake Forest at the end.

“I don’t know. It’s frustrating. I can tell you that,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said. “IChristian started off, I don’t know if he had an incomplete pass on that (first) drive. He looked sharp. I don’t know what adjustments they made on defense. We were doing a little bit of ‘look to the sideline’ to see what we liked from the box based on coverage. We did a good job. They mixed it up a little bit with the quarters, showing press and all of that. I don’t know if they confused Christian or not. But we didn’t throw it effectively. And again, we’ve got to get our run game going. I’m just disappointed on a fourth-and-1 that we can’t get a first down. It’s one yard.”

One week after going 2-for-2 on fourth down against Louisville in a win, Pitt failed on both of its fourth-down attempts on Saturday. The first failed attempt was a fourth-and-7 from the Wake 36 in the second quarter; Veilleux tried to throw for Johnson on that play but sailed the pass as the quarterback and receiver appeared to be on different pages.

The second attempt came in the third quarter. Pitt had fourth-and-1 from the Wake Forest 41, and while the center was uncovered, seemingly giving Veilleux a straight shot for a sneak, he handed off to running back C’Bo Flemister, who was stopped for no gain.

Wake Forest didn’t score after that turnover on downs. Nor did the Deacons score on either of their next two possessions. But they did put up two touchdowns in the final six minutes, and because of Pitt’s long touchdown-less streak in the middle of the game, those two touchdowns gave Dave Clawson’s team the win despite being outperformed in virtually every statistical category.