MORE FROM PITT'S SEASON-OPENING WIN - PODCAST: The drive home from Pitt's win over Albany | Box score: Pitt 33, Albany 7 | Pitt-Albany: Five key plays | Video rundown: Highlights and interviews from Pitt-Albany | Narduzzi on beating Albany, the defense, Pickett's leap and more | Post-game video: Pat Narduzzi | Pitt opens 2018 with win over Albany

Pitt opened the 2018 season with a win over Albany at Heinz Field on Saturday. Here’s a look at some news and notes from the game.

- 22 players made their Pitt debuts in Saturday’s game, including four transfers, two true freshmen and 15 redshirt freshmen. 12 of those debuts came on offense, seven were on defense and three were on special teams.

- The two true freshmen represented each side of the ball: Shocky Jacques-Louis lined up at receiver and Marquis Williams played cornerback. Jacques-Louis caught one pass for three yards and rushed three times for 21 yards. Williams recorded one tackle.

- Two newcomers started Saturday’s game, and both were on the offensive line. Redshirt senior Stefano Millin, a grad transfer from Kent State, started at left tackle; redshirt freshman Gabe Houy started at right tackle. Houy was later replaced by Jerry Drake Jr. and Millin was replaced by Carson Van Lynn; both replacements are also redshirt freshmen.

- In addition to Millin, transfers Taysir Mack (receiver), Will Gragg (tight end) and Colin Jonov (special teams) made their Pitt debuts on Saturday.

- The game also saw the highly-anticipated debut of redshirt freshman Paris Ford. He replaced Phillipie Motley at cornerback in the second quarter and played there for most of the rest of the game, recording two tackles in his first collegiate playing time. Ford played the field cornerback position primarily but shifted to the boundary when Williams was in with him.

- Projected starters/two-deep players Alex Bookser, Dane Jackson, Jason Pinnock and Phil Campbell did not play for undisclosed reasons. Linebacker Elias Reynolds and running back Todd Sibley also did not play and were not in uniform.

- The first big play in Saturday’s game came on the very first play of the game when Maurice Ffrench took the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown. That was the first time Pitt has returned a game-opener for a touchdown since Quadree Henderson did it against Navy in the 2015 Military Bowl.

- Ffrench later scored on a rushing touchdown, and his two touchdowns doubled his career total. He previously reached the end zone in two games during his freshman season of 2016.

- Redshirt senior receiver Rafael Araujo-Lopes also doubled his career touchdown total on Saturday. He came into the game with two career touchdown receptions (both were last season) and he caught two touchdown passes in the win over Albany.

- Pitt used eight receivers in the win over Albany: starters Tre Tipton and Rafael Araujo-Lopes and reserves Dontavius Butler Jenkins, Maurice Ffrench, Aaron Mathews, Michael Smith, Mack and Jacques-Louis. Six of those eight - all but Smith and Butler-Jenkins - caught at least one pass. And three of them - Ffrench, Jacques-Louis and Araujo-Lopes - had at least two rushing attempts.

- Pitt defenders had two interceptions in Saturday’s game; that was the first time the Panthers have posted multiple interceptions in a single game since they picked off three passes against Rice last season. Pitt hasn’t had multiple picks in a game against Power Five competition since the Clemson game in 2016; the Panthers grabbed three interceptions that day.

- Pitt’s interceptions were recorded by Damar Hamlin, who made his second career pick, and Damarri Mathis, whose end-zone interception was the first of his career. Hamlin returned his interception 79 yards - the longest interception return by a Pitt player since Ricky Gary took one 80 yards for a touchdown at Syracuse in 2010.

- Pitt’s defense sacked Albany quarterback Vincent Testaverde five times on Saturday. That was the most in a single game since the Panthers had five sacks against Duke on Nov. 19, 2016.

- Announced attendance for Saturday’s game was 34,486, the lowest total for a Pitt season opener at Heinz Field since the Panthers started playing there in 2001. The Panthers have now drawn less than 40,000 in four consecutive home games dating back to last season and have not topped 45,000 since Oct. 8, 2016, when they debuted retro uniforms against Georgia Tech. That streak is likely to be broken next Saturday when Penn State comes to Heinz Field.