Published Oct 28, 2018
Notebook: Fourth-quarter comebacks, rushing records and more
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Chris Peak  •  Panther-lair
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Pitt scored a key ACC win Saturday with a 54-45 defeat of Duke at Heinz Field, and here’s a collection of news and notes from the game.

- At 3-1 in the ACC, Pitt is off to its best conference start since 2015, when the Panthers opened conference play by winning four straight games and finished with a 6-2 ACC record.

- To beat the Blue Devils, the Panthers had to overcome a 21-17 halftime deficit; that was just the third time under Pat Narduzzi that Pitt has come back to win after trailing at halftime. The Panthers are 3-16 when trailing at halftime since the start of the 2015 season. Their previous second-half comebacks were the 2016 game at Clemson and the 2015 game at Syracuse.

- Pitt also had to overcome a 45-42 deficit in the fourth quarter to get the win. Under Narduzzi, the Panthers have now won five games with fourth-quarter comebacks. In addition to the 2016 Clemson game and the 2015 Syracuse games mentioned above, Pitt also came back from a 17-14 fourth-quarter deficit to beat Duke 24-17 last season and overcame a 34-27 fourth-quarter deficit to beat Syracuse earlier this season.

- Pitt scored 54 points in Saturday’s win, the most in a game this season and the highest total since scoring 76 to beat Syracuse in the 2016 regular-season finale. The Panthers have scored at least 50 points three times under Narduzzi and have won all three. Pitt is also 11-0 under Narduzzi when scoring at least 40 points.

- Pitt’s rushing attack on Saturday tallied 484 yards, the second-highest single-game total in school history. The Panthers’ high mark for rushing came in 1975 when they gained 530 yards in a win at Army.

- The rushing performance was powered by a multi-headed monster. Qadree Ollison led the way with 149 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, recording his eighth career 100-yard rushing game in the process. He now has a team-high 795 yards and seven touchdowns this season.

- Pitt’s second-leading rusher on Saturday wasn’t senior Darrin Hall, who has been No. 2 behind Ollison this season. Instead, it was freshman V’Lique Carter, a defensive back who made his season debut and did so by making a splash on offense, rushing seven times for 137 yards and two touchdowns.

That was the first time a Pitt player rushed for 100 yards in his debut since Ollison topped 200 yards as a redshirt freshman against Youngstown State in 2015. The last time a true freshman ran for 100 yards in his debut was Dion Lewis in 2009; he had 129 yards and two touchdowns on 20 attempts against Youngstown State.

- The Panthers’ third-leading rusher on Saturday was sophomore quarterback Kenny Pickett, who set a career high and doubled his season rushing total with 76 yards on seven attempts. He also ran for Pitt’s first score, a 30-yard designed run on the game-opening drive.

- The other key component in Pitt’s offense against Duke was junior receiver Maurice Ffrench. With 75 receiving yards, 69 rushing yards and 76 yards on kick returns, the New Jersey native had a career-high 220 all-purpose yards in the win. He also scored two touchdowns and now has seven on the season, tying him for the team lead with Ollison.

- With 220 yards on 13 touches (two receptions, seven rushes, four returns), Ffrench averaged 16.9 yards per touch against Duke.

- Elias Reynolds made his second career start and recorded a career-high 12 tackles. Safeties Dennis Briggs and Phil Campbell each set career highs with eight tackles.

- Pitt wasn’t the only team breaking records on Saturday. Duke receiver Deon Jackson set a career high with 403 all-purpose yards. And Blue Devils quarterback set his own career high with 396 passing yards.