Panthers use the 'Pitt special' to upset No. 15 UCF
Pitt faced the ultimate situation in football:
Fourth down inside the 5, trailing by six with a minute to play.
And in that situation, Pitt offensive coordinator Mark Whipple made the ultimate call.
It started with a direct snap to running back A.J. Davis, who was to flip the ball to receiver Aaron Mathews, who would then pull up and throw to quarterback Kenny Pickett.
That’s how it was drawn up, and sure enough, that’s how it worked. Three seconds after the ball was snapped, Pickett caught Mathews’ pass in the end zone to tie the Panthers’ matinee matchup with No. 15 UCF on Saturday.
Alex Kessman converted the PAT on the next snap, and after four fruitless plays from the Knights’ offense, the final horn sounded and Pitt celebrated its second win of the season and its first over a top-15 opponent since upsetting then-No. 2 Clemson in 2016.
The play was the culmination of a game started with Pitt building a 21-0 lead before UCF stormed back with 31 consecutive points. The Panthers chipped away with a their first second-half touchdown in seven games but the Knights added a fourth-quarter field goal to stay ahead 34-28 and set up the game-winning play.
The Panthers call it “Pitt special,” as a nod to the Philadelphia Eagles and their “Philly special” from Super Bowl LII. It might have seemed like a risky call in such a big situation, but on the sidelines, there was no doubt it would work.
“The referee came over,” redshirt junior center Jimmy Morrissey said after the game, “and he’s like, ‘Mark, you know you can get a first down on the 1-yard line,’ just to let him know it wasn’t fourth-and-goal. He’s like, ‘Don’t worry about it. We’re going to score on this play.’ Then I was juiced up. I was like, let’s go. We’re going to score.”
“I forget who did it,” Pickett said after the game. “There are other schools - not only the Eagles, but other schools, and we watched some film and it’s just successful every single time, so we were like, we might as well just have this in our back pocket in case we need it. And it paid off today.”
The play required a lot to go right. It started with Pickett seeming to change the play at the line of scrimmage, which was designed to keep UCF unprepared when the ball was snapped to Davis, who then had to catch the snap and time his handoff to Mathews.
Mathews then had to stay clean in the backfield and look to either run or throw. The play is designed as a pass, but Mathews thought his best option might be to tuck the ball away and run for the end zone. When he saw two UCF defenders crash into the backfield and Pickett open behind them, the former Clairton quarterback delivered the ball.
There were a lot of moving parts on the play in a situation where a misthrow or a fumbled snap or a mishandled handoff ends the game in defeat. And there was a lot of responsibility on Mathews’ shoulders
“I’m never nervous out there on the field,” Mathews said. “I’m anxious more than anything. When they said they were going to call it, I just was anxious. Not really nervous. I’ll never get nervous playing something I love.”
“We were all pumped up about it,” Pickett said. “I know Aaron was. I think I have a touchdown catch before he does; he was a little [mad] about that. It was like we switched roles on that play so I have to get him one next week.”
The win improves Pitt’s 2019 record to 2-2 overall. The Panthers will host Delaware next Saturday in the final nonconference game on the regular-season schedule before diving headlong into ACC play. If Saturday’s win over UCF turns out to be a momentum-builder for the team, the “Pitt special” call could grow from a game-winner into a season-changer.