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The odds were stacked against Pitt when the Panthers rolled into Death Valley for an afternoon showdown with No. 2 Clemson.
The Tigers had been driven by dominance on both sides of the ball all season, with NFL players at more than a few positions. Quarterback, receiver, tight end, running back and virtually the entire defense was littered with stars who will be paid to play football in the very near future.
Meanwhile, Pitt came in with a two-game losing streak and one of the nation’s most porous defenses. And to make matters worse, the Panthers’ offense - which had carried the team to five wins in the first nine contests - showed some warts in the last game, a 51-28 blowout loss at Miami.
There wasn’t much going for Pitt heading into Clemson and the oddsmakers saw the Tigers as a three-touchdown favorite. But the Panthers, under second-year head coach Pat Narduzzi announced their intentions from the start, and with a mix of opportunistic defense, relentless offense and an absolutely huge kick at an absolutely huge moment, they came out of one of the ACC’s toughest venues with one of the year’s toughest wins, a 43-42 victory over the previously-unbeaten Tigers.
Right from the beginning, Pitt showed Dabo Swinney’s crew that they would be in for a fight, as the Panthers hit a quick five-play, 75-yard drive to open the game with a touchdown. And that was followed by an interception in the end zone from Ryan Lewis - his second such pick this season - to turn away Clemson’s first possession.
Pitt punted on the ensuing drive, but what followed was an offensive show for the ages: Clemson touchdown, Pitt touchdown, Clemson touchdown, Pitt punt, Clemson touchdown, Pitt touchdown, Clemson interception - this time by Avonte Maddox - Pitt touchdown (with a missed extra point that became huge down the stretch), Clemson touchdown.
When the first half ended, the teams, the fans and everyone else watching caught their collective breath in the wake of a barnstorming 30 minutes of play that had Clemson leading 28-27.
All of those fireworks cooled down in the second half. Sure, the two teams scored on three consecutive drives in the third quarter, but those touchdowns were surrounded by six punts, a Pitt fumble and another Clemson interception.
And what an interception it was. Pitt was down eight points and the Tigers had marched all the way to the Panthers 3 while taking nearly five minutes off the clock. Clemson star quarterback Deshaun Watson fired for the end zone on second and goal, only to have redshirt freshman linebacker Saleem Brightwell make arguably the play of the game as he somehow grabbed the ball away from the receiver and took off down the sideline.
Brightwell didn’t make it to the end zone, but he got close enough, and three plays later, James Conner put on his most authentic James Conner display, using stiff arms, cutbacks, broken tackles and old-fashioned running to pick up 20 yards and a touchdown.
The two-point conversion - a necessity after Blewitt’s missed extra point - wouldn’t go, leaving Pitt down two points as the clock ticked under five minutes, then four, then three, then two before the Panthers found a way to stuff Clemson running back Wayne Gallman on fourth-and-one from the Pitt 35.
With one timeout and 52 seconds left, Pitt took the ball aiming for Blewitt’s field-goal range. Quarterback Nate Peterman scrambled for nine yards on first down and Pitt used its final timeout to stop the clock. Then Peterman connected with tight end Scott Orndoff for a big 21-yard catch-and-run; a subsequent four-yard pass to Orndoff put the ball at the Clemson 34, and incomplete passes on second and third downs brought out Blewitt - who had not only missed an extra point but also kicked a first-half field goal attempt into the back of one of his offensive linemen.
This time, from 48 yards, Blewitt was good, putting the ball through the uprights, redemption for him and the team that had suffered more than a few close losses against superior competition this season.
Peterman finished with his first career 300-yard game, completing 22-of-37 for 308 yards and a career-high five touchdowns. Conner ran for 132 yards and a touchdown and caught three passes for 57 yards and a score. Orndoff was Pitt’s leading receiver with 128 yards and two touchdowns on nine receptions, while fullback George Aston grabbed four passes for 29 yards and two scores.
Clemson was not without highlights in this game. Watson set more than a few records with 580 yards on 52-of-70 passing, but his three touchdowns were offset by the three interceptions - all of which came deep in Pitt territory. Watson’s favorite target, sure-fire first-round receiver Mike Williams, caught 15 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown, while Artavis Scott added 125 yards and a touchdown on 13 catches.
Watson, Williams, Scott and Gallman (18 rushing attempts, 36 yards, 3 touchdowns) all announced this week that they were leaving Clemson early to enter the 2017 NFL Draft.
But in the face of all of that talent, all of that star power and all of that future NFL money, it was Pitt that emerged victorious on Saturday, upending one of the nation’s four remaining undefeated teams and giving Narduzzi his first signature win as head coach of the Panthers.
Pitt (6-4, 3-3) will host Duke next Saturday at Heinz Field.
