It wouldn’t be exactly accurate to say that Pitt moved on from its multiple opt-outs on defense without missing a beat in Friday’s Sun Bowl.

That would be a bit too dismissive to the impact of those departed players. From All-American defensive tackle Calijah Kancey to starting middle linebacker and defensive leader SirVocea Dennis, from starting safety Brandon Hill to the team’s top three defensive ends, Pitt was missing a lot on defense.

And when the Panthers lined up against UCLA’s potent offense in El Paso, it showed.

It started right from the beginning. Bruins star quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson had little trouble maneuvering through Pitt’s defense, connecting on a 51-yard pass on UCLA’s first drive to set up an 11-yard touchdown throw for an early 7-3 lead.

That continued in the second quarter, when Thompson-Robinson completed 4-of-5 passes for 69 yards on UCLA’s second drive and scored the touchdown himself on a one-yard plunge.

Even when Pitt got a stop on the Bruins’ next possession, the drive-ending tipped-pass interception came after Thompson-Robinson threw a pair of passes that gained 51 yards and had the UCLA offense at the Pitt 13.

Thompson-Robinson made up for that miscue on the next drive when Thompson-Robinson completed 5-of-6 for 72 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown pass.

By halftime, the Bruins’ offensive leader had thrown for 254 yards and a pair of touchdowns and had rushed for one more score. The only time Pitt kept UCLA out of the end zone was on the interception, which seemed more like an aberration than anything the Panthers could continue.

The Bruins had the No. 9 scoring offense in the country during the regular season, and it wasn’t hard to see why. Throw in the compounding factor of Pitt’s various opt-outs and other absences, and it didn’t seem like the Panthers would be able to do much to stop Thompson-Robinson.

But in the second half, that’s exactly what Pitt did. The Panthers defense allowed the Bruins offense to score just one touchdown in the final 30 minutes, and Thompson-Robinson was particularly ineffective himself. The redshirt senior played just one snap in the fourth quarter before exiting with an apparent injury, but even when he was on the field in the second half, he struggled.

After completing 13-of-17 for 254 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, Thompson-Robinson completed just two passes for a total of eight yards in the third quarter. And his one snap in the fourth quarter? It was a poor read that turned into an easy interception for Pitt linebacker Bangally Kamara.

Pitt’s patchwork defense kept the high-powered UCLA offense in check over the final two quarters, and the players who filled in for the opt-outs made more than a few contributions.

Like Javon McIntyre, the redshirt freshman safety who replaced Hill. He had a team-high eight tackles and a tackle for loss, while he also recorded his second interception in as many games after grabbing a pick in the regular-season finale at Miami.

Redshirt freshman defensive linemen Elliot Donald and Nahki Johnson had three tackles between them and each chipped in on a sack.

Overall, a defense that was missing five starters from its opening-day lineup held an offense that ranked top-10 in total offense, rushing offense and scoring offense below its season averages in all three categories.

Even more impressive than the final stats was the performance in the second half, when UCLA scored one touchdown and gained 155 yards - 70 of which came on the Bruins’ touchdown drive at the end of the game, while another 58 came on their third quarter-opening drive that ended with an interception.

On the five possessions in between, as Pitt’s offense found a bit of rhythm and scored 13 unanswered points, UCLA punted three times, threw another interception and turned the ball over on downs, running a total of 15 plays and gaining 27 yards (1.8 yards per play).

What all of that means for 2023 remains to be seen. But on Friday afternoon in El Paso, the young Pitt defense rose to the occasion.