MORE FROM THE GAME - Narduzzi on upsetting Virginia, the run game, the defense and more | Video: Narduzzi's postgame press conference | Pitt upsets No. 23 on the road | Postgame video: Connor Dintino | Postgame video: Darrin Hall | Postgame video: Kenny Pickett | Postgame video: Dane Jackson | Postgame video: Rashad Weaver

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Fresh off the second-biggest rushing performance in school history, Pitt came into Friday night’s game against No. 23 Virginia at Scott Stadium looking to continue the success.

The run game had led the Panthers to victory over Duke, and they knew they would need it again to beat the Cavaliers.

But in the early going, it wasn’t working. Darrin Hall scored the game’s first touchdown on a skillful 41-yard run, but Pitt finished the first quarter with 39 yards - two fewer than Hall’s run - and had 64 yards on 15 rushing attempts at halftime.

Those aren’t terrible numbers, but they’re well off last week’s pace of 400+, and they’re far below the bar for a team whose passing game was equally stagnant (Pitt had just 57 passing yards in the first half).

But Pat Narduzzi’s Panthers are nothing if not devoted to the run. Their first drive of the second half went nowhere with eight yards on six plays, but the next time Pitt got the ball, it did exactly what it wanted to do:

Burn eight minutes and 40 seconds off the clock by running 15 plays for 84 yards. 50 of those yards came on runs by Hall, and he capped the possession with a two-yard touchdown that proved to be the game-winner in Pitt’s 23-13 upset of the Cavaliers.

“We just kept going to it,” Narduzzi said after the game. “We were just okay in the first half; in the second half, we came out rolling. I think our coaches did a great job of making some slight adjustments as far as what we were doing and how we were doing in the first half. That’s what you do as a coach: put the kids in position to make plays.”

Hall was in position to make plays often in the second half of Friday night’s game. The next time he touched the ball after the two-yard touchdown, he ran through a big hole and won a foot race to the end zone, covering 75 yards in all for a long scoring run.

The senior running back finished with 229 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries (12.1 yards per attempt). That was Hall’s second 100-yard game of the season and the sixth of his career. For the most part in 2018, he has played a reserve role behind redshirt senior Qadree Ollison, who came into the game with 795 yards and seven touchdowns but carried the ball just seven times at Virginia due to an apparent injury situation.

Thrust into the spotlight, Hall excelled.

“He has great leadership, Qadree has great leadership and they feed off each other,” redshirt senior offensive guard Connor Dintino said Friday night. “Not many people can rely on two running backs like that, so they feed off each other and that’s what great teams have.”

Heading into the final three games of the season, Hall and Ollison have combined to rush for 1,477 yards and 14 touchdowns.

“It works out perfectly,” Hall said.

As a team, Pitt rushed for 254 yards against Virginia - a drop from the 484 the Panthers had against Duke, although it was the sixth time in nine games this season that they have topped 200 rushing yards in a game.

Pitt has now rushed for 2,077 yards and 20 rushing touchdowns in 2018, an average of 230.7 yards per game.

"We do it the old-fashioned way," Narduzzi said.