Resilient Pickett, Panthers outgun Tennessee, 41-34

Things are different for the Panthers this year with 27 seniors and leadership across the board to help Pitt find its way even in tough situations on the road against an SEC opponent like Tennessee in Saturday's Johnny Majors Classic at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.

Pitt had a sloppy start that put the Panthers in a tough spot, down 10-0 in the first quarter on the road against its first SEC opponent since 2013 with 82,203 fans in attendance. But Kenny Pickett stepped up in several key moments to lead the Panthers to a huge 41-34 road win over Tennessee to push the Panthers to 2-0.

The Panthers got the ball to start the game and disaster struck quickly when the offense went three-and-out before Kirk Christodoulou's punt was blocked and recovered at Pitt's 2-yard line, leading to a quick touchdown for the Volunteers. Pitt would eventually settle things down, but it was difficult with Tennessee's aggressive defense flying around the field and shutting down Pitt's early attempts to run the ball and work the underneath passing game.

"We just missed a block on that first punt," Narduzzi said. "Got our hands on the guy but it wasn't a full effort. But hey, that's the game of football. It's about the ups and downs of the game and our guys responded."

After going three-and-out for its first three drives, the Panthers were struggling to find a way to move the ball.

"One of our keys to victory was to come out and weather the storm in the first quarter," Narduzzi said. "We knew the noise and chaos going on in this stadium was going to be something and that we'd face adversity in the first quarter. Our guys stuck with it. We addressed it last night and again this morning. Couldn't be prouder of the perseverance after the adversity our guys went through. That's a talented, athletic, good football team we just faced."

This was where Pitt looked like it might not have answers for an SEC opponent in a hostile environment so early in the season. In previous seasons, a start like that might've meant an insurmountable deficit with the Panthers compounding early mistakes with even more mistakes that buried their chances even further.

But that didn't happen, as the Panthers started moving the ball in the second quarter, still down 10-0.

"I told the guys last night in team meetings that things weren't going to go smooth," Pickett said. "We may go down and that's just how it goes on the road when they have an energetic fanbase and their crowd was loud. But nobody batted an eye, nobody blinked, we just focused on getting one positive play and then worked on stacking on that."

And when they did, Pitt had five consecutive scoring drives as Pickett led the offense, completing 24 of 36 passes for 285 yards, two touchdowns with no interceptions. He also spread the ball around, hitting six different players for receptions during the game. Those passing yards got Pickett to 8,541 all-time for Pitt, pushing him past Tyler Palko for fourth-most in program history. He's just 50 and 58 passing yards away from passing Tino Sunseri and Dan Marino for third- and second-most passing yards respectively in Pitt history. 

"Trust in KP," Narduzzi said of Pickett. "He had a heck of a day. I'm sure there's some throws he missed like any quarterback but he got that fourth-down scramble with putting his shoulder down. He knows what to do on the field and our guys rally around Kenny Pickett."

Pickett would get the scoring started with an impressive rollout touchdown pass to Melquise Stovall, the senior transfer receiver out of Hawaii who tallied his first touchdown for the Panthers:

After that, Pitt took control of the game, outscoring Tennessee 27-10 in the second quarter. It came from a group of players who weren't willing to wait for someone else to step up and make big plays.

Leading the way for Pitt's receivers was Taysir Mack, who finished with four catches for 100 yards. But right with him was Jordan Addison who caught four passes for 64 yards and a big 5-yard touchdown reception that put Pitt up 41-27 in the fourth quarter. Mack's biggest catch came on a 27-yard, back-shoulder throw where he went up and made a contested catch that got Pitt down to Tennessee's 11-yard line, setting up a Vincent Davis touchdown run that would give Pitt a 27-20 lead at the half.

"Taysir Mack had some tremendous catches," Narduzzi said. "That one fade ball he went and got, he went up and got it and high pointed the ball. That's a heck of a catch. Jordan Addison also had some great catches as well. Our tailbacks out of the backfield caught some hitches in empty formations. The guys made plays for Kenny today."

"I've got a great connection with Taysir," Pickett said of Mack. "I trust him to make those plays and I'll put the ball up for him. I know he's a guy that when the ball is up on the air, he's going to go get it. Same with a lot of other guys on this receiving group. I've got a lot of trust in all of them."

Pitt even had its receivers get involved in throwing the ball, as Jared Wayne tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Lucas Krull on a trick play during the second quarter that gave Pitt it's first lead of the game at 14-13. Krull would finish with three catches for 33 yards to go along with his touchdown, which was his second of the season. Offensive coordinator Mark Whipple delivered with a big play to catch Tennessee off guard.

"Coach Whip's had that one in his back pocket for a while," Narduzzi said of the trick play. "That was the Panther Special. We've had the Pitt Special, and that's the Panther Special. But we've had that for a while and we knew Jared Wayne had a great arm. We've got a few others to go with that, too."

"It was awesome," Pickett said of the trick play. "I didn't love the look, but they softened up on the outside. (Receiver) Shocky (Jacques-Louise) made a great block and I told him before the snap his block was going to be key for the score. He did a hell of a job securing that block, then Jared put it up to Lucas and it looked just like we practiced."

Pitt's pass catchers delivered a solid performance alongside Pickett, not having nearly as many notable drops as they did last week or what was regularly expected from games last season.

"Credit those receivers for staying out on the JUGS machines all day," Narduzzi said. "There were some times at ten o'clock at night our receivers would be asking to go out in the dark and catch passes on the JUGS machines. Credit (receivers coach) Brennan Marion for coaching them up and working on their ability to catch the ball consistently."

This may be where the biggest difference was from years' past for Pitt, as in recent years those notable drops led to stalled drives in key moments like the Panthers' one-point losses to N.C. State and Boston College last year. But that didn't happen in Knoxville  as Pitt's receivers kept finding ways to pull in pass after pass even when defenders were fighting for the ball.

Building with the offense's success was a defense that created three turnovers. One was a fumble forced and recovered by Keyshon Camp in the second quarter against quarterback Joe Milton III. That hit knocked out the Volunteers' starting quarterback who completed 7 of 12 passes for 50 yards before being sent into the locker room with an apparent chest injury.

That injury to Milton brought in transfer quarterback Hendon Hooker, who had started against Pitt twice during his time as Virginia Tech's starting quarterback. Habakkuk Baldonado would contribute with another sack and forced fumble that he would recover. Hooker would rebound though, completing 15 of 21 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns.

But Pitt would find answers late with huge stops that kept the Volunteers off the board for the final 10 minutes of the game. Tennessee got the ball at its own 33 and was down seven points and driving into Pitt's red zone. Pitt thought it had a stop on third down, but a questionable defensive pass interference called against Damarri Mathis extended the drive, and a penalty out of frustration by Brandon Hill who pushed his man out of bounds drew another unnecessary roughness penalty.

But after allowing the Volunteers to get to Pitt's 2-yard line, John Petrishen stuffed running back Jaylen Wright on a fourth-and-1 and took over on downs. Pitt's offense would go three-and-out after, but the defense would back them up with a big interception by Hill, making up for his penalty just a drive earlier.

After allowing 34 points, the defense delivered with back-to-back big stops to help the Panthers hold onto their seven-point lead.

"That fourth-down goal line stand," Narduzzi said what impressed him the most of his defense. "You talk about plays of the game, that's right up there. Same for Brandon Hill's interception late in the game. They're athletic and those receivers can run. In the first quarter I was worried if we could catch them. I thought the defense was solid, but not what we wanted to do. We missed a tackle on a quick route that led to a score and we had quarterback draws hurt us. I thought we did solid, but I know there's a lot of stuff we could clean up."

"That was a big time play by him" Narduzzi said as he continued on Hill's interception. "That made up for his late hit out of bounds, but I thought he pushed him before he got out of bounds and the receiver took a big fall. He almost cost us there, but he came back with a big interception to seal the deal for us."

Then with 4:52 left in the game, Pitt had to grind out the clock despite taking 37 carries for only 67 yards heading into that drive, an average of 1.8 yards per rush. That didn't matter as Pitt rushed for two first downs taking five carries for 26 yards split between Israel "Izzy" Abanikanda and Vincent Davis. Those rushes put the game away and let the Panthers kneel the clock out.

"The offensive line played a heck of a game," Narduzzi said. "You look at that defensive line we were blocking today and that was a big time defensive line group. Their defensive tackles are talented, but I say offensive lines get graded when its time for the four-minute offense. They got the ball late and grounded it out and that's how we like to end it. It starts and ends with that victory formation."

Tennessee's defensive front was certainly unique in its size and athleticism as an SEC opponent compared to the average ACC fronts Pitt has faced over the years. But the biggest challenge Pickett saw for his line was jelling while on the road in a loud, hostile environment. 

"They did an unbelievable job protecting all game," Pickett said of his offensive line. "Stayed up really clean today. If anytime I was scrambling, I was trying to free up a guy in coverage down the field. They did an unbelievable job. They'll be eating good Monday, I'll tell you that. At the end of the day, they did a great job with the run game. It takes time on the road to get the run game going. We had to wear them down a little bit but they showed up big when we needed them."

Pickett was only sacked twice by an aggressive defense that brought pressure in the box all game to attack Pickett in the pocket and make life hard for the Panthers' running backs.

While Pitt's run game wasn't something that could be consistently relied upon during the game, Narduzzi did note afterwards that Davis had earned the role of the short-yardage back in the eyes of Whipple and running backs coach Andre Powell.

"Vince runs his tail off," Narduzz said. "Izzy had a nice game as well but when we asked at the end of the week, without any hesitation coach Powell and coach Whipple said Vincent Davis. We're going with that guy in short yardage and we needed to know who to use in those critical situations. Both those guys ran hard and I'm awful proud of the offensive line blocking for them."

It wasn't pretty, but it was a resilient performance against a program that most likely would've found a way to beat Pitt in prior years. One thing that Pickett noted after the game was how well Pitt adjusted to the hostile environment after the players had time to settle into the game.

"I wish Johnny Majors was here to see what happened today," Narduzzi said. "I know he was wearing the blue and the gold in the press box up above and he would've been happy with what he saw today."

"Definitely the largest crowd in two years," Pickett said. "We did a really good job communicating. We were doing a good job of getting guys back in the huddle and using our hand signals with our up-tempo offense. We prepared all week pretty well for that with the loud speakers in practice and it paid off."

All week, Pitt's coaches made sure to use speakers to blast the Volunteers' unofficial fight song, "Rocky Top" during practice, as an effort to get the Panthers used to playing in loud environments. But chief among leading them through that environment was Pickett, who kept the team together and made the biggest plays early that stopped Tennessee's momentum and helped the Panthers find their own rhythm.

"Kenny's taken a big step up from last year," Narduzzi said of Pickett. "Kenny's been poised. He's athletic and he's a leader. You just watched how he leads the team in the huddle and he wipes away the doubts of our guys. He's a real leader."

After the game, Pickett was already focused on Pitt's next opponent of Western Michigan, next Saturday for a noon kickoff at Heinz Field.

"This definitely builds confidence," Pickett said of the win. "It's a continued validation of all the hard work we put in. Everyone prepared hard for this game. But it doesn't mean too much in the grand scheme of things. We have to go out next week and do it all again next week against Western Michigan."

This was the game that Pitt might've let slip away in any other year under Narduzzi. The early mistakes put Pitt behind and late mistakes kept letting Tennessee get right back in the game. Still, the perseverance to find answers in tough situations in front of a loud crowd on the road helped the Panthers overcome their biggest challenge of their non-conference schedule, and their first win over an SEC team since 2011.

If Pitt can keep raising the bar for expectations this season, maybe the Panthers can find that first nine-win season during the Narduzzi era.