Pitt thrives on star power of Pickett, Addison in 54-29 win over Duke

Pitt's trip to Durham, N.C., to face a Duke team that hadn't won in the ACC had the makings of being a classic letdown game.  

But Kenny Pickett and Jordan Addison were having none of that, as the Panthers shook off a rocky start to finish with a 54-29 win at Wallace Wade Stadium Saturday. The senior quarterback completed 28 of 43 attempts for 416 yards and three passing touchdowns. Pickett also ran for 57 yards on eight carries and a rushing touchdown. Addison contributed seven catches on 12 targets for 171 receiving yards and a touchdown,

Pitt came out strong by recovering a fumble on Duke's first possession before Pickett finished a drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jared Wayne.

That's when the Panthers started to make the kind of mistakes that go with typical letdown losses which have ruined seasons for years under Pat Narduzzi. Pitt's defense would allow a field goal and get a fourth down stop at the goal line before Vincent Davis was tackled in Pitt's end zone for a safety. 

That was followed with a quick punt and Duke's Gunnar Holmberg hitting a 32-yard touchdown pass to Jalon Calhoun. At the end of the first quarter, Duke was outgaining Pitt 210-112, and Holmberg had completed 13 of 15 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown. 

That put Pitt down 12-7 to end the first quarter before Pickett hit Addison for a 47-yard touchdown bomb.

But even that couldn't dig Pitt out from its early struggles as Duke responded with an 86-yard kick return for a touchdown by Jaylen Stinson. That put Duke back up 19-14 in the second quarter. Even with Pickett and Addison connecting for big plays, the Panthers found themselves struggling early on.

But the offense hung in there and the defense made significant adjustments to blitz Holmberg from different angles. After the kick-return touchdown, Pickett and Pitt would turn it on with five consecutive scoring drives before the Blue Devils would score again.

After hitting the 47-yard touchdown to Addison, he would run for a 22-yard touchdown on a play in which Pitt's offensive line gave him plenty of time to survey the field:

Despite only 2:41 being left in the first half, Pitt forced two more punts in the second quarter to get Sean Scarton two more field goals was the Panthers entered the half up 30-19.

Then, Pitt's offense began to put the game away with Pickett hitting true freshman tight end Gavin Bartholomew on a screen that went for a 29-yard touchdown:

By that time, Pitt had Duke in a spot where the Blue Devils couldn't just run the ball to escape. 

After allowing 210 total yards in the first quarter, the Panthers' defense shut down Duke's offense for the remainder of the game, allowing a combined 174 total yards. 

"We did pretty well," Pickett said in a postgame interview on the ACC Network. "A little shaky at first. We had some adversity at first but finished strong."

Pitt's defense adjusted to Duke's passing attack while keeping the Blue Devils' lead back, Mataeo Durant, in check with only 81 yards on 25 carries for an average of 3.2 yards per carry. Durant came into the game as the ACC's second-leading rusher, averaging 121.6 yards per game and 5.2 yards per carry. 

Leading Pitt's defensive performance was its linebackers. John Petrishen led the team with 13 tackles, a sack and an interception, while Phil Campbell had 10 tackles and half a sack, SirVocea Dennis had six tackles that included a stuff of Durant on a fourth-down, goal line stand, and Cam Bright had six tackles and 2.5 sacks.

But make no mistake, Pitt's offensive star power was what saved Pitt from what would've been a season-crushing loss. The Panthers punted on just two of its 16 possessions to go along with a safety and two lost fumbles. 

Pushing Pitt's offense over the top in the third quarter was a two-yard rushing touchdown from Addison when Pickett would hit him with a pass behind the line of scrimmage. After that, Pitt would call upon its ground game to grind out the rest of the clock.

"We played what we've seen (on tape)," Pickett said after the game. "They gave us a few adjustments in coverage but we made adjustments on the fly."

Despite Vincent Davis being listed as a starting running back all season, it was redshirt sophomore Israel Abanikanda and and true freshman Rodney Hammond Jr. leading the way on the ground. Abanikanda had 10 carries for 67 yards while also catching four passes for 24 yards from Pickett. 

Hammond ran the ball 16 times for 81 yards, most of it coming on a grueling 11-play, 42-yard touchdown drive that finished with Hammond pushing his way through Duke's defense with a one-yard run.

It ended up being the blowout win Pitt needed after a tough loss to Miami last week, and that does say something after the Panthers' rough start and being down early. But what's driven Pitt to it's now 7-2 record, 4-0 on the road, and 4-1 in the ACC, is the same thing that won Saturday's game: star power.

Pickett has been in Heisman talks for over a month now, and Addison's 10 touchdown receptions coming into the game was the second-most in the country. 

In past years, Pitt had seen similar struggles and not been able to bounce back in time to overcome its own mistakes. But now the Panthers have avoided slipping into a losing streak, and maintains a slim lead in the ACC Coastal division. Virginia' is half a game back from Pitt with a 4-2 conference record despite losing out of conference to BYU on Thursday.

Pitt's next opponent, North Carolina, pulled off a major 58-55 upset over undefeated No. 9 Wake Forest Saturday to improve to 3-3 in the ACC. The Panthers face the Tar Heels on Thursday night at Heinz Field for a game that could make or break Pitt's hopes to win the division.

"We can't take much away from this," Pickett said after the game. "We have to turn around and get ready for Thursday night. It's a quick turnaround and we've got some guys hurt but we have to get ready for Thursday against North Carolina."

It was important for Pitt to overcome adversity against Duke, but it cannot afford to have a slow start against North Carolina or Virginia in the following week. Both teams have strong-armed quarterbacks in Sam Howell for the Tar Heels and Brennan Armstrong for the Cavaliers.

The Panthers have struggled against accurate pocket passers this season in both their losses to Western Michigan and Miami. The defense rebounded against Duke, but the Blue Devils' quarterback Holmberg has never been the kind of passer that could test defenses consistently, and he was knocked out of the game in the third quarter after a hard sack from Bright.

Pitt got the job done today, but now its true test looms large with a short week after a road win.

• Pitt suffered several injuries in Saturday's win while it was already dealing with significant losses. Both Taysir Mack and Jaylon Barden were out with shoulder injuries and more would join them as the game continued. Keyshon Camp suffered a foot injury that took him out of the game and he was seen in a walking boot with crutches on the sideline. Gabe Houy suffered an apparent leg injury which forced him out of the game and he wouldn't return as Matt Goncalves took his place.

Other players who would suffer injuries would be Devin Danielson and Gavin Bartholomew.