MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- The best of Pitt's best saved their best for last on Saturday.
Its best gifted a regular-season-ending victory in a dominant, blowout fashion at 42-16 over Miami at Hard Rock Stadium.
Defense turns into offense in dominant games like this, and this was no different. It was total control of the game from start to finish by the Panthers. On defense, it was about the charge led by SirVocea Dennis and Tylar Wiltz. On offense, it was Israel Abanikanda and Jared Wayne.
Rinse and repeat.
Remember the two unprecedented and once-in-a-lifetime pair of pick-sixes Pitt gathered to start the game at Virginia? This start was second to it, and it bloomed into a rout of the Hurricanes, thanks in a massive part to the above players. The rest of the team piled on within the pasting of the Hurricanes, which have officially concluded one of the most disappointing seasons across college football with respect to expectations.
Here is some context to show how massive this victory is: Pitt's largest margin of victory in its series history against Miami was its 17-point win (36-19) in the 1976 National Championship season.
That obviously changed on Saturday. Pat Narduzzi is now 22-9 in the month of November as Pitt's head coach, including a 4-0 mark 2022, and he reached the mark by earning the Panthers their third win in Miami since 1963.
It was also Pitt's most complete win of the 2022 season, bar none.
"I would think this one was," Narduzzi said. "That's a good football team out there, and I don't care what their record is. You go out there; look (at) what they look like. They've got some great players. They didn't play like our guys played. We played better than they did, but they've got a lot of talent on that field on both sides of the ball. Our kids bowed up and played like we thought they should and could."
A bone-crushing hit by Wiltz of Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke deep in Pitt territory resulted in a 67-yard Dennis interception to the Hurricanes 30-yard line. Four plays later, the Panthers' best offensive player took care of the points, as Abanikanda's 20th touchdown of the season (19th rushing) posted a 7-0 lad for the visitors with 10:13 left in the opening quarter.
Van Dyke, who started on Saturday amid speculation he could miss his second straight game while nursing a lingering shoulder injury, went to the injury tent immediately upon exiting the field, giving way to Jacurri Brown on the Hurricanes' second drive of the game. On 3rd-and-8 from his own 27, Brown gave it right back to the Panthers, as a pass to nowhere -- either a blown route, or a terrible read -- resulted in Javon McIntyre's first career interception.
"Middle of the field, I seen him throw the ball up, I said, 'go get it; I'm going to take the ball from him,'" McIntyre said. "That's what I tried to do, go get it. I didn't mean to fall, but if I stayed up it would've been a pick-six."
Abanikanda, however, was stuffed on 4th-and-goal from the 1 on the eighth play of that drive, and the Hurricanes took over.
After a Miami punt -- on a drive in which Jake Garcia replaced Brown at QB -- Pitt (8-4, 5-3 ACC) promptly was back into the endzone. Kedon Slovis connected with Rodney Hammond Jr. in the backfield for a 12-yard gain, and then he found a crossing Jared Wayne for a 66-yard catch-and-run (with about 55 yards after the catch) and a 14-0 Panthers lead with 50 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Wayne eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark this season in the fourth quarter, becoming the 11th Panther to eclipse that mark in a season. That was the feather in the cap of his monster evening.
"Man, it hasn't really sunk in yet, but that's -- I'm just honored," Wayne said. "I looked up to a lot of guys that came before me. Larry Fitzgerald, Tyler Boyd, so just to be in that conversation with that stat, it's truly an honor."
He set a career-high in receiving yards with 199 on 11 catches to go with three touchdowns on Saturday. His previous high in yards was 161 yards against North Carolina this season. By the end of the first quarter, Wayne caught three passes for 102 yards and the TD. Sixty-eight of those were YAC.
It was a large chunk of where Slovis found success on Saturday. Pitt's quarterback completed 18 of 28 passes for 256 yards and three touchdowns -- his first three-TD game since doing so against Georgia Tech this season -- with one interception.
The Panthers have won four in a row, after dropping games at Louisville and North Carolina.
"It feels really good," Slovis said. "It wasn't the goal we set out to do, but you face adversity, you get to a spot, you want to excel and make the most of it. I think the guys in that room really did that. Really proud of them."
But, the buck did not stop there. Erick Hallett II forced and recovered a Will Mallory fumble at the Hurricanes 19, and Abanikanda took in his 20th rushing TD of the season from 11 yards out for a 21-0 Panthers lead with 11:46 left in the first half.
Eighteen minutes, 14 seconds gone from the game, and Pitt had a 21-0 lead by way of forcing three Hurricanes turnovers.
"Everything Miami did is black and white," Dennis said. "We prepared for all three quarterbacks. I think we did a very good job with that. ... I feel like we had a lot of control in that game."
Pitt's control continued to develop deeper into the second quarter, as a second Slovis connection with Wayne -- this for 26 yards -- gave the Panthers a 28-0 lead with 31 seconds left in the opening half.
The Panthers' defense put a chokehold on the Hurricanes in the first half. Miami (5-7, 3-5 ACC) possessed the ball nine times in the opening half, but none for longer than 3:11. They turned it over four times (once on downs, on an ill-timed fake field goal attempt) and punted four times, with the outlier being the end of the half. Miami averaged 3,9 yards per play (to Pitt's 8.8), went 1-for-7 on third down, and amassed 141 total yards to Pitt's 291.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Abanikanda eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the ninth time this season, and is officially the regular-season ACC rushing king, with 1,431 yards this season. His nine 100-yard-rushing games are the most games for a Panther since Dion Lewis' 10 in 2009. Abanikanda carried the ball 15 times for 111 yards and two scores on Saturday.
"He deserves it, man," Wayne said. "He works his tail off every day. He comes in, he works. Very happy for him."
• Jake Kradel replaced Owen Drexel at center, and Blake Zubovic was inserted at right guard for Pitt in the second quarter, after a couple of errant snaps. Drexel has largely been effective when healthy at the position, though he missed two months with a leg injury.
BRACE YOURSELF for this ALL-TIMER from Narduzzi:
"He had a couple of crappy snaps, and coaches learn," he said. "Last time he had some crappy snaps was Western Michigan two years ago, and I told (offensive line coach Dave Borbely), I said, 'hey, if he's having one of those days, let's get him out of there. I think we had, I think, Kradel come in, and he's got soggy butt, OK? You know, we've got to get him some Depends, because his butt is soaked, you know? And Kedon’s got his hands up underneath there. So we had some soggy but problems, as well. (chuckles)
"So we had some snaps under center that were issues, as well, but, you know, I just went and told I Borbs, 'I ain't taking any chances. We're not going to have any snaps going over.’ Owen’s had a great year, and so has Kradel, so, you know, we knew Kradel could do it, and it was just like — Owen’s so tough, he’s not going to say anything if he’s hurt. He had some pec issues in that Western game two years ago, and it cost us. I just didn’t wasn’t going let that happen again.”
• Pitt had to fare without All-American candidate Calijah Kancey and defensive end Haba Baldonado, as neither traveled with the team to south Florida. Baldonado missed last week's game against Duke with a leg injury, which he sustained toward the end of Pitt's game at Virginia two weeks ago.
Kancey sustained a left shoulder injury midway through last week's game against Duke. He left the game, promptly went into the injury tent, and went straight to the locker room upon sustaining the injury.
As a result, Devin Danielson and David Green started at defensive tackle, while John Morgan III started in place of Baldonado on the outside.
The Panthers trailed Louisville by two sacks for the ACC lead entering this week's action. They had racked up 16 sacks in total over their last three games, entering Saturday.
Pitt got to Miami quarterbacks Van Dyke, Brown, and Garcia six times on Saturday, which gives it 45 on the season and the regular-season ACC sacks title. Louisville finished with 43 this season.
Dayon Hayes racked up three sacks for the Panthers. Wiltz, Dennis, and Deandre Jules each had one.
• A return tease? Check this out from Dennis, when asked if Saturday was his last regular-season game as a Pitt Panther.
"I am still undecided," Dennis said. "You will find out pretty soon, I think, and, you know, moving forward, I'm just here to support my guys."
Stay tuned!
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE ESSENTIALS
• Box score
• Live file
• Top 25 scores
• Schedule
• ACC standings
• Statistics
THE INJURIES
• DID NOT TRAVEL: DT Calijah Kancey (left shoulder), DE Haba Baldonado (knee).
• OUT FOR THE SEASON: LT Carter Warren, DB Rashad Battle, DE Nate Temple.
THE SCHEDULE
• That's all for Pitt in the 2022 regular season. We will find out the Panthers' bowl fate in a couple of weeks following next week's conference championship week. Clemson will oppose North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game at 8 p.m. on Dec. 3.
THE CONTENT
• Visit the Pitt team page and my Twitter page for more from Hard Rock Stadium. Gary Morgan and I are recording a new H2P Podcast Sunday morning, so check for that on all platforms on Sunday evening or Monday morning.
