Panthers, Holstein stay strong in stirring 21-point rally past Bearcats

CINCINNATI -- Despite only scoring six points in the first half, despite trailing by 21 points late in the third quarter and despite giving up 379 yards of offense through three quarters, Pitt's belief never wavered. No matter how far behind they were, the Panthers knew they could mount a comeback and steal a victory on the road in a hostile environment. 

So, they went out and did it.

The Panthers scored 22 unanswered points starting late in the third quarter and Ben Sauls sealed the victory with 17 seconds left on the clock by drilling a 35-yard field goal, his third of the day, to give the Panthers a one-point lead and capture a 28-27 win over Cincinnati. Here, take a look:

"We talk about faith and belief all the time and our guys believed and there was never a time on the sideline, you talk about emotion and energy on the sideline, there was never a time on the sideline where our guys didn't think they could get it done," Pat Narduzzi said. "We always talk about feeding off each other, our offense scores and our defense got stronger, as our offense kept scoring, they got stronger. That's what we didn't have a year ago where we were feeding off each other."

Just to put into perspective how far behind Pitt was, Cincinnati punted after its first drive of the game and then scored on five of its next six drives. On that one drive that it didn't score, freshman kicker Carter Brown missed a 25-yard field goal. At halftime, Eli Holstein was 7 of 17 for 91 yards and an interception and the offense had mustered just 168 yards.

Holstein finished 20 of 35 for 302 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, which included completing 11 of his final 12 pass attempts for three touchdowns and 200 yards. The offense finished with 498 yards of total offense on 68 plays. Quite the tale of two halves.

Narduzzi said Holstein apologized to him after the game and said his first-half performance "would never happen again." Before addressing the media, Holstein even apologized, saying "Sorry for almost giving you a heart attack" because while Pitt's comeback on this day in Cincinnati was a complete team effort, the redshirt freshman quarterback played a big role. 

He looked shaky early on as Cincinnati's defensive alignment of dropping guys into coverage and playing with three deep safeties at times gave him fits. It tested his patience as he tried to always make the big play, including his interception on Pitt's first offensive drive when he tried to find Kenny Johnson in the end zone between two defenders.

"I was just thinking too much, trying to do too much, especially with the three-high safety defense that they play," Holstein said. "I mean they were dropping eight pretty much every play and I was just thinking too much, trying to do too much and that last drive, before we got the field goal (at the end of the first half), I was just playing football and doing what my coach told me to do."

Narduzzi was asked if he ever thought of turning to Nate Yarnell in the second half because of his experience and Narduzzi said that he still had full confidence and belief in Holstein because "He never wavered ... he was locked in."

Desmond Reid was a big piece of the comeback as well. He was one of the lone bright spots in the first half and then turned it up a notch in the second finishing with 148 rushing yards on 19 carries. He also caught six passes for 106 yards and a 56-yard touchdown that sparked Pitt's comeback. I mean, just watch:

Echoing Narduzzi's sentiment, Reid said despite the deficit, the feeling and emotion on Pitt's sideline never changed. Not after Holstein's interception. Not when the offense continued to stall out. Not when Cincinnati scored on three of its final four drives in the first half, and especially not when they were trailing by 21 points late in the third quarter.

"We were just like, 'Man, just keep our head up, we just gonna keep fighting' and we just kept fighting," Reid said. "Halftime came and we were still like 'The game ain't over.' We came out and we got stopped on that fourth down but after that, we just started rolling and, shoot, it went on from there."

The defense had that same belief as they started to get to Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby. The Indiana transfer was sacked twice and hurried once in the fourth quarter and went 4 of 8 for 37 yards and no touchdowns down the stretch after throwing for 206 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. Rasheem Biles recorded one of those sacks on a 3rd-and-5 situation that forced Cincinnati to punt, which led to Reid's 56-yard touchdown. Then Nate Matlack got his second sack as a Panther on Cincinnati's final drive that all but sealed the victory.

As a unit, the defense struggled early on, just as the offense did, and was getting beat in the secondary. Biles admitted that they got off to a slow start and weren't necessarily reading their keys well enough and that all changed as the game carried on.

"It was really just stop the run, play how we play, read our keys and get downhill," Biles said. "That's all we had to do, just stop the run, get downhill and just play the way we know how to play. We knew it was coming, we just had to fix it and get downhill more."

Biles said he knew if they stuck to their game plan and played their style of football, they were going to be alright, but he also knew if "we get Eli the ball, we good, especially, when we got Ben, I trust Ben from 70," Biles said. "Ben Sauls is good from 70 for me, so, hey, with Ben out there we know we good. We trust in Ben."

They put their trust, and belief, in the right place as Sauls scored all six of Pitt's first-half points, including a 53-yard field goal at the end of the first half after Pitt marched 45 yards in 23 seconds.

"That was just a gutsy win by our guys and I couldn't be prouder of the effort they gave," Narduzzi said. "We came up in the fourth quarter and we're going to win this thing. We broke down on 'Win!' Again, our guys believed and it shows you true character to come back from being 21 down."

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