Pittsburgh didn’t need a polished passing night to keep rolling Thursday. The Panthers leaned hard on their backs, stacked up 245 rushing yards and used three touchdown runs to beat Syracuse 27-13 and move to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the ACC.
Damon Ferguson Jr., La'Vell Wright and Mason Heintschel all found the end zone on the ground, and Pitt did it without injured starting running back Boosier Turner. The result also gave Pat Narduzzi a win in his school-record 144th game as head coach.
“Nice to win when you don’t play your best football on offense or defense,” Narduzzi said.
Pitt’s run game had come into the night averaging just 3.6 yards per carry, but that number looked a lot different in the league opener. Ferguson, a freshman, brought the burst the Panthers needed with a 32-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to stretch the lead to 14 points.
“He’s that guy,” Panther linebacker Braylon Lovelace said of Ferguson. “He’s a young guy.
But it don’t matter what age you are at this level. If you’re a dog, you’re a dog.”
Ferguson finished with 102 rushing yards, while Wright added 81. Justin Cook also flashed early, ripping off a 23-yard run before pulling up with what appeared to be an injury.
“I feel like we all are explosive in our own ways,” said Ferguson.
Heintschel had a quieter night as a passer, and Syracuse did its best to keep him in check through the air. The sophomore completed 10 of 23 passes for 123 yards and an interception, but he made up for it with his legs. Heintschel ran for 41 yards and scored on a 9-yard touchdown scramble in the third quarter, slipping past diving Orange linebacker Gary Bryant III with a sharp juke.
Later, with Pitt trying to drain the clock, Heintschel sealed things with a spin move on third-and-9 that turned into a 10-yard gain and a first down.
Asked whether he’s now a running quarterback, Heintschel joked that the spin felt like it was in “slow motion” but said he still needs to improve the biggest part of his job.
“To be a dual threat, you’ve got to throw the ball too,” he said. "And we didn’t throw the ball well today.”
Syracuse came in as the most penalized team in the country, and the flags kept coming. The Orange were penalized nine times for 90 yards, including a second-quarter sequence that featured pass interference on third down. Head coach Fran Brown was then hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after arguing the call.
Two plays later, Ferguson broke outside and raced down the sideline for another Pitt touchdown, pushing the Panthers firmly in control.
Steve Angeli threw for 167 yards for Syracuse before being benched in the fourth quarter after back-to-back interceptions ended any hope of a comeback. Amari Odom took over and went 7 for 7 against a Pitt defense that was protecting a three-score lead.
The night also carried a milestone moment for Narduzzi, who arrived at Pitt in late 2014 and was brought in to steady a program that had been through a turbulent stretch. After moving past Jock Sutherland on the school’s all-time games coached list, the 60-year-old coach briefly turned reflective.
Narduzzi pulled a piece of paper from his pocket with a copy of a passage from Elbert Hubbard’s “Loyalty Pledge,” something his father Bill Narduzzi, a longtime coach at Youngstown State, often used.
“My dad was big on loyalty,” Narduzzi said. "And I guess I inherited that from him.”
Pitt has now won three games in three different ways. It opened by blowing out Miami (Ohio), then survived UCF in a monsoon last weekend before powering past Syracuse with its ground game. That versatility could matter in a conference that looks wide open behind frontrunner Miami.
Syracuse will travel to UConn on Oct. 3.
Pitt hosts Bucknell on Sept. 28.
In Other News...
Syracuse Suddenly Has A Quarterback Problem It Can't Ignore
Syracuses loss to Pittsburgh was more than just a second straight defeat. It exposed a quarterback situation that has become too shaky to brush aside, with Steve Angeli turning the ball over multiple times before being benched in the fourth quarter for Amari Odom. The offense never found much rhythm, and the Orange spent too much of the afternoon chasing the game after Pittsburgh began controlling the line of scrimmage.
The problems did not stop on offense. Syracuse also had trouble slowing Pittsburghs rushing attack and piled up 10 penalties, two issues that only made the quarterback miscues harder to overcome. With the losses mounting and the offense looking unsettled, the Orange now face a stretch where the answer at quarterback has to become clearer quickly, because this is no longer just a bad day. [Read more 🡒]
Fran Brown Added To Syracuses Frustrating Discipline Problem At Pitt
Syracuses trip to Pittsburgh was already shaping up as a night of self-inflicted issues, and the penalty sheet only added to the frustration. The Orange spent much of the game fighting flags, with special teams drawing particular scrutiny, and the mistakes undercut the kind of steady performance Fran Brown has been trying to build. Even so, there were a few offensive signs worth noting, including a more productive run game from Ahmad Miller and a late push in the passing game that featured JuJuan Johnson and Darius Johnson in the fourth quarter.
Browns own unsportsmanlike conduct penalty fit the tone of a game in which Syracuse never quite settled in. The bye week now gives the staff a chance to clean up the discipline problems that have lingered, especially on special teams, while preserving the pieces that did work a little better at Pitt. If the Orange are going to turn that stretch into something more useful, they will have to pair the improved offensive balance with a much quieter afternoon in the penalty column. [Read more 🡒]
Pitt Watched Syracuse Unravel In One Spot Nobody Expected
Special teams turned into an unexpected storyline in Syracuses game with Pitt, and not in the way the Orange would have wanted. Tripp Woodys missed field-goal try was rough enough to force a mid-game change at kicker, a shift that can rattle a sideline just as much as a big turnover or a blown coverage.
Freshman Shay Barker was the next man up and handled the moment cleanly, knocking through an extra point and then adding a 42-yard field goal before halftime. For Syracuse, it was a reminder that even in a game defined by the usual trenches and skill-position battles, one spot can suddenly become the center of everything. [Read more 🡒]