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About an hour ago
Pitt and Penn State should play every year.
Let's start there.
The 100th meeting between the schools, which took place after 40 minutes and in front of a crowd of 108,661 at Beaver Stadium, showed that the rivalry was still real.
The fact that Kenny Pickett Hail Mary fell incomplete in the end zone is proof that Pitt could hold with the 13 Penn State.
The fact that the Nittany Lions escaped Saturday afternoon in the 17-10 final in the final game in the foreseeable future could be attributed to a call from head coach Pat Narduzzi in the fourth quarter, leaving everything the world wondering what he was thinking.
1. Stroke: Narduzzi made a controversial choice on a fourth and seventh at Penn State 37, calling a timeout before choosing to kick speed.
It was a defensive decision, betting that Pitt could force a turnaround. And the Panthers pinned Penn State to its own 2, placing the defense in a position to pause.
In the third and ninth years, Journey Brown escaped the hands of linebacker Elias Reynolds and ended up outside. Brown sprinted at 85 meters before being chased by Damarri Mathis cornerback at Pitt 12.
The defense was almost heard when the Parisian security Ford captured a pass from Sean Clifford and returned to the Penn State 45. But a penalty for interfering pass by linebacker Cam Bright canceled the game Two games later, Devyn Ford scored a 1-0 goal to give the Lions a 7-0 lead.
Narduzzi quickly learned his lesson.
2. Go for it: In Pitt's second possession, the Panthers went methodically from their own 8 to Penn State 40 before Narduzzi was faced with another fourth-down decision.
In the fourth and fourth innings, Pitt has five widths and Kenny Pickett finds Taysir Mack over center for a 4-yard gain and, after measurement, a first try.
The mark stalled on a third goal and a goal on the score of 2, when a swing foul of Maurice Ffrench caused a 5-yard defeat. But Alex Kessman converted a 25-yard goal to put Pitt on the scoreboard, reducing him to 7-3 with 6:34 left in the first half.
Pickett rewarded Narduzzi's confidence by completing 12 of 13 passes on 85 yards in 18 games. And it was a sign of things to come for the Panthers.
Pickett led Pitt on a 78-meter strike, scoring two consecutive seventeen-yard passes at Tre Tipton and 27 yards for Dontavius Butler-Jenkins to allow Vincent Davis to make a touchdown of 3 yards. -7 in the lead with 2:08 to play in the second quarter.
And it seemed that Pitt could take advantage at halftime.
3. State of Big Players: The Nittany Lions enjoyed great games, starting with the 85-yard Brown Run followed by KJ Hamler, striker and running 53 yards.
On the third and eighth of Penn State 15, Clifford finds Ricky Slade over the center. Slade was found behind three Pitt defenders for a 40-yard save over the Pitt 45.
When Slade ran three yards on a fourth and one goal for a first try, Penn State was suddenly close to goal. But Jaylen Twyman sent Clifford off for an 8-yard defeat, forcing Franklin to call the timeout.
The fact that he sent the field firing unit was a surprise, considering that it was an attempt of 58 yards. But the Nittany Lions have a kickoff specialist from Jordan Stout who manages the long distance goals, so it was worth it.
Stout's kick erased the amounts, setting a Penn State record for the longest field placement in the school's history and tying the game to 10-10 at halftime.
4. Raising Cain: Penn State turned his half, from Brown to Ford via Slade before giving Noah Cain a chance to participate in the second series of the second half.
Cain ran for gains of 4 and 3 yards before catching a 13-yard pass for a first try. Cain then stopped the 9 and 7-yard passes to join Pitt 31. The third and fourth, Clifford s' connected with Sullivan-Brown for an 8-yard gain and a first run.
Cain then showed he was able to enter the end zone after a 4-yard run with a 13-yard touchdown to give the Nittany Lions a 17-10 lead they would take in the fourth quarter.
5. What is the FG ?: With a fourth and a 1 at Pitt 43, Narduzzi used his second timeout with 7:38 to go.
The Panthers had to go and the call of the new offensive coordinator, Mark Whipple, was a jewel. The Panthers used a fake action game, sending A.J. Neelia Griffin-Stewart, forward, jumped 36 yards to Penn State 21.
After a penalty of keeping the Panthers at 30, Pickett gave Mack a pass near the pylon on the sideline. Mack beat cornerback Donovan Johnson for 29 yards at Penn State 1.
That's when things happened on the side
At first goal, Pickett rolled to the right and threw incomplete. On the second run, Pickett ran a play-action bootleg but was stopped cold by safety Garrett Taylor. In the third run, another deployment pass was lower than Davis's in the end zone. And then came the most astonishing decision.
Narduzzi scored a goal.
Instead of playing to win on the road – against a formidable rival – Pitt's coach scored for three points as he led at seven minutes with 4:59 and a dead time remaining to see the kicking kick. Kessman bounce on the left post.
The decision – and the result – cost the Panthers the match.
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Kevin Gorman is a writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Kevin by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
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