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Sunday, November 04, 2001

By Shelly Anderson, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

There were teams that probably said the same thing about Pitt earlier in the season, so Panthers receiver R.J. English took delight in skewering Virginia Tech yesterday.

"They quit. We made them quit," English said. "I saw some guys walking around [with their heads down] in the second quarter.

	Torrie Cox is tackled by Virginia Tech's Terrell Parham after intercepting a pass. (Gabor Degre, Post-Gazette Photos)

"You could tell the wind was out of their sails. They wanted to get the hell out of here."

Pitt shoved the No. 12 Hokies toward the exit, then pushed them through the door in a 38-7 upset victory in front of an announced crowd of 55,585 at Heinz Field.

The Panthers (3-5, 2-3 in the Big East) hardly had a flaw in their game.

Their defense held the Hokies to 15 yards rushing and 151 yards overall, pummeled quarterback Grant Noel and did not give up any points. Virginia Tech (6-2, 3-2) got its only touchdown when junior cornerback Ronyell Whitaker returned a blocked field goal 71 yards late in the first quarter to tie the score, 7-7.

The Pitt offense -- slimmed down and sleek without the spread formation or no-huddle look -- was precise behind quarterback David Priestley, who was 16-of-26 passing for 245 yards and three touchdowns. English had eight catches for 134 yards and a touchdown, and Antonio Bryant had five catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns as the two receivers took advantage of single coverage much of the day.

It was the second loss in two weeks for Virginia Tech, which had been a contender for the national championship. It was the second win in two weeks for Pitt, and it soothed a lot of souls.

Before a 33-7 win at lowly Temple a week ago, the Panthers had sweated through a five-game losing streak marked by turnovers and other mistakes and a tendency to do what the Hokies did -- fold.

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Those things took their toll on Pitt, from the top down.

"I've been somewhat depressed by our inability to rise to the expectations -- or disappointed might be another word," Coach Walt Harris said.

The win yesterday was a salve. It kept alive Pitt's hopes for a winning season and a bowl bid -- things that seemed unimaginable just a couple of weeks ago.

"This was what I would call a great program victory," Harris said. "Our program has been tested. Our program has had a hard road.

"I learned a lot about life myself. It has been very interesting to me to evaluate what this is all about."

Earlier in the week, Harris had outlined his desire for Pitt to emulate Virginia Tech's rise the past 14 years under Coach Frank Beamer. That made the victory -- only the Panthers' second over the Hokies in nine tries -- even sweeter.

"I'm humbled by what we've been through as a program," said Harris, whose team had been expected to vie for the Big East title this season.

"I'm elated to think that our players care enough about their coaches and enough about their program that they can fight through all the negatives and all the hard parts that go with losing and put in a great effort to win the past two weeks.

"But this one is a legitimate, big-time victory against a program that we feel we want to be like. We want to get to where their program is, and we dominated them."

It was Pitt's first win against a ranked team since it beat Virginia Tech, 30-23, in 1997 -- the Hokies were ranked 16th then -- and its first win against a top-15 team since it upset No. 10 Syracuse, 30-23, in 1989.

Pitt defensive end Brian Guzek causes Virginia Tech quarterback Grant Noel to fumble in the second quarter yesterday. The Panthers forced four turnovers.

Pitt opened the scoring with a 71-yard drive that ended with Priestley's 24-yard touchdown pass to Bryant, who caught the ball in the end zone over safety Kevin McAdam for a 7-0 lead with 9:33 left in the first quarter.

Later in the first quarter, lineman Lamar Cobb blocked a 34-yard field-goal attempt by Pitt's Nick Lotz. Whitaker snatched the ball and raced 71 yards down the left sideline to tie the score, 7-7.

Earlier in the season, plays such as that sank Pitt.

"The air could have gone out for us," Harris said.

Instead, the Panthers scored 31 unanswered points -- 17 in the second quarter, 14 in the third -- and watched the Hokies droop.

"We gave them everything we've got, and they gave up," linebacker Gerald Hayes said.

A 32-yard field goal by Lotz was sandwiched between Priestley touchdown passes of 33 yards to English and 36 yards to Bryant as Pitt took a 24-7 lead at halftime.

Cornerback Shawntae Spencer clinched it when he intercepted a pass by Noel and returned it 68 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown and a 31-7 lead with 9:50 left in the third quarter.

Backup quarterback Rod Rutherford closed the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run with 3:58 left in the third.

"It was a tremendous win," Bryant said. "Everybody had looked at themselves in the mirror and said, 'What do I have to do?'"