Pitt gets pounded by Rutgers, 34-10
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PISCATAWAY, NJ -- Pitt coach Todd Graham preached all week that the Panthers would have to protect the football and play a near- perfect game against Rutgers in order to have any chance of beating the Scarlet Knights.
The Panthers apparently did not listen to their head coach as they turned the ball over four times, allowed six sacks, committed nine penalties and played lackluster and mistake-riddled Saturday.
As a result, the Panthers took a good old fashioned butt-whupping at the hands of the Scarlet Knights, who won 34-10, before a crowd of 46,079 at High Point Solutions Stadium.
The loss dropped the Panthers to (3-3, 1-1 in the Big East) while Rutgers (4-1, 2-0) suddenly looks like a legitimate contender for the Big East championship.
The first half was a disaster for both teams as neither offense could get anything going and a lot of it was a result of self-inflicted wounds.
But the Scarlet Knights' defense and special teams were superior to the Panthers, and they took advantage of two Tino Sunseri interceptions to dominate the field position battle for the entire half.
Rutgers, which started true freshman quarterback Gary Nova, was able to convert that field position edge into two field goals by San San Te, and the Scarlet Knights held a 6-3 halftime lead.
In that half, Pitt had one drive killed by a sack and a procedure penalty, a second killed by two sacks, two more killed by Sunseri's interceptions and another that was stalled due to two offensive pass interference penalties and an illegal forward pass.
The Panthers did put one nice drive together, as they drove 74 yards and 14 plays and cashed in with a 29-yard field goal by Kevin Harper.
But those were the only points they could come up with in the first half.
First Published October 8, 2011 7:24 pm
