Pitt, Graham blow 21-point lead late; Iowa storms back, 31-27
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Keenan Davis tumbles into the end zone ahead of Pitt defender K'Waun Williams to score the first of the Hawkeyes' three fourth-quarter touchdowns in their rally to beat the Panthers, 31-27, Saturday in Iowa City, Iowa.
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IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Todd Graham needed only three games to make history, but it likely isn't the kind of history he wants to be associated with as Pitt's coach.
The Panthers blew a 21-point third-quarter lead Saturday and lost to the Iowa Hawkeyes, 31-27, before a crowd of 70,585 at Kinnick Stadium.
The Panthers led the Hawkeyes, 24-3, late in the third quarter and were up, 27-10, after Kevin Harper kicked a field goal with 12:09 to play. But Iowa scored three touchdowns in the final 9:55 to come from behind and stun Pitt.
"I'm proud of how hard our guys played, but close games are won and lost on leadership and it is my responsibility to get those guys and do a better job of coaching them down the stretch so we can win a game like that," Graham said. "I was really confident we would win because they absolutely could not run the football. I thought we did a great job with the plan that we had and I thought we played extremely well.
"There were a lot of critical errors. I thought it was the best by far that we had played and it is just disheartening to give it away down the stretch."
According to the Iowa sports information department, the 21-point deficit was the largest overcome by the Hawkeyes (2-1). And it was also the first time they have erased at least a 17-point second-half deficit since 1949 when they trailed by 18 points (24-6) late in the third quarter but came back to win, 34-31.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, a Upper St. Clair High School graduate, said after the game he was excited for his team, not just that it won, but that it showed some maturity by pulling together, overcoming a myriad of mental errors and costly penalties, and found a way to win a game it looked like it had lost.
"Despite all of our rough spots and our deficiencies right now," Ferentz said, "to push through and still win this game and have the guys feel good about themselves after it ... a growing team really needed that. That is an important part of improving, it is important for the growth of this team."
Leading the way for the Hawkeyes was quarterback James Vandenberg, who threw for 399 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another.
The biggest throw he made came with just under three minutes to play with the Hawkeyes facing a first-and-10 at the Panthers 22 and trailing, 27-24.
Vandenberg dropped back and threw a post pattern pass just over the outstretched arms of Pitt nickleback Todd Thomas and into the arms Kevonte Martin-Manley for what turned out to be the winning touchdown.
First Published September 18, 2011 12:00 am
