PITTSBURGH — Pat Narduzzi promised that Pitt was going to go fast.
Pitt raced out to a 7-0 lead, and then a 14-0 lead, and through some very sloppy play at times, the Panthers certainly played fast.
Pitt knocked off Kent State, 55-24, at Acrisure Stadium Saturday afternoon, starting the season off on a winning note. And while it wasn’t smooth sailing, the Panthers racked up 547 yards and 55 points.
Eli Holstein took a large step in the quarterback competition, completing 29-of-39 pass attempts for 330 yards with three touchdowns and an interception, and Nate Yarnell led a touchdown drive of his own. Desmond Reid was electric, racking up 231 all-purpose yards, and Kenny Johnson recorded the first 100-yard receiving performance of his Pitt career.
While it wasn’t the best defensive performance, the unit showed flashes of brilliance, especially in the linebacking corps. And Narduzzi will be happy with just 39 rushing yards allowed.
Pitt probably should’ve led 42-0 at halftime. For all the promise of the new-look offense, unforced errors allowed Kent State to hang around.
A touchdown on the first drive of the second half cut the Pitt lead to 28-21, and despite a half of what looked like complete dominance (outgaining the Golden Flashes 330-48), the Panthers needed to flex their muscles a bit in the second half.
Enter Reid. Again.
Reid broke off his big touchdown of the afternoon, slicing through the Kent State defense and running untouched for a 54-yard touchdown. 35-21, Pitt. Holstein led a picture-perfect drive on the next offensive possession, capping a 75-yard drive with a perfect fade ball to Kenny Johnson in the corner of the end zone. 42-24, Pitt.
A 50-yard Ben Sauls field goal early in the fourth quarter made it 45-24.
Yarnell was inserted into the lineup early in the fourth quarter, leading a scoring drive of his own with a mix of the first- and second-team offense. Sauls nailed another field goal, a 39-yarder, and it capped a strong scoring effort.
Pitt looked like the better football team but didn’t consistently play like it.
A defensive lapse, allowing Kent State wide receiver Luke Floreia to run free up the seam for a 36-yard touchdown (75% of the Golden Flashes’ first half yardage), wasn’t ideal. Konata Mumpfield dropping a touchdown toss and fumbling a poorly fielded punt, which allowed Kent State to score its second touchdown wasn’t either. And Holstein’s strong first half was marred by a bone-headed interception in the red zone.
But Pitt was good enough to overcome the errors, showing flashes of brilliance amidst the sloppy play. It wasn’t the smoothest game, but the Panthers’ play is translatable to the rest of the season — especially if the miscues are cleaned up.
Pitt showed it can start fast — scoring twice quickly. Holstein hit Mumpfield for an 11-yard touchdown on the first drive, and Reid introduced himself with an electric 78-yard punt return touchdown a couple of minutes later. The Panthers led by 14 less than five minutes into the game, and through it all, emerged with a 31 point win.
Pitt hits the road next weekend, traveling to Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio to take on the Bearcats in an ACC-Big 12 crossover. Pitt is looking to avenge last season’s 27-21 loss.
I wasn’t able to watch the game but looking at the box score I would be concerned about the defense. For all the emphasis Narduzzi puts on the defense, I was expecting under 20 but probably asking too much. However, the stat line for Holstein looked good!
would have been under 20 if mumpfield hadn’t muffed the punt.
Well, my skepticism about Reid and Holstein looks unfounded after today. Cade Bell for Prez…at least for this week.
When Pitt signed a 5’8″ 175 lb RB I figured that it was just a wasted roster spot…fortunately, the coaches are smarter than me. Also looks like they made the right choice at starting QB.
I think Nate will run it just as well. Quite a luxury after last year. Hope the knock Davis took is temporary. They will need a big back going into the season. Didn’t recognize Daniel Carter, a new svelte version. Nice runs.
Holstein had three bad throws throwing late into coverage. This has to be cleaned up before playing West Virginia.
Definitely had a couple of head-scratching passes but he also dropped some dimes on timing routes that were truly impressive. Overall, I think Holstein looked pretty damn good.
Is Hammond giving that NIL money back?
Nice win Pitt!
Even though it was against Kent State, it’s obvious that this Cade Bell offense is going to be difficult to defend no matter who Pitt is playing. Pitt has the weapons on offense and knows how to use them. The defense was good, not great. The Mike linebacker position looked questionable with Brandon George in there. His poor tackling angles, lack of speed and lack of athleticsm was a liability out there. Kyle Louis could be the best linebacker in the ACC.
An interception with a big return and a fumbled kick-off were not the defense’s fault.
😂😂😂
Change can be hard … Tomlin had franchise QB … PITT had great performance out of 5th Yr QB in 21’. Coach Whipple chased $ to Nebraska where they like to run the dang’ ball out of job amid HC mid Season canning at his alma mater. Marion Go-Go does not get promoted jets to TX and has NV scoring. PITT hires re-tread tires Cignetti (Cavanaugh 2.0), sputters. PITT puts up big # against (Clark) Kent St. Iowa hires former WMU HC to Run OC, scores 40 after nepotism Son sputtered out of the door. Weeks 2 and 3 will… Read more »
It’s just not clear how Duzz talks about being PITT men and then busses his HS recruited QBs. Patti, Beville, Yarnell… did same to DiNucci, Voytik. Fascinated with prototypical frame QBs so that they can go succeed in NFL. He gets more recruits based upon guys succeeding in NFL and practicing by Steelers then just Winning college FB games.
You’re exhausting.
First time poster. Nice to see us win a game early that we SHOULD win. QB play far exceeded last year. I grew up in Beaver County. Excited to see Fitzsimmons from CV and Lindsey from Quip earn time. I hate PSU – they won👎. Here in ATL watching our former for Veilleux take on Georgia Tech. He transferred to GA state. He’s not looking good.
Welcome to PSN! Thanks for joining us and sharing your thoughts. Hope you’re a regular. Where are you from in Beaver County? (Me too).
Thanks Mike. Center High School – class of ‘89 -now CV
Fun to watch. Loads of positives to take away but coming back to reality a little bit .. this was 1 game of 12 and it was against (no disrespect) Kent, a team that is rebuilding and was without a top RB and lost a good defender part way through.
As Duzz mentioned, there are things to clean up … first game errors … penalty on opening kickoff, muffed punt, blown pass coverages, 4 sacks, etc.
Each game will get harder to there won’t be a lot of room for errors. H2P !
Cincy game Saturday is huge for this Program. Kent stinks and the competition gets tougher. Its a revenge game