Pitt Defense Repays the Favor, Gets the Job Done in Win Against Cal

PITTSBURGH — Desmond Reid felt the nerves as he stood rooted to the sideline, forced to watch Cal kicker Ryan Coe lineup a 40-yard field goal that would give the Golden Bears a 1-point lead with just under two minutes remaining in regulation.

Reid is a nervous guy, especially when he can’t do anything to influence a situation.

“That’s why I was real excited and real nervous because usually we (the offense) always have that last drive where we gotta finish,” Reid said Saturday night. “The defense, they finished.”

Reid and the offense couldn’t get the job done Saturday night at Acrisure Stadium, but the defense did. Coe pushed the potential game-winner wide right, but the job wasn’t done. Cal had a chance to drive 80 yards, with 47 seconds left in regulation and no timeout, and the defense blanked the Golden Bears one more time for good measure.

It was an afternoon in which nothing seemed to click for the high-scoring offense and almost everything seemed to fall into place for a defense that had been looking to make a statement.

“The offense is in there going, ‘Hey, great job, defense,’ and then on the other hand there’s those games where it’s like, ‘Great job, offense.’ We’re going to find a way,” Narduzzi said Saturday night. “Our guys stick together in there, and they know there’s guys on the field that are going to make plays.

“Obviously, the offense didn’t play great today, but the defense played lights out, and that’s what you want to have. I know you guys have been asking for some sacks, so we got some today for you. Jimmy Scott, heck of a day; (Braylan) Lovelace just finding ways.”

It was certainly the first stinker of the Kade Bell era. Pitt fell well short of its capabilities against the Bears, mustering a season-low 17 points and 277 yards. Pitt managed just 117 yards outside of a three-drive stretch in the first half, in which the Panthers scored all 17 points.

Eli Holstein pointed the finger at himself.

“I played like a freshman today,” Holstein said Saturday night. “(I was) trying to force things, not taking what the defense gives me, trying to do too much, trying to make plays. There were situations where I just needed to trust my guys, trust coach Bell, trust the offense and just get the ball to those guys and let them make plays.”

Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Eli Holstein (10) October 12, 2024 David Hague/PSN

Holstein completed 14-of-28 pass attempts (50%) for 133 yards and two interceptions. A performance that needs no further explanation. He didn’t play well, and he — finally — looked like a freshman quarterback.

Reid, who scored both offensive touchdowns (a 5-yard rumble through the defensive line and a 72-yard gallop to the outside), was quick to take the blame off his young quarterback’s shoulders.

“Every game’s not gonna be good as an offense,” Reid said. “We not gonna do what we wanna do every game, but the defense came in clutch and that was something we’ve been looking for since the season started. They did their thing today. I would say they’re the reason we won; they fought, they got stops and they did what they were supposed to do.”

It wasn’t a perfect performance by the unit, Cal tight end Jack Endries ran open on just about every one of his routes, but life wasn’t easy for Golden Bears quarterback Fernando Mendoza. He was hit. Hard.

The much-maligned pass rush turned pressures that didn’t result in sacks earlier in the season into crunching hits.

The numbers look good, six sacks and 11 tackles for loss look very good on paper. Jimmy Scott had 3.5 tackles for loss and three sacks by himself. But while it didn’t result in many points, the defense consistently got off the field in the second half. The half-time adjustments worked.

“They had a great night,” Holstein said. “I think our team needed a win like that, where as bad as I played, we still pulled out a win. And I think that’s gonna help us get wins against good teams. When your defense plays like this, and you have faith that, ‘Hey, even if we’re not clicking, they’re gonna get us the ball back, they’re gonna get us stops and help us win the game.’”

It wasn’t quite complementary football — although that is the end goal. But for the first time this season, the defense truly picked up slack for the offense. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win. And that’s all that Pitt needs to do going forward.

“We were just talking about it in there after the game,” Scott said Saturday night. “Certain games they carried us, and this game I think we kind of carried them a little bit. So, kind of just leaning on each other and that’s how we won the football game.”

And of course, it helps that Ben Sauls might just be the best kicker in college football. Reid was nervous watching Coe kick, and while he may have been nervous when Sauls kicked a 58-yarder in the second quarter, he knew the type of football player Sauls was.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a college kicker make that,” Reid said. “He’s a dog, too.”