PITTSBURGH — Pitt gave No. 20 Clemson about 100 chances to win the game, and the last one proved to be the dagger.
A potential upset and second half comeback fell short as Nate Yarnell threw an interception at the goal on 4th-and-1 with five seconds left in the game, falling 24-20 at Acrisure Stadium — the third straight loss.
Nate Yarnell completed 34-of-54 pass attempts (63%) for 350 yards with a touchdown and an interception in a gritty performance, and Desmond Reid racked up 68 yards on the ground and 108 yards through the air as the Panthers’ only reliable offensive weapon.
A stifling second half defensive performance gave Pitt a chance to win it, despite a late, back-breaking 50-yard rushing touchdown from Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, but ultimately, the Panthers committed far too many mistakes.
Pitt deferred the opening toss, forced a Clemson turnover courtesy of a Nate Matlack strip and Rasheem Biles recovery, but the Tigers still struck first.
Pitt went three-and-out on its first possession, pinned Clemson inside the 10 with a 46-yard punt and subsequently gave up an 8-play, 93-yard touchdown drive. Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik diced the Pitt defense through the air, setting up a 1-yard touchdown dive for running back Phil Mafah.
And for the first time in a while, Pitt responded with a touchdown drive of its own. A 43-yard scamper from Desmond Reid, bouncing a carry to the outside, helped set up a touchdown dive for Daniel Carter — who later left the game on a cart with a right leg injury.
The Panthers weren’t able to muster much throughout the rest of the half, though. It wasn’t a strong half of play calling for offensive coordinator Kade Bell, and the offensive cohesion with Nate Yarnell and the wide receivers seemed to be off.
Clemson struck quickly on a 3-play, 75-yard drive early in the second quarter, capped off by a 28-yard strike to wideout Antonio Williams over the middle of the field.
A failed two-minute drill for the Panthers at the end of the first half gave Clemson kicker Nolan Hauser a chance to attempt — and drill — a 51-yarder at the end of the first half. 17-7, Tigers.
Pitt showed up defensively to start the second half, forcing a couple of Clemson punts (including one on a drive that started in Pitt territory), but the offense continued to disappoint. Poor play from the offensive line, drops, you name it.
The poor play continued into the fourth quarter, but Reid continued to make plays, too. He couldn’t get the Panthers into the end zone, and penalties kept them out of the end zone despite a 3rd-and-1 from the 1. A timeout negated a Derrick Davis touchdown dive, a delay of game out of the timeout pushed the Panthers back, and a false start pushed them back into a 35-yard field goal.
But against all odds, with help from the defense, Pitt tied it up midway through the fourth quarter with an 8-yard floater to Gavin Bartholomew. 17-17.
Pitt stuffed Clemson — again — on the Tigers’ next possession, thanks to a Jimmy Scott tackle for loss on 4th-and-1. Pitt, once again, had a chance to win the game late. And while the offense wasn’t able to find the end zone, Sauls’ kick sailed through the uprights from 47 yards to take a late 20-17 lead.
But the 50-yard touchdown run from Klubnik on the ensuing possession reclaimed the Clemson lead less than a minute later. And Pitt’s second game-winning drive attempt stalled out at the Clemson 21.
Pitt (7-3, 3-3 ACC) has concluded its home slate this season and will finish the regular season on the road against No. 19 Louisville next weekend and Boston College in two weekends.
Narduzzi is a clown. Season after season we expect him to have an epiphany and figure out just how undisciplined his teams are. How 13 flags for 100 yards might cost you a game. But no, Fred Flintstone just continues with his happy ways. His bad clock management and unpreparedness is Platinum Level. It’s almost like he has no clue of what’s happening in games. As for Kade Bell, well, he is part of the problem. Bad play call, bad penalties. How many delay of games has his offense gotten this season…coming out of a time out or penalty? What… Read more »
Narduzzi absolutely should be fired at the end of the year. This program is 19-17 since the ACC championship game. He’s the third highest paid coach in the ACC. Why?? That’s a lot of payout for a coach that is 2 games above .500 the last three years.
Where’s seymore? Fowler? Poppi and Lee are not p4 level WRs. Duzzi’s teams always seem to lack discipline. Completely out-coached, the horrendous drive at the goal line with multiple penalties and after a timeout? How?? Bell is inexperienced and it’s showing. But Duzzi’s lack of adjustments tells you enough after 10 years, no improvement on that
Time for Narduzzi to go
Just an absolutely demoralizing loss, This team MIGHT just end the season on a 5 game losing streak. The play calling after the late hit to Yarnell was just atrocious. I think that non initial call just messed up everything towards the end. I will comtine to support and hope they prove me wrong.
Cade Bell needs to get better calling plays at this level. Stop the Bullshit shifting around…lineup and go.
This is one of the dumbest teams I have ever seen. It’s comical at times. Embarrassing
Same old Pitt. Game they should have won and found a way to lose. So much promise to start the season 7-0 to 7-3 and will probably finish 7-5. Nothing more than just same old Pitt.
I think this game shows the Nate is better QB than Eli. I wish they called better offensive plays, and had better prepared than what they showed in the game today.
Yarnell def. Has better zip on the ball. His throws get there quickly. Not as mobile as Eli. If Pitt had a good O Line, yarnell might be the better option. But Eli played so well the first part of the season
Yarnell is the better option going forward. Holstein is way over-hyped and will do better learning from the bench.
Nate is a better pure passer, but he can’t run. Eli ran well earlier in the year, but he got gun shy and wasn’t as good. Our OL is complete trash and needs better players. Paul Chryst always had a decent OL and his recruiting was terrible. Maybe recruit 2-3 more OL than normal and hope one or two are coachable.
Terrible play calling in this game and too many pre snap penalties to beat a good team -Bad coaching!
H2P!!!
If Pitt didn’t have such a horrible O-line Yarnell would shine as he would not need to be so mobile (don’t underestimate his toughness though). Holstein just has to mature more but Yarnell, the most disrespected-by-coaches solid talent that I can ever recall at Pitt, is the better QB of the two currently.
Same old Pitt.
As soon as they kicked the last fg, you knew they would blow it in spectacular fashion.
The longer the season goes, the more Kade Bell looks out of his league.
Bell’s offense is light year beyond the past two years so I’m not ready to give up on him at all yet. I think he can be very, very good with enough experience at this level.
Tough game against a good opponent. We’re playing 2nd and 3rd string OL players. Clean up the mistakes.
Don’t hang your heads.
Daniel Carter averaging 9+ yards a carry knocking defenders who are in his way onto their ass and he gets 22 carries on the year…WTF…I call BS on Cade Bell and CEO Narduzzi who is a piss poor executive.
I will 2nd that Narduzzi is a clown. Pitt is the most undisciplined team in the country. I will say our boys always play hard. They just need a head coach with a clue.
Am I the only one who sees HCPN calling the worst time outs in the history of CFB? Nothing good ever comes out of a timeout with this clown.