In the ACC conference opener under the guidance of sophomore QB Kenny Pickett the Pittsburgh Panthers jumped out to a 21-0 first-half lead on the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech and held on for the 24-19 win. The Panthers scored on their second and third possessions of the game powered by touchdowns from running backs Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall.
Ollison opened the scoring with a 31-yard jaunt through the middle of the Yellow Jackets defense on his way to paydirt. Hall then ran for a 5-yard touchdown with 5:25 to go in the first quarter. Ollison then capped the first half scoring for the Panthers when he slipped through the heart of the Georgia Tech defense from 8 yards out for a score. The junior running back finished big in the first half; taking the rock to the house two times gaining 63yards on 10 carries and putting plenty of bite in Panthers attack.
Pickett, by the way, had a scare with 47 seconds left in the first half when he went down grabbing his left knee. Number 8 did get up and walk off the field under his own power. Twenty-one seconds later the Panthers linebacker #23 OLUWASEUN IDOWU went down and limped off the field under his own power. Pickett did return at the beginning of the second half with a knee brace on and finished the game passing for 197 yards completing 16 of his 23 passing attempts. Pickett on the season has now passed for 209 yards and has a 62% completion percentage and a QB rating of 112.9
in the Second half, the Yellow Jackets did make a charge scoring all of their points in the second half. 13 in the fourth quarter but to no avail, as the Pitt Defense took over led by Damar Hamlin, Rashad Weaver and Quintin Wirginis who all finished with 7 tackles. The Pitt Defense despite giving up 320 yards rushing caused 3 fumbles and recovered one giving the ball back to the Panther offense. The Pitt defense could stick their chest out when it came to the passing game, they held Tech QB TaQuon Marshall to only 66 yards passing on the day.
The Panthers win helps Pitt improve to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the ACC with their next contest coming up on September 22, 2018, when they make the trip down tobacco road to take on North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Urban Media Today Radio Program Director and E-Report host, Ki Ki Brown, was able to catch Coach Narduzzi immediately following the game in the post-game press conference where he took some time to answer media questions:
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