N.C. State rallies late to hand Pitt first loss of season

Jimmy Morrissey called Pitt’s 30-29 loss to N.C. State “heart-breaking,” and that was surely the most obvious takeaway from the Panthers’ sad afternoon at Heinz Field.

But there was so much more to Pitt’s first loss of the season, and Pitt’s center hit the target when he also capsulized his team’s effort as “embarrassing.”

Not from the standpoint of a lack of effort or care. Pitt (3-1, 2-1) twice rallied from deficits to take a 29-24 lead on quarterback Kenny Pickett’s second 1-yard touchdown plunge with 1 minute, 44 seconds to play.

But what unraveled in Pitt’s fourth consecutive home game — again played in an empty Heinz Field — was the Panthers’ quest for legitimacy as a nationally ranked team and a contender in the ACC.

No one in Pitt’s locker room liked it when the Panthers fell from No. 21 to No. 24 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll after beating Louisville last week, and now they have to get busy rebuilding their reputation.

“We want to play like champions, and we want to be champions at the end of the year,” Morrissey said. “And we didn’t play like that today.”

N.C. State (2-1, 2-1) will not be the most difficult opponent on Pitt’s schedule, and fixing what went wrong against tougher competition won’t be easy because of the sheer volume of problems that surfaced for coach Pat Narduzzi. They include:

• The defense’s inability to hold a five-point lead in the final seconds of the game. After starting at its own 21 with no timeouts, N.C. State quarterback Devin Leary led his team down the field in 1:21, eventually hitting wide receiver Emeka Emezie with a 13-yard touchdown pass with 23 seconds left for the decisive points.

But that was only one play. Leary had his way with what was trumpeted to be a proud Pitt defense. Releasing the ball quickly, he was sacked only twice and completed 28 of 45 passes for 336 yards and four touchdowns.

• Pitt also was called for 13 penalties, giving away 125 yards. N.C. State totaled 28 first downs, with eight coming on Pitt penalties.

They ran the gamut of infractions from offsides to pass interference to a face mask. Also, safety Brandon Hill’s holding penalty on N.C. State’s final drive contributed 10 yards to the Wolfpack’s cause.

“We didn’t have enough discipline. That’s where it starts,” Narduzzi said, making what had to be a painful confession for a team that is top-heavy with upperclassmen.

He wondered about the pass interference penalties, however.

“We’ll look at the tape and we’ll become a better football team from it,” he said.

• The other key issue was Pitt’s problems in the red zone — two touchdowns in five trips – but not just inside the 20-yard line. Pitt was on the N.C. State 1 three times but came away with six points only twice.

The first venture ended with running backs Vincent Davis and Daniel Carter stopped for no gain, Pickett rolling out and finding no one open and throwing the ball away and, finally, Davis losing 2 yards on fourth down.

It was a reminder of painful losses to Virginia Tech in 2017 and Penn State last season when Pitt needed only 1 yard late and couldn’t get it.

“You know, obviously, there are things that we need to do better when we get down there,” Narduzzi said, “and we’ve focused on it more than we ever have really, to be honest with you.

“We had our opportunities, and we’ve just got to finish.”

On the next two shots from the 1, Pickett burrowed behind Morrissey twice for touchdowns, but the running game gained little traction all day.

Davis and Pickett were Pitt’s two leading rushers, and they averaged only 2.7 yards per attempt (40 on 15 carries). Thanks in large part to N.C. State’s 10 tackles for a loss, Pitt lumbered to only 92 yards on the ground a week after Virginia Tech rolled over the Wolfpack for 314.

Morrissey described a third-and-1 when he said he got “straight up beat” by N.C. State nose guard Alim McNeill.

“When your center gets beat on wide zone against a nose guard, the play’s over,” Morrissey said. “It’s nobody’s fault but mine. I’m responsible for the O line. We take responsibility for the run game.

“When you can’t run the ball effectively in the first couple series, the coordinator loses confidence and I don’t blame him one bit. We don’t deserve a run call.”

The passing game had no serious problems, unless it was losing leading receiver Jordan Addison to an undisclosed injury for the entire second half.

Already short at tight end with Lucas Krull and Kyi Wright out with injuries, Pickett turned to wide receiver D.J. Turner, a transfer from Maryland, who didn’t join the team until September. Turner caught eight passes for 186 yards.

Overall, Pickett threw for a career-high 411 yards, completing 22 of 39 passes. Pickett is averaging more than 33 attempts per game, despite Pitt’s hope of buildng a balanced offense.

With senior A.J. Davis injured, no running back has stepped forward to make an impact.

“Yeah, you would like that to happen, but that’s not where we are right now,” Narduzzi said. “We left a lot of plays on the field, and that’s the thing that hurts the most.”

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