No. 13 Miami beats Pitt handily in finale to spoil Panthers' ACC title game hopes

The desired outcome of Pitt’s regular-season finale Saturday versus Miami would have seen the Panthers intently watching results around the ACC well into the evening.

That’s because a win by Pitt against the 13th-ranked Hurricanes, coupled with a loss by either Virginia or SMU, constituted the Panthers’ route to the ACC title game.

Instead, the No. 24 Panthers’ aspirations slipped away anticlimactically as Miami dominated on senior day at Acrisure Stadium en route to a 38-7 victory.

Pitt (8-4, 6-2 ACC) now awaits word on a postseason bowl game, whereas Miami (10-2, 6-2) crosses its fingers for College Football Playoff consideration while monitoring a complicated path to the league championship.

“Obviously not the outcome we wanted here,” coach Pat Narduzzi said. “(Miami) outplayed us today, they outcoached us today and it falls on my shoulders.”

One week after upsetting Georgia Tech on the road behind a 42-point offensive explosion, Mason Heintschel and Co. had no such performance in Saturday’s consequential finale.

The Panthers offense finished with 229 total yards, managing a lone touchdown, as the Hurricanes went up 17-7 at halftime before seizing total control.

Unsportsmanlike conduct calls on defensive backs Tamon Lynum and Shadarian Harrison contributed mightily to a backbreaking touchdown allowed by Pitt to begin the third quarter, with Miami taking a 24-7 lead about five minutes into the second half.

Heintschel finished 22 of 32 through the air with 199 yards, a touchdown and an interception on Pitt’s final offensive play late in the fourth quarter.

Miami’s Carson Beck was solid, throwing for 267 yards and three scores, but it was Hurricanes freshman wideout Malachi Toney who burned Pitt most.

He threw a short touchdown pass, caught another and finished with 161 all-purpose yards.

“We obviously watched a lot of film throughout the whole week and understood the type of player he presents with getting the ball in his hands and the type of player he is in space,” safety Javon McIntyre said. “We could have done way better just rallying and tackling him.”

Miami won Saturday’s battle in the trenches, sacking Heintschel four times and limiting Pitt’s run game to 30 yards on 21 carries.

Desmond Reid missed his fifth game of the season, and Ja’Kyrian Turner, a week after rushing for 201 yards versus Georgia Tech, had only 37 on 10 carries.

With 4 minutes, 31 seconds left in the first quarter, Miami took a 3-0 lead via a Carter Davis 29-yard field goal.

Pitt then marched 75 yards over 13 plays, culminating with a short touchdown reception by Justin Holmes.

Heintschel absorbed a brutal hit by Miami’s Zechariah Poyser on the drive but completed a 40-yard bomb to Blue Hicks two plays later.

After a Juelz Goff 9-yard touchdown catch was overturned and ruled short of the goal line, Holmes was able to punch it in instead 40 seconds into the second quarter, putting Pitt up 7-3.

The Hurricanes responded immediately.

Keelan Marion set up Beck and the offense at the Miami 44-yard line following a kickoff return of 38 yards. Seven plays later, the Hurricanes were ahead by three.

On first-and-goal from Pitt’s 9-yard line, Toney took the snap, rolled right and lobbed a pass to an undefended Elija Lofton for the touchdown. With 11:07 to go in the opening half, the Hurricanes went up 10-7.

“I saw everything I expected (from) one of the most dynamic players in college football,” Narduzzi said of Toney. “He’s a special player, (and) he’s hard to stop. We should have (and) could have done a better job of stopping him.”

The Panthers came up empty on their next drive as Trey Butkowski, making his return after a two-game absence because of injury, missed a 43-yard field goal try.

Heintschel had connected with Poppi Williams for 38 yards into Hurricanes territory, but Miami’s third sack of the day forced a third-and-long that Pitt was unable to convert.

Williams was Pitt’s leading receiver with five grabs for 66 yards.

Beck marched his offense 75 yards downfield over 4:15 before hitting an undefended Toney for a 22-yard score, putting the Hurricanes up 17-7, a lead they took into halftime.

An alarming lack of discipline on the part of Pitt led to Miami scoring a touchdown on its first drive of the third quarter.

Beck had found tight end Alex Bauman for a chunky 33-yard gain to the Pitt 28 and, a play later, the Panthers responded when Rashad Battle blitzed and sacked Beck for a loss of 9.

But Lynum was flagged for post-whistle unsportsmanlike conduct, exchanging punches with Miami’s C.J. Daniels.

Three plays later, Pitt looked as if it had held the Hurricanes to a field goal, with Beck throwing an incomplete pass to Marion in the end zone on third down.

However, Harrison was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after chirping at Marion, handing Miami a fresh set of downs.

On third-and-goal from Pitt’s 4-yard line, Mark Fletcher punched it in to put the Hurricanes up 24-7 at the 9:33 mark.

“It’s sad that you start the second half like that, both on third downs,” Narduzzi said of the flags. “There’s a lot going on both ways, and the flags just got thrown against us today. We talked about composure, and we’re going to play Pitt football. We didn’t want to play their game. So that was the message: to not get baited into it. We got baited into it.”

On the day, Pitt finished with nine penalties for 88 yards. Miami had five for 23.

In desperate need of an offensive response, the Panthers instead produced an uninspiring three-and-out.

Miami had no such issues upon getting the ball back, as Beck hit Marty Brown for a 6-yard touchdown pass.

With 4:28 to play in the third quarter, the Hurricanes were running away with things, up 31-7.

From there, the Panthers got a boost when Censere Lee caught a 31-yard pass into Miami territory, but the Hurricanes stopped Pitt at the 33-yard line on fourth down.

“(Miami) did a lot of things to gameplan and stop us,” Heintschel said. “I honestly just think we hurt ourselves, too. We had a lot of penalties, we weren’t executing, I took too many sacks — there’s stuff we’ve got to clean up, and it starts with me. We’ve got to be better.”

With 6:18 to play, the Panthers generated a turnover as Cruce Brookins intercepted Beck at the Pitt 15-yard line.

But less than three minutes later, Pitt punted for the sixth time.

With under a minute to go, Beck threw his third touchdown of the day, a 33-yard connection to Daniels to make it 38-7.

“Games like this, you’ve got to be really detailed with everything you do, and you’ve got to play up to a higher standard,” Heintschel said. “We didn’t do that.”