Pitt beats Syracuse, wins 10th regular-season game for 1st time in 40 years

To Pat Narduzzi, who won’t be satisfied unless and until he’s holding that ACC Championship trophy around midnight Dec. 4, what happened Saturday night in the Carrier Dome was more worthy of a pat on the back than excessive praise.

Winning 10 games by defeating Syracuse, 31-14, was nice. “Monumental,” actually, to use Narduzzi’s word.

But imagine what No. 11 would feel like.

“We came out and just played OK, in my opinion,” Pitt’s coach said. “We have to do a lot better next week to win a championship.”

Pitt wasn’t looking for style points or trying to impress anyone. Just the opposite, as a matter of fact.

“We had a good game plan,” he said. “But we didn’t go crazy. We didn’t want to rest anybody, but we also didn’t want to show a whole bunch.”

Without their usual offensive fireworks (but plenty on the other side of the ball), the Panthers were looking to secure a bigger prize next week.

“Started a little bit slow,” Narduzzi said of the early 7-0 deficit. “I think our guys were maybe a little bit looking towards next week.”

Pitt (10-2, 7-1) will play in the ACC Championship Game next Saturday against Atlantic Division winner Wake Forest (10-2, 7-1) at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.

The victory marked the first time in 40 years that Pitt won 10 games before a bowl.

“We really fought for that 10th win,” defensive tackle Tyler Bentley said. “It’s been 40 years. It’s about time.”

Pitt has won eight of nine games since losing to Western Michigan on Sept. 18 and is in the midst of its second four-game winning streak of the season.

It also was Narduzzi’s 52nd victory in seven seasons, tying him with Walt Harris for the second-most by a Pitt coach in the past 56 years.

One more milestone: Pitt finished the season undefeated on the road (5-0) for the first time since 1987 and only the third season overall.

“We get to go on the road again,” Narduzzi said. “It’s a major advantage when your kids have confidence going on the road and getting it done.”

Quarterback Kenny Pickett continued his assault on the Pitt and ACC record books, throwing four touchdown passes against Syracuse (5-7, 2-6), giving him a Pitt record 40 this season and 79 for his five-year career, tying Dan Marino for first place. Marino and Rod Rutherford previously held the single-season record of 37. He completed 28 of 38 passes for 209 yards, giving him 12,050 for his career, second in ACC history to Philip Rivers.

“When you have playmakers, it makes your life easier,” Pickett said.

Playing without center Owen Drexel and running back Izzy Abanikanda, who were nursing injuries, Pickett threw touchdown passes to two freshmen — running back Rodney Hammond and tight end Gavin Bartholomew — plus two more to sophomore Jordan Addison, who has 17 in his quest to win the Biletnikoff Award.

The offense was sluggish for much of the game, but the defense was dominant after Syracuse’s first touchdown drive used up nearly half of the first quarter. Syracuse running back Sean Tucker came into the game leading the ACC in rushing (1,467 yards), but he could add only 29 on 13 carries to his total. Overall, the Orange gained 25 net yards on the ground.

Narduzzi wasn’t surprised.

“Tucker’s a good football player, but that’s what we do,” he said. “It’s been a long time since someone came out and really tried to run on us. We want to make people one-dimensional. We have a pretty good scheme of what we do. Some people may whine, putting our corners out there on an island, but that’s what we do. We trust our corners.

“I had all the confidence in the world that would happen.”

SirVocea Dennis, a Syracuse, N.Y., native who said he had nearly 100 family members and friends at the game, called the shots from his middle linebacker position for a defense that recorded five sacks for a loss of 39 yards among its 10 TFLs. Pitt is second in the nation in sacks (46), matching its 2020 total when it had two All-American defensive ends.

“That’s Pitt football. We try to get after the running back, the quarterback, really everybody,” Dennis said. “It’s a systematic thing. We don’t like getting punched in the mouth, starting that slow. We’ll definitely clean that up.”

Meanwhile, Pitt hopes to get Drexel and Abanikanda back for the title game and return the offense to its previous groove. The coaching staff started preparing Sunday morning, mere hours after the plane from Syracuse landed in Pittsburgh at 1:30.

“We’re going to get their best. They’re going to get our best,” Pickett said of Wake Forest. “First things first, we have to prepare like a champion.”