Pitt ends bowl losing streak with 34-30 victory against Eastern Michigan

DETROIT — Down three, with only two minutes, 43 seconds left in the Quick Lane Bowl, Kenny Pickett broke the huddle, stepped behind center Jimmy Morrissey and surveyed the scene.

It wasn’t pretty or encouraging.

In front of Pitt’s quarterback stood 11 Eastern Michigan defenders guarding 91 yards of green turf. The end zone might have looked miles away, but Pickett offered no pep talk, no sense of panic. He didn’t look his teammates in the eye and challenge them to put together a game-winning drive.

“You’re either ready or you’re not,” Pickett said later in the calm of the post-game news conference. “We were comfortable in that situation. We’ve been there before. We just went out and executed.”

Or, as Morrissey put it: “Do your job. Get it done.”

And so it came to pass that Pitt finally won a bowl game, 34-30, in front of a record Quick Lane crowd of 34,765 on Thursday night at Ford Field.

With 47 seconds left in the game, Pitt wide receiver Taysir Mack made a spectacular one-handed grab of a 25-yard pass from Pickett. Officials called interference on Eastern Michigan, but Mack secured the ball, anyway, to erase the Eagles’ 30-27 lead.

It was Pitt’s first lead of the game after forging ties at 10, 17, 20 and 27. The Panthers’ first bowl victory since 2013 – also achieved at Ford Field under former coach Paul Chryst — gave coach Pat Narduzzi his third 8-5 record in five seasons.

No one among Pitt’s players and coaches cared that Eastern Michigan (6-7) finished last in the Mid-American Conference West, or that it was the sixth time this season the Eagles had allowed 31 or more points.

“We didn’t care what the score was,” Narduzzi said.”We didn’t care how it happened. Like our kids have done all year, they fight, they claw, they got hearts.”

They also have a way of playing close games. It was the ninth time this season that a Pitt game was decided by seven or fewer points. Pitt was 6-3 in such games.

The final drive wasn’t easy. Pickett completed six of nine passes, and two of the incompletions were dropped balls by Maurice Ffrench and Mack.

Pickett, who was named game MVP, threw for 361 yards while completing 27 of 39 passes for three touchdowns. His passing efficiency rating of 172.4 is his best of the season. He lost a fumble in the first quarter, but did not throw an interception.

Pickett was not surprised by his performance or the final score. He sounded like a player who prepared for success, and found a way to make it happen.

“We practiced that two-minute drill so many times since last year because we struggled in that area,” he said. “Coach Whip (offensive coordinator Mark Whipple) brings a different element.

“Coach Duzz made a great hire with coach Whip. Offense had a different mindset coming in. We’re sharper in those situations.”

Freshman Jared Wayne caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from Pickett to tie the score at 27 in the fourth quarter. It was the first of his career, but he said it was no big deal.

“We practiced that play so many times. It just felt natural,” he said.

The game-winning march wasn’t the only impressive possession of the game for Pitt. In the second quarter, Pickett hooked up with Ffrench for a 96-yard touchdown, a one-play drive that turned out to be the second-longest pass play in all-time bowl history and longest in 130 years of Pitt football.

Ffrench, a senior playing his last game, caught the football and weaved through the Eastern Michigan secondary for Pitt’s first of four touchdowns and a 10-10 tie.

“I saw the backside safety bite on the drag route,” Pickett said, “and I just put it out there for Maurice and let him do his thing.”

The catch launched Ffrench toward a record-breaking night on several fronts.

His most impressive achievement was breaking Larry Fitzgerald’s single-season school record of 92 catches, set in 2003. With career highs in receptions (12, also a Pitt bowl record) and receiving yards (165), Ffrench finished with 96 catches in 11 games. He missed two games with a broken jaw.

The victory allowed Pitt to avoid another three-game losing streak at the end of the season. The Panthers, who lost three in a row to end 2018, bowed to Virginia Tech and Boston College last month to end the regular season.

Sophomore safety Paris Ford said the victory paid off a debt to the senior class.

“All the ups and downs we went through,” he said. “We just stayed together, fought adversity.

“We owed it to those seniors tonight.”

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