For the second straight year, the Pitt football team ended its season with a bowl-game loss that puts a sour mark on an otherwise positive year.
The Panthers put together a strong defensive performance that limited East Carolina to 1.7 yards per rush and less than 250 yards of total offense. However, they also committed five turnovers that plagued them in a 23-17 loss Saturday in the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Md.
Pitt, which played without running back Desmond Reid, linebacker Kyle Louis and defensive lineman Jimmy Scott, among others, finished the year at 8-5 after losing three of its last four games.
Coach Pat Narduzzi is now 1-3 in bowl games against Group of Five opponents and hasn’t recorded a bowl win since 2022 against UCLA.
“Not happy, obviously, with the performance,” Narduzzi said during his postgame news conference. “Have to give East Carolina credit, they are a good football team and did a nice job on defense. Just too many missed opportunities.”
Despite producing more total yards, converting more third downs, and winning the time of possession battle by seven minutes, the Panthers never seemed to find a rhythm offensively and put the ball on the ground too often.
Freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel completed 63% of his passes for 256 yards and a touchdown, but he threw one interception and fumbled on Pitt’s first drive of the second half.
Freshman running back Ja’Kyrian Turner rushed for 93 yards on 16 carries but fumbled twice. East Carolina scored 13 points off turnovers and tallied 13 unanswered points late in the game to pull away.
“It seemed like we struggled the entire game,” Narduzzi said of the offense. “Five turnovers, four on offense and, obviously, the punt return muff that we haven’t really had all year. Just disappointing. We had more yards and did a lot of good things, but you have to put the ball in the end zone, and you can’t turn the ball over.”
After a scoreless first quarter, East Carolina kicker Nick Mazzie broke the scoring open early in the second quarter with a 42-yard field goal on his second attempt of the game. He missed a 51-yard attempt at the 6 minute, 14 second mark of the first quarter.
To that point, East Carolina mustered 65 total yards over three drives while going 2 for 7 on third downs. The Panthers totaled 30 yards and rushed for just nine in the first quarter.
Pitt put together its first successful drive with 1:40 remaining in the first half. Heintschel led a 10-play, 77-yard drive that spanned 1:36. The freshman found wide receiver Poppi Williams on a 22-yard strike in the back-right corner of the end zone to cap off the drive and take a 7-3 lead.
That’s where Pitt’s offensive success halted as it committed turnovers on three of its next four drives.
The Pirates scored on four of their six drives in the second half, but Pitt’s defense kept the Panthers in the game for the most part, given the field-position challenge in front of them.
Outside linebacker Rasheem Biles solidified an exceptional defensive performance in the third quarter when he strip-sacked East Carolina quarterback Chaston Ditta and returned the fumble 23 yards for a score. It was Pitt’s third defensive touchdown of the season. Biles finished the game with 16 tackles, two sacks, five tackles for losses and one forced fumble.
When the Pirates did score in the second half, they scored quickly as both of their touchdown drives lasted two plays or fewer.
East Carolina wide receiver Anthony Smith first beat defensive back Rashad Battle down the left sideline for a 47-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter, giving the Pirates a 10-7 lead.
Smith, who finished with four catches for 156 yards, scored again just over five minutes later on a 72-yard pitch-and-catch touchdown. He caught the ball in the middle of the field and sprinted toward the right sideline before picking up a crucial downfield block to make it 17-14 and give the Pirates the lead for good.
“Our defense has been pretty darn good all year long, so I give them a lot of credit,” Narduzzi said. “But you can’t give up explosive plays. That’s the disappointing part. They could’ve had 150 total yards. We stuffed them pretty much. Field position, we might’ve lost that by 200 yards. We gave them short fields with the turnovers. If you look at it, the short fields they had, to get the points they got, it was a pretty darn good job by our defense. But just those two plays. Those two plays beat our butt.”
Mazzie added two more field goals in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach, despite Trey Butkowski’s 21-yard field goal with 1:23 remaining.
Saturday’s game was the final one for defensive coordinator Randy Bates, who announced his retirement Friday.
Bates’ coaching career has spanned more than 40 years, and he’s been Pitt’s defensive coordinator since 2018 after making multiple stops along the collegiate landscape. Since 2019, the Panthers have recorded a national-best 299 sacks and have been among the best rushing defenses in the nation multiple times.
“He’s a heck of a leader. We’re going to miss him,” Narduzzi said. “He’s a hell of a football coach. He’s everything you want.”
