Pitt goes down without a touchdown in 'terrible' loss to Miami

Jimmy Morrissey asked the question and, really, he didn’t care to hear the answer.

“Was it four field goals?” he said when reporters looked to the Pitt junior center and tri-captain Saturday for some explanation of the 16-12 loss to Miami at Heinz Field.

All Morrissey knew was Pitt (5-3, 2-2 ACC) played a game without scoring a touchdown and ended up having to live with a tough loss — in the standings and in the pits of their stomachs — that hurt their chances of repeating as ACC Coastal champion. Their hopes gained new life, however, when first-place Virginia (5-3, 3-2) lost to Louisville, 28-21.

“Terrible,” Morrissey said, quietly assessing the performance on offense. “I’m shocked that we were even in that game.”

Actually, Pitt took a 12-10 lead in the fourth quarter on Alex Kessman’s fourth field goal with 7 minutes, 19 seconds left. Kessman was on target, but the offense was out of sync, moving to the Miami 11, 7 and 1 without crossing the goal line.

Still, Pitt had the ball back and a two-point lead with 5:44 to go — thanks to the defense — but three running plays gained only 6 yards.

“If we throw passes and it’s incomplete, the clock stopped and we’ll be complaining about that,” coach Pat Narduzzi said. “You can say it’s too conservative. It’s not too conservative if you get a first down.”

Kirk Christodoulou’s 32-yard punt followed, and Miami was able to drive 62 yards for the winning touchdown, a 32-yard pass from backup quarterback Jarren Williams to K.J. Osborn with 58 seconds left.

It was Miami’s only extended scoring drive of the game.

“It’s tough to win a football game when you turn the ball over three times in the first half and give them 10 points on 34- and 17-yard drives,” Narduzzi said. “Defense played well enough to win, except for that last play. They gave up one big play the entire game, which doesn’t happen very often, but it’s the one play they needed to put the game away.”

In the first half, the offense handed out 10 points like candy on Halloween with two interceptions and a fumble that laid the foundation for Pitt’s first loss since Sept. 14 at Penn State.

Then, Narduzzi lost faith in both elements of his offense at different times.

With Miami’s pass rush getting the best of Pitt’s offensive line — four sacks and three hurries — Pitt leaned on its running game in the second half. Quarterback Kenny Pickett threw 21 times in the first half, only eight through most of the second. He ended up throwing for a season-low 146 yards.

Was he fearful of Miami’s pass rush?

“Maybe,” the coach said.

But it goes deeper than that.

“I don’t know how many drops (pass catchers had),” Narduzzi said. “You guys probably counted them up and tallied them (five), but we just didn’t make enough plays. Again, and the run game was going, so we’re going to run the football.”

But Pitt lost its most effective runner, backup Todd Sibley, who gained 54 yards on four wildcat plays when he left the game with what looked like a serious leg injury on Pitt’s final field-goal drive.

Down, 10-9, Pitt reached the 1 with V’Lique Carter gaining 24 yards on three carries, but the third-down handoff went to A.J. Davis, who was stopped for no gain as the blocking broke down in front of him.

Go for the touchdown on fourth down and a possible six-point lead?

No. Narduzzi opted for the field goal and a two-point edge with nearly half the fourth quarter remaining.

“Do I wish we would have gone for it on fourth-and-1?” Narduzzi said, without being asked the question. “Yeah, but when your defense is playing as well as they are playing, we thought, ‘Shoot, let’s win with four field goals.’

“Smart play was to kick the field goal. Some people say, ‘Go for it.’ If you don’t get it, then you’re losing the game.”

In the end, Pitt might have lost, 17-16, even if it scored a touchdown from the 1. Actually, the game was lost by an offense that couldn’t solve an athletic, but previously inconsistent, Miami defense.

“Miami is a great team,” Morrissey said, “but we left a lot out there. We all feel like we’re letting (the defense) down when we can’t finish. It’s very upsetting to us and all of our coaches, too. It really came down to us. We didn’t do our jobs well enough.

“They’ve been keeping us above water, and we need to reciprocate.”

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