Pitt lands berth in Quick Lane Bowl, will play Eastern Michigan

Pitt found out Sunday night just how damaging two late-season losses can be to a team’s bowl hopes.

The Panthers accepted an invitation to the Quick Lane Bowl where they will play Eastern Michigan at 8 p.m. Dec. 26 at Ford Field in Detroit. Eastern Michigan (6-6, 3-5) finished in a tie for last place in the West Division of the Mid-American Conference.

Most Pitt fans probably know Eastern Michigan only as the school that employed Heather Lyke as athletic director before she accepted the same job at Pitt in 2017. Pitt is 2-0 all-time against Eastern Michigan, with 66-30 and 27-3 victories in 1995 and 2007.

The game will mark the fourth time in Pitt’s past six bowl trips the Panthers will play a team from outside a Power 5 conference.

Pitt was in contention for a repeat ACC Coastal championship when the Panthers took a 7-3 record into Blacksburg, Va., on Nov. 23 to play Virginia Tech. Nine victories for the first time in 10 years and a high-profile bowl invitation were legitimate expectations. But Pitt was shut out by the Hokies, 28-0, and lost to Boston College at home 28-16 to end the regular season 7-5 (4-4 in the ACC).

Pitt was in no position to dictate its bowl destination. The ACC Tier 1 bowls, including the Pinstripe at Yankee Stadium and the Belk in Charlotte, N.C., chose Wake Forest and Virginia Tech (both 8-4). Wake Forest will play Michigan State of the Big Ten in the Pinstripe, and Virginia Tech gets the SEC’s Kentucky in the Belk.

The Music City Bowl in Nashville chose Louisville (7-5), perhaps for reasons of geography, its 5-3 conference record and second-place finish behind Clemson in the ACC Atlantic Division. Louisville will play Mississippi State of the SEC.

Pitt fans have a good memory of Ford Field, but the current players and most of the coaches weren’t around to experience it. Ford Field, the home of the Detroit Lions, is the site of Pitt’s most recent bowl victory, 30-27, against Bowling Green of the MAC in the Little Caesers Pizza Bowl in 2013. Six years later, not much has changed.

Pat Narduzzi, who was recruiting Sunday night and unavailable for comment, is 0-3 in his previous bowl games as Pitt’s coach. Pitt is 2-6 this decade in bowl games, defeating Kentucky in the 2010/11 BBVA Compass Bowls and losing to SMU and Ole Miss (Compass), Houston (Armed Forces), Navy (Military), Northwestern (Pinstripe) and Stanford (Sun).

Eastern Michigan enjoyed a promising start to its season, winning three of the first four games, including an impressive 34-31 victory at bowl-bound Illinois on Sept. 14. The Illini later defeated Rose Bowl-bound Wisconsin. Eastern Michigan lost to Kentucky, 38-17, in its other Power 5 game before losing four of five MAC games at midseason.

“On behalf of the University of Pittsburgh, I want to thank Executive Director Brad Michaels and the Detroit Lions organization for the opportunity to play in this year’s Quick Lane Bowl,” Lyke said Sunday in a statement. “Under the Lions’ watch, the Quick Lane Bowl has placed a high priority on the student-athlete experience well beyond game day. We look forward to our visit and hope our fans make the trip to Detroit on the 26th to support our Panthers in their final game of the season.”

Narduzzi is pleased the bowl game gives him an opportunity to conduct two more weeks of practice.

“You’re only guaranteed 12 games in college football, so the opportunity to play one more time in 2019 is something our team is not going to take for granted,” he said in a statement. “Coach (Chris) Creighton has done an impressive job at Eastern Michigan. They had a great road win over a Big Ten bowl team in Illinois this season. We look forward to the challenge.”

Get the latest news about Pitt football and all things Panthers athletics.