With help from Rodney Hammond, QB Nate Yarnell leads Pitt to victory over Boston College

Unless he calls upon a first-year freshman, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi can’t dig any deeper into his quarterback depth chart than he did Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium.

Third-string sophomore Nate Yarnell made his second collegiate start count, leading Pitt (3-8, 2-5 ACC) to a 24-16 victory against Boston College (6-5, 3-4), breaking the Panthers’ four-game losing streak.

Yarnell, who hadn’t started a game since leading Pitt to a 34-13 victory at Western Michigan 14 months ago, replaced Christian Veilleux, who started five games after replacing Phil Jurkovec, the starter through the season’s first five games. Pitt’s only scholarship quarterback not to appear in a game this season is freshman Ty Dieffenbach.

Narduzzi had seen too many interceptions this season from Veilleux and Jurkovec — 11 in 10 games — and he said the decision to start Yarnell was “pretty clear-cut.”

“Just felt Nate would go in and make really good decisions, which he did,” Narduzzi said. “There are no regrets (for not starting Yarnell sooner). We all can look back. It’s part of the game.”

Looking calm in the pocket and putting some steam on several throws in the middle of the field, Yarnell completed 11 of 19 passes for 207 yards and one touchdown. The stat that matters most: He did not throw any interceptions.

Yarnell said he calmed himself before the game the same way he did last year. He found a piano on the third floor of the team hotel and sat down and played.

“I’m just so grateful for the opportunity,” he said, speaking now about the football game. “It’s my job, no matter if I’m third-, fourth- or fifth-string, to be ready to go in the game. All season, I made sure was prepared for the moment.”

Yarnell directed an impressive touchdown drive in the first half — 85 yards in 15 plays over 7:56 seconds. He went the final 4 yards for the score. During the drive, Yarnell completed three of four passes for 45 yards and converted a third-and-1 with a 6-yard run.

But he was aware that the game rested on more than his shoulders.

Running back Rodney Hammond made the game’s biggest play in the fourth quarter when skeptics might have been predicting another Pitt loss.

The Panthers were clinging to a 17-16 lead when Hammond ran 66 yards for a touchdown with 4 minutes, 29 seconds left. It was his longest run since high school and a Pitt high for the season.

“I was trying to make a play every time I touched the ball,” said Hammond, who amassed a career-high 145 yards on 15 carries. “I knew there wasn’t anybody catching me. Cheetah speed”

On the other side of the football, Pitt’s defense put the clamps on Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who came into the game as the third-leading rusher in the ACC. Pitt sacked him six times, and with 40 yards of sack yardage figured in, he finished with 21 net yards.

Boston College’s 154 yards on the ground was a dramatic change after Syracuse ran for 392 against Pitt only five days ago.

“Our whole mentality this whole week was stop the run first,” said safety Donovan McMillon, who recorded 13 tackles to give him 99 for the season (the most by a Pitt player since Jordan Whitehead in 2015). “We knew if we stopped the run, we would make them one-dimensional.”

“Coach Duzz put it on us,” said defensive end Dayon Hayes, who had two sacks and another TFL. “Put everything aside and stop the run.”

Narduzzi said he did more than coach his team.

”I pleaded before the game,” he said. “I said, ‘Please, give me 60 minutes of focus. Please, give me 30 more at halftime. Just focus and take care of the details and good things happen.’

”I’m happy for our kids. Every day they come to work. Things haven’t gone our way, but I couldn’t be prouder of our football team.”

Pitt led 10-6 at halftime, but Boston College took a 13-10 lead in the third quarter when Castellanos lofted a 24-yard touchdown pass to Lewis Bond. McMillon knocked the football loose in the end zone, but officials reviewed the play and ruled Bond held on long enough to constitute a legal catch.

Yarnell responded immediately with a 61-yard touchdown pass to Bub Means, giving Pitt a 17-13 lead. It was a slick maneuver by Yarnell, who pump-faked first and threw to the right sideline, where Means was all alone.

Boston College threatened to retake the lead, but Pitt’s defense did its part when safety P.J. O’Brien intercepted a Castellanos pass on the Panthers’ 2. It was his team-leading third of the season and the first of two for Pitt. M.J. Devonshire picked off Castellanos’ final pass at the Pitt 49.

With one game left next week at Duke, Hammond called Pitt’s 3-8 season “a learning experience.”

“You can’t always expect the highest level (of performance),” he said. “There are going to be ups and downs. This is the down year. Next year will be the up year. We’re ready to come back next year and handle business.”