Despite several self-inflicted wounds that included a season-high 13 penalties and an offense that looked inefficient for three quarters, Pitt found itself in position to knock off No. 20 Clemson Saturday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium. But, Cade Klubnik wouldn't allow that.
Just three plays after Ben Sauls drilled a 47-yard field goal to push the Panthers ahead by three for their first lead of the game, the junior quarterback from Austin, Texas said not so fast. Facing a second-and-3 on the 50-yard line, Klubnik looked off a few Pitt defenders and took off:
CLUTCH KLUBNIK!!
β ACC Football (@ACCFootball) November 16, 2024
Tigers retake the lead after the 50-yard QB run!
πΊ @ClemsonFB x ESPN pic.twitter.com/sOkZHMPchy
That backbreaking score delivered Clemson a 24-20 victory and handed the Panthers their third straight loss in devastating fashion.
However, that game-winning score was uncharacteristic of how the game had gone to that point. The Tigers came into the game averaging 198.7 rushing yards per game and had rushed for just eight yards up to that point. They finished the game with 58 rushing yards. I'll let you do the math.
Defensively, Pitt had done everything they could to win the game.
The Panthers had tallied five sacks, including two from Kyle Louis, and 13 TFLs. They had forced two fumbles and recovered one of them. They made adjustments to what Clemson had capitalized on in the first half and limited Klubnik to just 46 passing yards in the second half after he threw for 242 in the first. But, this game, an important one for the Panthers in terms of turning the season around and getting back on track, came down to that one play.
"Georgia held them to 38 (rushing yards); that was the low on the year, so that tells you what kind of performance our kids did," Pat Narduzzi said after the loss. "(Phil) Mafah really couldn't get anything going all day. It was a great performance by our defense in rush defense, and then you give up a quarterback draw, which was the one. They got 58 total yards, and they got 50 on the last play."
He added: "Through the year our defense has been outstanding. I had complete confidence in them at the end of the game. Two-minute, I'm like, shoot. That two-minute at the end of the half, two-minute at the end of the game, our defense has been lights-out all year, and they got us into good coverage and we didn't rally and make a play on the quarterback. We've got to get him down. He took it to the house."
While it was the play that decided the game, it can't overshadow everything that had come before it.
Despite Nate Matlack forcing a strip sack on Clemson's first offensive drive of the game, which was followed by eight punts and one turnover on downs throughout the remainder of the game, Klubnik and the Clemson offense were able to capitalize on Pitt's mistakes in the first half and build up a 10-point lead.
Their first score came on their second offensive drive, an eight-play, 93-yard march down the field that was aided by an unnecessary roughness penalty on P.J. O'Brien and two 20-yard passing plays. O'Brien's penalty placed the Tigers on Pitt's 34-yard line and after picking up gains of 11 and 10 yards, Klubnik hit Antonio Williams on an inbreaking route between Donovan McMillon and Rashad Battle for a 14-yard score.
Pitt's defense buckled down for the next two drives until the Tigers took advantage of a weakness up the middle of the field. Klubnik first found Bryant Wesco Jr. for a 45-yard gain and then went back to the same area on the very next play, hitting Williams for a 28-yard score.
Clemson's last efficient offensive drive ended the first half as they marched 39 yards on nine plays before Nolan Hauser hit a 51-yard field goal to build a 17-7 lead.
"You look at the defense, they played their tails off the entire game, they were on the field for almost 35 minutes," Narduzzi said. "They (Clemson) had one drive at the end of the second quarter where they hit two big posts on us. Our guys tightened down, made some adjustments and fixed it. But, then the two-minute at the end of the half where they made some plays and we didn't, wasn't some good coverage, and they got a field goal before the half, which was a critical field goal."
Pitt buckled down from there and held Clemson scoreless until Klubnik's final run. The Panthers forced four punts and a turnover on downs in the second half, including three three-and-outs. But, there were still too many self-inflicted wounds to overcome.
Earning his first start of the season in place of Eli Holstein, Nate Yarnell completed 34 of his 54 pass attempts for 350 yards and a touchdown. He also threw an interception on the final play of the game for the second straight week.
Pitt's first scoring drive was highlighted by a 24-yard pass to Raphael Williams and a 43-yard run by Desmond Reid. Daniel Carter, who suffered a season-ending lower-body injury, according to Narduzzi, capped off the drive with a two-yard plunge. But, that was their only efficient drive of the first half. Outside of their fourth-quarter success, the Panthers struggled, and even then, they looked unorganized and confused.
There were several examples, but their overall performance could be encapsulated in how they finished off a 17-play, 68-yard drive that concluded with a 35-yard field goal by Sauls.
With 14:26 remaining in the game, Yarnell hit Reid on the right side for a 19-yard pass that he took down to Clemson's two-yard line. But chaos then ensued.
On two straight plays, the Panthers looked confused as they tried to get set to snap the ball and neither play found the back of the end zone after getting the play off just in time. Then, on third-and-1, it seemed to be happening again as the play clock neared zero. Narduzzi quickly called a timeout to avoid a delay of game penalty. But as he did, Derrick Davis Jr. dove over the defensive line and into the end zone.
"It's on me to get the play to them fast enough," Yarnell said about the confusion at the goal line. "I didn't get it to the players fast enough, we took too long to get lined up and we weren't ready to snap the ball."
On the next three plays, the Panthers committed penalties for an illegal formation, a delay of game and a false start, resulting in three points instead of seven. It was a prime example of the problems that plagued Pitt throughout the night as they also had a sequence defensively where they committed three straight offside penalties in a row. Clemson didn't end up taking advantage, so it wasn't as crucial, but a season-high 13 penalties played a big role in the loss.
"When you look at it, just too many unforced errors, and we've been good all year," Narduzzi said. "The last two weeks we haven't been that way. We had six drops. We had other opportunities offensively. Again, there are just so many things you can point to. It's not just a two-minute drive at the end of the half or at the end of the game. It's a goal line stand. We had our opportunities to win. We've got a good football team in there. We've just got to be cleaner."
Despite all of those mistakes, Pitt was in a position to win the game and they came up short. One could point to many things that would've resulted in a win on this night if they were done differently. But, the Panthers came up short for the third straight week and after coming so close against a team like Clemson, this one won't sit well moving forward.
"We just gotta stop all this losing, losing, losing, we gotta stop that," Louis said. "We lost three in a row, no more."
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