Clemson stuns Pitt on QB Cade Klubnik's late 50-yard touchdown run

So much of what happened to Pitt in its 24-20 loss to Clemson on Saturday was bad that it’s difficult to believe the Panthers actually fooled everyone and looked like winners in the game’s final 90 seconds.

• Start with the dagger that stretched Pitt’s losing streak to three, the sixth of that duration in coach Pat Narduzzi’s 10 seasons. Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik ran 50 yards for a touchdown on a draw play with 1 minute, 16 seconds left in the game to rub out Ben Sauls’ 47-yard field goal that gave Pitt (7-3, 3-3 ACC) a 20-17 lead only 20 seconds earlier.

“They don’t really use him as a QB-draw type of quarterback,” Pitt linebacker Kyle Louis said, softly, the disappointment evident in his voice. “We definitely have to contain the quarterback better.”

Said Narduzzi: “Our stunt up front probably wasn’t as clean as you’d like. We didn’t rally and make a play on the quarterback. We have to get him down.”

The touchdown accounted for 50 of Clemson’s 58 yards rushing as running back Phil Mafah, who came into the game fourth in the ACC with 981, was held to 17 on 17 carries.

“Yeah, thanks for reminding me,” Narduzzi said, aware he lost the game while almost completely shutting down Clemson’s ground game.

Also …

• A long string of penalties, especially painful in the season’s 10th game. Pitt committed a season-high 13 for negative-100 yards, including three defensive offsides in a row and a variety pack of three more consecutively after the Panthers had a first-and-goal at the 2. That forced Pitt to settle for Ben Sauls’ 35-yard field goal — three points, instead of seven, and the game’s margin of defeat in front of a crowd of 58,667 at Acrisure Stadium.

• Eight sacks of quarterback Nate Yarnell, who still completed 34 of 54 passes for 350 yards and a touchdown while replacing Eli Holstein (two head injuries in three weeks).

“We didn’t protect the quarterback,” said Narduzzi, who’s been spending much of the season’s second half trying to find the right offensive line combination. Jackson Brown made his first career start at right tackle and Ryan Jacoby left the game in the second quarter with an injury.

Said Yarnell: “I feel pretty banged-up, to be honest.”

• Sauls’ miss of a 59-yard field-goal attempt that would have set a Pitt record. It was only his third in 20 tries this season.

• Allowing Klubnik to record 288 yards through the air and throw touchdown passes of 14 and 28 yards to Antonio Williams to give Clemson (8-2, 7-1) a 17-7 halftime lead. The unfortunate aspect of those plays is that Pitt was all of a sudden capable of solving the issue in the second half when the Panthers held Klubnik to only 46 passing yards.

“Pitch a shutout defensively in the second half until 1:36 left in the game,” the coach said, forlornly.

• Season-ending injuries to running back Daniel Carter (broken leg) and wide receiver C.J. Lee (patella tendon).

“We got banged up last week and got banged up a little bit more (Saturday),” Narduzzi said.

Plus, running back Desmond Reid amassed 176 total yards, gaining much of it while hobbling on a sore ankle.

• And then there was the end to Pitt’s six-year winning streak on Senior Day. “I feel bad for our seniors. We wanted to get it for those guys,” Narduzzi said.

“As usual, it’s a team loss. We did it together,” the coach said. “There are plays on offense, defense you wish you had back. There are so many things you can point to. It’s not just a two-minute drive at the end of the half, at the end of the game.”

Another big play was Clemson’s Nolan Hauser kicking a 51-yard field goal 3 seconds before halftime.

Actually, the game might have been lost because Pitt was unable or unwilling to run tempo — the team’s desired system — during that decisive goal-line series at the outset of the fourth quarter.

Down 17-7, Pitt committed illegal formation, delay of game and false start penalties in an almost comical series of errors. Concerned about the play clock expiring, Narduzzi also called a timeout in that sequence while running back Derrick Davis was diving into the end zone.

“Maybe we should have gone with tempo. We’re too slow getting lined up,” Narduzzi said.

On the timeout, the coach accepted blame.

“I look back at myself. Put that one on me for calling that timeout. I was just worried about that (play) clock going down. So, operationally, we’ve got to clean that up. We need to score at the 2-yard line.”

Yarnell was willing to shoulder responsibility with his coach.

“I’m the quarterback,” he said. “I have to make sure things are smooth, and it wasn’t. I take responsibility for that. We should have scored there, no doubt about it.”

Other than that series and his tendency to accept too many sacks, Yarnell looked comfortable running the offense in his first start of the season.

Narduzzi said he expects Holstein to be ready to play next week. But Yarnell’s efforts might give the coach pause.

“Way too early,” he said when asked if Yarnell could keep the job next Saturday at Louisville. “We’ll see how Eli’s feeling. It’s a coach’s decision. I have confidence in Eli. Eli has played well all season, as well. I told you all year Nate Yarnell is a good football player. You saw it out there (Saturday). We’ll see when the grading gets done and see how everybody feels.”

After getting crushed by SMU, Pitt has now lost two games in a row by a total of nine points.

Narduzzi said he doesn’t expect the pain from those defeats to affect his team’s confidence.

“They’re not going to lose confidence after what they did out there,” he said. “We have a darned good football team. We have to pick up the pieces. Our guys will do that.”

Louis sounded frustrated when he said, “We have to stop all this losing, losing, losing.”