Pitt loses 10-point lead in 4th quarter, drops GameAbove Sports Bowl to Toledo in 6 OTs

After Toledo put a painful exclamation point on Pitt’s first six-game losing streak in 26 years, Pat Narduzzi sat between senior co-captains Gavin Bartholomew and Brandon George and tried to put a positive spin on a six-overtime drama.

Not an easy task after Toledo (8-5) of the Mid-American Conference walked off with a 48-46 victory Thursday in the GameAbove Sports Bowl in Detroit’s Ford Field.

• The coach talked about freshman and Penn Hills graduate Julian Dugger’s impressive debut, throwing two touchdown passes and rushing for 88 yards, coming all the way from No. 4 on the depth chart to lead a rally that fell short. “Really impressed with the way Julian handled himself,” Narduzzi said.

• He praised Bartholomew’s two clutch catches on conversions, one that tied the score 20-20 in the third quarter and the other that gave Pitt a chance to win in the fifth overtime.

• And, of course, there was Narduzzi’s predictable remarks about how everyone “played their tails off.”

He wasn’t wrong, but he finally got to the point.

“There was a lot of good,” he said. “The only bad thing is we didn’t come out with the ‘W.’ Sometimes it happens like that.”

And that’s what matters most in this up-and-down season in which Pitt won its first seven and was nationally ranked before losing its last six.

“I feel bad for our seniors. We felt we needed to get that one for them,” he said.

The game was the longest bowl game of all time and the longest game in Pitt history.

It featured wild, back-and-forth action by both teams for a crowd of 26,219 and was almost a mirror reflection of the Panthers’ season.

Pitt took a 12-6 lead early in the second quarter, in part thanks to Ben Sauls’ 57-yard field goal, 1 yard short of the school record he shares with Alex Kessman.

But the Panthers fell behind 20-12 at halftime when starting quarterback David Lynch, a walk-on forced into duty because of an injury to Eli Holstein and Nate Yarnell transferring, threw an interception, his first of two. Toledo safety Braden Awls returned it 40 yards for a touchdown.

Dugger, who eventually replaced Lynch in the third quarter for the remainder of the game, led the Panthers to 18 unanswered points and a 30-20 lead they took into the game’s final eight minutes. His 16-yard touchdown pass to Poppi Williams early in the fourth quarter was an impressive dart that built Pitt’s 10-point lead.

The overall offensive output was encouraging, especially after a series of injuries, transfers and even an opt-out by leading pass catcher Konata Mumpfield compromised the lineup. The Panthers finished with 438 total yards, thanks in large part to workhorse running back Desmond Reid rushing 32 times for 165 yards and a touchdown. Lynch and Dugger combined for 137 yards through the air.

But Dugger wasn’t perfect, throwing an interception that defensive tackle Darius Alexander returned 58 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to whittle down Pitt’s lead. Toledo kicker Dylan Cunanan’s 51-yard field goal with 1 minute, 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter forced overtime.

Yet there were more chances for Pitt to win.

After Cunanan’s field goal, Pitt moved to its 49, but Narduzzi chose not to send out Sauls for what would have been a 69-yard field goal. Narduzzi said he thought the try would have been too long — the Ford Field record is 66 set by the Baltimore Ravens’ Justin Tucker — and he was fearful of Toledo returning a short attempt.

“You have your O-line out there and all of a sudden, you have to cover,” he said.

The teams matched scores through five overtimes, with two short touchdown runs by Dugger, scoring catches by Bartholomew and Kenny Johnson and Sauls’ 19-yard field goal.

Offensive coordinator Kade Bell tried some trickery with Bartholomew, a 250-pound tight end, lining up at quarterback on second- and third-down conversion attempts in the second overtime. Pitt was down 40-37 after the defense held Toledo to a field goal. First, Bartholomew was stopped after a 2-yard gain to the 1, and then he tried a pass to defensive tackle Isaiah Neal, who was unable to make the catch. After that, Narduzzi got conservative and had Sauls kick a field goal to create another tie.

Narduzzi said he doesn’t regret the throw to Neal, a 270-pound redshirt freshman.

“I thought it was a (heckuva) play call by coach Bell. We worked it,” Narduzzi said. “It’s a game of inches. We were an inch away from scoring, and the game’s over. It was a game-winner right there. We just have to make a play. I’m not sure Gavin couldn’t have carried that thing in (instead of throwing toward Neal).”

The defense failed to make even one stop in overtime — Toledo crossed the goal line five times, with one field goal — after allowing Rockets quarterback Tucker Gleason to complete 26 of 50 passes for 336 yards and two touchdowns (before overtime). Wide receiver Junior Vandeross caught 12 for 194 and a score.

Gleason connected with Vandeross for the decisive two points in the sixth overtime, but Dugger threw incomplete under heavy pressure to end the game.

Still, Pitt would have won if third- and fourth-string quarterbacks Lynch and Dugger didn’t throw one pick-6 each.

“Those two pick-6s were, obviously, the game,” Narduzzi said.

But he was not placing blame, especially not on Dugger. “We were excited about watching him play. You can see why. He can make plays with his feet.”

Said Bartholomew: “I thought Julian brought a lot of fire that we needed.”

Not enough, however, which is a good way to describe the last six games of Pitt’s season.