Did not watch last night's game so the views below are solely based on examining the box score for the game's stats--without being influenced by emotions from having actually watched the game.
1. Terrible 2nd Quarter that began to really go down hill with Saul's missed FG which would have made the score at the time 14-6 vs keeping it at 14-3.
2. Other than the 2nd quarter scoring was roughly even over the other 3 quarters---Pitt 25 pts, SMU 24 pts. The 3rd and 4th quarter results suggest Pitt players did not quit.
3. Total offense SMU 467 yds to Pitt's 453 yds. Based on the theory that an efficient team should score about 1 TD for every 100 yards of offense---Hypothetically the score should have/could have been something more like Pitt 31 -- SMU 34. Obviously, SMU exceeded that 34 by 14 and Pitt failed by 6 of scoring 31.
4. Four fumbles with 1 lost and 1 interception thrown obviously standout as big negatives for Pitt.
5. The two long scoring plays were big for SMU as Pitt won time of possession.
Overall, based on the stats, and given that it was a road game, the loss doesn't look quite as bad to me as the score indicates.
