A bunch of news, notes and other things from Pitt's 24-20 loss to Clemson:
- Both teams had four scoring drives. The difference was that Clemson had three touchdowns and one field goal; Pitt had two touchdowns and two field goals.
- The Panthers’ first field goal drive saw the offense march to the Clemson 1 before three straight procedure penalties resulted in third-and-goal from the 16.
On the other field goal drive, the offense got into the red zone but a false start on second-and-9 from the 16 led the coaches to lay up for a field goal that only gave the Panthers a three-point lead.
- Ultimately, if Pitt scores from the 1 instead of taking three procedure penalties in a row, the Panthers likely find themselves driving for a field goal in the final minute of the game rather than a touchdown, which would have given them a much higher chance of winning.
- Before scoring on three consecutive drives in the fourth quarter, Pitt’s offense had stalled between the 40’s on of its first 10 drives (not including a one-play drive before halftime). This mostly happened because the Panthers were able to produce one big play on each of those drives - a 30-yard pass to Konata Mumpfield, a 17-yard pass to Daejon Reynolds, a 16-yard pass to Mumpfield and passes of 22 and 34 yards to Desmond Reid - but not much after that.
When Pitt finally broke through the 40’s, it did so by following a 27-yard pass to Kenny Johnson with a 12-yard pass to Reynolds and a 19-yard pass to Reid to set up a field goal and then turned good field position into a couple double-digit gains to set up the game-tying touchdown.
- That touchdown drive started at the Pitt 42 after a Clemson punt. Pitt and Clemson combined to punt 14 times in the game, with the Tigers punting eight times and the Panthers punting six. Six of Clemson’s eight punts pinned Pitt inside the 20 with two at the 10 or closer; three of Pitt’s six punts were at the 12 or closer.
- Pitt’s average starting position in the game was the 27; Clemson’s average starting position was the 26.
- Reid had a game-high 174 all-purpose yards against Clemson, his highest single-game total since he put up 210 yards at North Carolina. Against both the Tigers and the Tar Heels, he eclipsed 100 receiving yards to bolster his total.
- Mumpfield finished with 68 receiving yards; he had that same number in the loss at SMU, but he produced just 66 total receiving yards in the games against Cal, Syracuse and Virginia combined.
- After not scoring a touchdown in Pitt’s first eight games, Gavin Bartholomew has reached the end zone in back-to-back games.
- Nate Yarnell is now 2-2 all-time as a starter, with wins at Western Michigan in 2022 and vs. Boston College last season and a loss at Duke last year In his four starts, Yarnell has completed 65.8% of his passes for 1,001 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. His 350 passing yards against Clemson were a career high.
- Pitt lost two offensive players for the remainder of the season on Saturday. Pat Narduzzi said after the game that senior running back Daniel Carter and receiver Censere Lee will be done for the year due to injuries they sustained against Clemson.
- Pitt used its fifth different starting offensive line on Saturday, going with Ryan Baer at left tackle, Ryan Jacoby at left guard, Lyndon Cooper at center, B.J. Williams at right guard and Jackson Brown (in his first start) at right tackle.
The line’s issues were further compounded when Jacoby and Cooper both left the game with injuries. Jacoby was replaced at left guard by Jason Collier and Cooper was replaced at center by Terrence Moore.
- Defensively, Pitt was led by Donovan McMillon, Kyle Louis and Rasheem Biles, who each had seven tackles. Louis also had 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks, while Biles added 1.5 tackles for loss.
Louis has recorded six or more tackles in nine of Pitt’s 10 games this season; he has at least one tackle for loss in seven of 10 games; and he has at least one sack in six of 10 games. Similarly, Biles has recorded at least one tackle for loss in eight of 10 games.
- Pitt also got tackles for loss against Clemson from Braylan Lovelace, Brandon George, Tamon Lynum, Sean FitzSimmons, Nate Matlack, Jimmy Scott, Sincere Edwards and Nick James. The Panthers’ 13 tackles for loss against Clemson were a season high; they had 12 against Kent State and 11 against Cal.
- The 13 tackles for loss were also the most by Pitt’s defense in a single game since 2020. That year, the Panthers topped out at 15 tackles for loss in the loss at Miami, but that defense - led by All-America defensive ends Rashad Weaver and Patrick Jones - was fairly ridiculous at making plays behind the line of scrimmage; Pitt had double-digit tackles for loss in six of 11 games that season and recorded eight in two other games.
Just look at this production:
- Both teams had four scoring drives. The difference was that Clemson had three touchdowns and one field goal; Pitt had two touchdowns and two field goals.
- The Panthers’ first field goal drive saw the offense march to the Clemson 1 before three straight procedure penalties resulted in third-and-goal from the 16.
On the other field goal drive, the offense got into the red zone but a false start on second-and-9 from the 16 led the coaches to lay up for a field goal that only gave the Panthers a three-point lead.
- Ultimately, if Pitt scores from the 1 instead of taking three procedure penalties in a row, the Panthers likely find themselves driving for a field goal in the final minute of the game rather than a touchdown, which would have given them a much higher chance of winning.
- Before scoring on three consecutive drives in the fourth quarter, Pitt’s offense had stalled between the 40’s on of its first 10 drives (not including a one-play drive before halftime). This mostly happened because the Panthers were able to produce one big play on each of those drives - a 30-yard pass to Konata Mumpfield, a 17-yard pass to Daejon Reynolds, a 16-yard pass to Mumpfield and passes of 22 and 34 yards to Desmond Reid - but not much after that.
When Pitt finally broke through the 40’s, it did so by following a 27-yard pass to Kenny Johnson with a 12-yard pass to Reynolds and a 19-yard pass to Reid to set up a field goal and then turned good field position into a couple double-digit gains to set up the game-tying touchdown.
- That touchdown drive started at the Pitt 42 after a Clemson punt. Pitt and Clemson combined to punt 14 times in the game, with the Tigers punting eight times and the Panthers punting six. Six of Clemson’s eight punts pinned Pitt inside the 20 with two at the 10 or closer; three of Pitt’s six punts were at the 12 or closer.
- Pitt’s average starting position in the game was the 27; Clemson’s average starting position was the 26.
- Reid had a game-high 174 all-purpose yards against Clemson, his highest single-game total since he put up 210 yards at North Carolina. Against both the Tigers and the Tar Heels, he eclipsed 100 receiving yards to bolster his total.
- Mumpfield finished with 68 receiving yards; he had that same number in the loss at SMU, but he produced just 66 total receiving yards in the games against Cal, Syracuse and Virginia combined.
- After not scoring a touchdown in Pitt’s first eight games, Gavin Bartholomew has reached the end zone in back-to-back games.
- Nate Yarnell is now 2-2 all-time as a starter, with wins at Western Michigan in 2022 and vs. Boston College last season and a loss at Duke last year In his four starts, Yarnell has completed 65.8% of his passes for 1,001 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. His 350 passing yards against Clemson were a career high.
- Pitt lost two offensive players for the remainder of the season on Saturday. Pat Narduzzi said after the game that senior running back Daniel Carter and receiver Censere Lee will be done for the year due to injuries they sustained against Clemson.
- Pitt used its fifth different starting offensive line on Saturday, going with Ryan Baer at left tackle, Ryan Jacoby at left guard, Lyndon Cooper at center, B.J. Williams at right guard and Jackson Brown (in his first start) at right tackle.
The line’s issues were further compounded when Jacoby and Cooper both left the game with injuries. Jacoby was replaced at left guard by Jason Collier and Cooper was replaced at center by Terrence Moore.
- Defensively, Pitt was led by Donovan McMillon, Kyle Louis and Rasheem Biles, who each had seven tackles. Louis also had 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks, while Biles added 1.5 tackles for loss.
Louis has recorded six or more tackles in nine of Pitt’s 10 games this season; he has at least one tackle for loss in seven of 10 games; and he has at least one sack in six of 10 games. Similarly, Biles has recorded at least one tackle for loss in eight of 10 games.
- Pitt also got tackles for loss against Clemson from Braylan Lovelace, Brandon George, Tamon Lynum, Sean FitzSimmons, Nate Matlack, Jimmy Scott, Sincere Edwards and Nick James. The Panthers’ 13 tackles for loss against Clemson were a season high; they had 12 against Kent State and 11 against Cal.
- The 13 tackles for loss were also the most by Pitt’s defense in a single game since 2020. That year, the Panthers topped out at 15 tackles for loss in the loss at Miami, but that defense - led by All-America defensive ends Rashad Weaver and Patrick Jones - was fairly ridiculous at making plays behind the line of scrimmage; Pitt had double-digit tackles for loss in six of 11 games that season and recorded eight in two other games.
Just look at this production:
