Syracuse Offense MIA in Loss to Pitt

The 81st chapter of the Syracuse Orange - Pittsburgh Panthers' rivalry happened on a warmer-than-usual night in Central New York.

And it came at a time where the Orange were in need of some heat to thaw them out of their slump, after dropping two in a row since losing starting quarterback Steve Angeli for the season due to a torn Achilles.

The Panthers came in well in the driver's seat of the head-to-head series at 44-33-3.

Syracuse had given up 69 points in their last two games while scoring 21 points (38-3 loss to the Duke Blue Devils and then a 31-18 loss visiting the SMU Mustangs).

Pittsburgh was on a two-game winning streak, with victories over the Boston College Eagles at home (48-7) and the then-Top 25 Florida State Seminoles on the road (34-31), scoring a combined 82 points over those two games, while giving up 38 total points.

The first drive of the game by the Orange, which was the opening drive of the night, ended when quarterback Rickie Collins, Jr., threw an interception on a 3rd-&-9 attempt that was caught by Panthers' cornerback Tamon Lynum on the Orange 37-yard line.

Pittsburgh would score off of this turnover when freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel kept the ball, running forward in a n open field that Julie Andrews would envy, shifting to the left and out-running all defenders en route to a 36-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0 Panthers at the 11:49 mark of the first quarter.

The next drive by the Orange was a three-and-out.

But Syracuse cornerback Devin Grant would not allow Pittsburgh tight end Malachi Thomas to reel in the ball by the left sideline, resulting in the Orange getting the ball back on the Panthers' first punt of the contest.

On their third drive of the night, Syracuse would gain their first first down when Collins eluded a safety attempt and threw the ball to wide receiver Darrell Gill, Jr., who was wide open, for an 11-yard pass play that got the Orange to their own 22-yard line.

Syracuse would, however, end their drive a yard back, on their own 21, punting the ball for the second-straight time.

On Pittsburgh's third drive of the game, Heintschel would try but he would not get away from defensive tackle Elijah Fuentes-Cundiff and defensive end Chase Simmons, who sacked him for a six-yard loss.

The Panthers would follow with a false-start penalty and then, on 3rd-&-21, Heintschel would force the ball to the middle of the field, where Orange cornerback Davien Kerr would pick him off, returning the ball 34 yards to the Panthers' 12-yard line.

Syracuse, like Pitt, would capitalize off of the turnover they created, this coming on the second play of the drive when Collins found Gill in the middle of the end zone for an 11-yard score; Gill got Syracuse's first first down of the game on an 11-yard catch and their first score of the game ironically also on an 11-yard catch. Gill's touchdown tied the game at 7-7 with 2:11 left in the opening quarter.

The Orange defense would show up inside of their own redzone and a sack on Heintschel by cornerback Devin Grant for a loss of nine yards prevented a touchdown, with the Panthers bringing out kicker Trey Butkowski for a 31-yard try on 4th-&-13.

Butkowski's kick was good, giving the lead back to Pittsburgh at 10-3 with 11 minutes before the break.

Collins would send a beautiful ball deep downfield to Gill, but Gill was about one step off and it went off of his fingertips.

Despite gaining a pair of first downs on this drive, Syracuse would punt the ball away, keeping the score at 10-7 Pittsburgh.

On 1st-&-10 from their own five-yard line, the Panthers would gain 19 yards on a carry by running back Desmond Reid but they would lose 12 yards on a personal foul penalty.

Edge-rusher David Reese would sack Heintschel on the next play for a loss of three yards.

Defensive tackle Kevin Jobity, Jr., would join Reese when he sacked Heintschel later in the drive, this for a five-yard loss that resulted in the Panthers punting the ball to the Orange on the next play. Pittsburgh would have three penalties on this drive: personal foul, false start, and holding.

Inside three minutes before halftime, Collins would throw his second interception of the game when he sent the ball into an area where the Panthers were lurking and strong safety Cruce Brookins got to it, returning the ball 19 yards to his own 39.

Pittsburgh running back Ja'Kyrian Turner would get to the left sideline and outrun the entire Syracuse defense into the Orange end zone, but the score would be erased due to a holding penalty on the Panthers. Including this penalty, Pittsburgh would have three penalties on this drive, giving them back-to-back drives with a trio of penalties apiece, and this like the previous drive would end in a punt.

Collins was almost intercepted on the next drive.

That followed with a low snap from center Austin Collins.

The Orange would go three-and-out with punter Jack Stonehouse sending the ball away once again.

Adding insult to a lack of offense, Panthers wide receiver Kenny Johnson would return Stonehouse's punt 66 yards for a touchdown with two seconds remaining in the first half, giving Pittsburgh a two-score lead at the break, ahead 17-7.

The quarterback play on both sides was underwhelming in the first half: Heintschel was 8-for-14 for 65 yards and one interception for Pittsburgh, while Collins was 10-for-16 for 60 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.

Pittsburgh would get the ball to start the second half and would come away with three more points on a 42-yard field goal by Butkowski to make it 20-7 Panthers at the 11:20 mark of the third quarter.

Trotting out on the first drive of the second half for the Orange was not Collins, with true freshman quarterback Luke Carney getting his first collegiate action ever.

This first drive ever for Carney would be three-consecutive runs, beginning with running back Yasin Willis then Carney and finally running back Will Nixon before Syracuse punted the ball away on a three-and-out on their opening drive of the second half.

Jobity would get his second sack of the night when he forced a three-and-out for Pittsburgh after taking down Heintschel for a six-yard loss.

Carney's second-ever collegiate drive would go twice as many plays as the first (six plays) with Carney gaining his first collegiate first down on a five-yard pass to Nixon on 3rd-&-4, but this drive would also end in a punt.

Linebacker Jamie Tremble, however, would aid in getting the ball right back to the Orange when he sacked Heintschel for a two-yard loss on third down to force another three-and-out.

On the next Syracuse drive, Orange Head Coach Fran Brown would take Carney out and replace him with Collins for one play.

That play was on third down.

Collins would take the snap, run backward, and fall, leading to Syracuse punting the ball away.

He was booed before and after the play.

The 20-7 Panthers' lead would go into the fourth quarter, but the Panthers would be stopped at the top of that quarter, punting the ball away to the Orange, who would start their first possession of the final quarter with 13:27 remaining.

Fran Brown would elect to bring Collins in at quarterback for this drive.

Collins achieved two first downs during this possession.

However, it would end with Collins third interception of the night when the ball bounced off of Gill and Pittsburgh free safety Kavir Bains-Marquez caught the ball as it hung in the air, returning it 57 yards with a lackadaisical Syracuse offense seemingly detached from the play.

Contact seemingly came in early on Gill by the Panthers but there was no call for interference.

Pittsburgh capitalized on their takeaway when Butkowski connected from 32 yards away to bring the score to 23-7 Panthers with 10:51 to play.

On 4th-&-8, Collins completed a pass to wide receiver Johntay Cook II for a 26-yard gain and a new set of downs from the Syracuse 37-yard line to the Pittsburgh 37.

Pass interference on the Panthers put the Orange on the Panthers' two-yard line with a first down just inside seven minutes to go.

However, Syracuse would get flagged for a holding penalty that would move them back 10 yards to the Pittsburgh 12-yard line.

The response by the Orange after their own blunder? A catch and run into the end zone for wide receiver Emanuel Ross, his first-ever collegiate touchdown coming on this 12-yard play.

Fran Brown would go for two to follow, but Collins would come up short when he tucked the ball to run after first looking to pass, making it 23-13 Panthers with 6:22 left in the game.

Syracuse would go for the onside kick to follow.

Orange kicker Jadyn Oh would kick a low drive right at the Panthers. The ball would bounce off of Pittsburgh and defensive back Cornell Perry would recover it, keeping the ball with Syracuse.

The Orange would come away with nothing, however, losing 20 yards on the ensuing drive due to a combination of a false start (five yards), holding (10 yards), and another false start (five yards) and then Collins' pass attempt to wide receiver Jaylan Hornsby falling incomplete. Pittsburgh would take over on downs on the Syracuse 35-yard line.

Running back Juelz Goff capped off a 10-play drive by walking into the end zone on a one-yard carry to give the Panthers a 30-13 advantage after the extra point by Butkowski with 1:57 remaining.

The Orange offense continued to remain quiet with the Panthers getting the ball back on downs with under a minute to play and using victory formation to conclude the contest.

With the victory, Pittsburgh moves to 5-2 overall, 3-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), while Syracuse falls under .500 at 3-4 overall, and now 1-3 in the ACC, in a game littered with yellow flags, including a bevy of them late in the game, with Pittsburgh flagged 13 times and Syracuse 12 times for a total of 25 penalties in this match-up.