By Russ Brown
Special to NKyTribune
Minutes after Louisville’s game at Pittsburgh Saturday, coach Bobby Petrino’s thoughts turned to the season finale against a certain team down I-64 East.
“Right now, we’re just trying to regroup and get ready for Kentucky,” Petrino said on his post-game radio show.
Petrino is undoubtedly eager to get on with preparations for next Saturday’s game against UK in Commonwealth Stadium because his team certainly turned in a forgettable performance while losing 45-34 to Pitt.
Except for a surge bridging halftime, the Panthers (8-3, 6-1 ACC) dominated UofL (6-5, 5-3) on both sides of the ball, particularly in a disastrous second quarter in which Pitt scored 35 points — including 14 in 20 seconds.
Pitt quarterback Nathan Peterman threw for a career-high four touchdowns in the second period and the Panthers added a touchdown on an interception return to build a 42-17 lead before Jamari Staples caught a 49-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Lamar Jackson with three seconds remaining to make it 42-24 at intermission.
It was the most points allowed by UofL in a half since Rutgers scored 49 in the first half of a 63-24 win in the 2008 season finale.
And that proved to be too much for the Cards to overcome, even though the late first-half TD sparked a run of 17 unanswered points that trimmed the deficit to 42-34 with 12:55 left.
“They executed,” Petrino said of Pitt. “I’m really disappointed in our defensive effort; we should be a better defense than that. But you’ve got to take your hat off to Pittsburgh because they made all the plays. They made throws, they made runs.”
Peterman mixed it up, throwing for long touchdowns to Tyler Boyd and Dontez Ford and for short scores to seldom-used fullback and former walkon George Aston as Pitt scored on five consecutive possessions in the decisive quarter.
UofL, meanwhile, struggled at quarterback in the face of relentless pressure by the Panthers. Starter Kyle Bolin, who completed 10 of 20 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns, was replaced by Jackson on the final series of the first half after Avonte Maddox picked off a Bolin throw and returned it 30 yards for a TD.
Jackson finished with nine completions in 17 attempts for 141 yards and the TD to Staples, raising some uncertainty about who will start against Kentucky.
“We didn’t execute well at quarterback,” Petrino said. “Kyle didn’t do a great job of mixing the ball around and understanding what was coming, and then made a few errors on our checks. We didn’t get him prepared well enough; that’s my fault.”
However, Bolin and Jackson were hindered by an offensive line that couldn’t keep the Pitt defenders out of the backfield, especially senior defensive end Ejuan Price, who collected five of the Panthers’ seven sacks.
Pitt also held the Cards to minus one yards rushing. Brandon Radcliff, who had put together back-to-back 100-yard-plus rushing games, had a negative one yard on seven carries.
Pitt racked up a 476-354 advantage in total yardage, with halfback Qadree Ollison rushing for 152 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries.
“Their defense is one that loads the box and tries to stop the run, blitz linebackers,” Petrino said. “It was very similar to what we had seen on film. Offensively, they’ve always had a lot of flexibility between different personnel groups, power running and throwing the ball down the field. They made all the plays; their quarterback did a heck of a job for them.”
Staples was the lone bright spot for UofL, catching nine passes for 194 yards, including 155 in the first half.
“Jamari did a nice job, made a lot of good plays for us,” Petrino said. “Hopefully, he’s healthy; he got nicked up a little bit in the second half. We had some guys at receivers who stepped up and made plays for us. We just couldn’t get enough of them.”
After Jackson’s 2-yard touchdown run pulled the Cards to within 42-34, their next possession ended in a three-and-out, then Pitt followed with a 61-yard drive capped with an 18-yard field goal by Chris Blewitt at the 5:25 mark, all but sealing the win.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough to come all the way back,” Petrino said. “We got close. There were a lot of guys on the sideline with a lot of energy, really wanting to compete and felt like we would come back and win the game, but we just came up a little short.”
And now UofL will have to beat the Wildcats for the fifth straight time to avoid its first non-winning season since 2009.