Virginia Tech‘s John Love missed a 36-yard field goal as time expired, and Pittsburgh completed a rally for a 35-33 victory over the Hokies on Friday.
As the Panthers improved to 5-0, Pittsburgh quarterback Holden Geriner came off the bench to throw a touchdown pass and Ja’Kyrian Turner added a rushing touchdown for a team that is now 2-0 in the ACC, one of three unbeaten teams in the league.
Pittsburgh trailed 14-0 but scored 21 unanswered points at one point to come from behind and then held on, all despite losing starting quarterback Mason Heintschel to an injury on the fourth play of the second half.
The road victory certainly had Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi fired up. He is hoping it fuels some more votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for his unranked Panthers.
“We’ve got a hell of a football team,” Narduzzi said in his postgame, on-field interview on ESPN. “Now, any of those [AP Top 25] voters out there, if they wake their ass up, they might figure that out.”
The win was the first of the year for Pitt away from Acrisure Stadium.
“Just finding a different way to win,” Narduzzi said. “We talk about respect. I hope the country will respect the Panthers now. … I tell our guys all the time that there’s going to be ups and downs. Our guys rode the wave and never gave in. They never batted an eye. They believed until the end. Faith and belief, that’s what this football team’s got. They’ve got a lot of guts in that locker room.”
Following the win, Narduzzi wouldn’t get into specifics on Heintschel’s injury, though the quarterback was seen on crutches. Geriner said he would be ready to assume command of the Panthers’ offense if Heintschel is out for an extended period. Geriner, a fifth-year senior who played at Auburn and Texas State before enrolling at Pittsburgh in January, threw his second touchdown pass as a collegian.
“This is what I’ve prayed for my whole life,” he said. “My thoughts and prayers are with Mason. If that’s the case, I’m going to do everything I can to continue preparing, as I’ve been doing, to lead this team.”
Virginia Tech (4-1, 1-1) controlled much of the first half, but the Hokies started unraveling when Cameron Lindsey‘s interception of Ethan Grunkemeyer led to a 22-yard touchdown pass from Heintschel to Cataurus Hicks with 31 seconds left in the half, cutting the Virginia Tech lead to 24-21.
That was the first of four turnovers for the Hokies, and the Panthers turned those into 14 points.
Pittsburgh led 35-24 after a 15-yard touchdown run by Damon Ferguson Jr. on the Panthers’ first drive of the second half and Geriner’s 29-yard touchdown pass to Hicks early in the fourth quarter.
Virginia Tech cut the lead to 35-33 on a 28-yard touchdown pass from Grunkemeyer to Davion Brown with 10:07 remaining. Grunkemeyer then drove the Hokies 62 yards to set up Love’s game-winning field goal attempt on the Hokies’ final possession. Love hooked the attempt wide left.
“We had a chance to win it at the end,” Virginia Tech coach James Franklin said. “Everyone is going to focus on the last play. This isn’t coachspeak, but we’re going to watch this tape and there are going to be 20 plays that we could have made to put us in a better position and not be in that situation at the end.”
Grunkemeyer threw for a career-high 434 yards for the Hokies, who outgained Pittsburgh 499 to 295.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
