While I was watching Pitt play Thursday evening, I became aware of just how much football scarring Pittsburgh fans have. Even as the Panthers took the lead 27-20 over Bowling Green across my timeline rolled Pitt fan after Pitt fan expecting their beloved Panthers to blow the Little Ceasars Pizza Bowl. I always root for ACC teams to do well, when my personal teams aren’t playing, but I sure did want to see those Pitt fans have something good to happen to their team. The Panthers answered for them.
Bowling Green was the MAC champion. The top MAC teams are usually of the fringe top 25 variety. They aren’t elite teams, but they are good, and Pitt came in as a 5-6 point underdog. What I saw was a gritty Pitt team that withstood the loss of their starting QB, and displayed some young talent that should give Panther fans some hope for next season.
Freshman Pittsburgh running back James Conner ran for 229 yards. Freshman Pittsburgh wide receiver Tyler Boyd had 173 yards receiving and returned a punt for TD. Boyd will definitely be on some pre-season All-ACC teams, and maybe even a few pre-season All-American teams. Yes he’s that good. QB Chad Voytik who relieved Tom Savage after his rib injury is a freshman too, and he played mistake free and with a lot poise in the 2nd half.
Sure players like all everything Defensive Lineman Aaron Donald will be gone, but it appears the Panther program is good hands with some solid young players.
Pitt’s win ensured the ACC won’t go winless during bowl season, as some predicted. That didn’t take long to blow that prediction out of the water.
Anyways very nice for Pittsburgh… I think overall you’d have to call Pittsburgh’s first season in the ACC a relative success. They made and won a bowl game to finish over .500.
This is a program that has some potential.
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