BLACKSBURG, Va. — The Pittsburgh Panthers defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies 28-7 on a blustery, overcast afternoon in southwest Virginia. The Panthers moved to 5-1 and the Hokies fell to 3-3. With the win, Pitt takes a firm hold on the ACC Coastal Division at the midway point of the season.
The Panthers generated 411 yards of total offense while the Hokies mustered 224, nearly three-quarters of which came on their final four drives after the game was virtually decided.
Pitt started out with the ball and the Hokies defense forced an immediate three-and-out. The Panthers defense countered and forced an immediate punt that set up their first scoring drive. Quarterback Kenny Pickett led the offense down the field on a drive that took just shy of six minutes for a touchdown. The Panthers led 7-0 after the first quarter.
The tenor of the 20 minutes of play was a defensive struggle. Apart the Panthers first quarter touchdown drive, neither offense moved the ball particularly well. The teams traded punts until Erick Hallett picked off Hokies quarterback Braxton Burmeister in Virginia Tech territory. Pitt capitalized on that drive with a Pickett rushing touchdown that gave them a two score lead. The Panthers followed the score up with a quick drive resulting in another seven points for the visiting team.
Pitt took a 21-0 lead into the half and, truthfully, the game felt over. The Hokies couldn’t move the ball effectively despite the defense limiting the high-powered Pitt offense to two long scoring drives.
Virginia Tech received the second half kickoff after deferring to Pitt to start the game. The offense was more of the same from the first half, three plays and a quick punt. Pitt scored on a 36-yard pass from Pickett to Jared Wayne to take a 28-0 lead. The Hokies followed that up with their best drive of the day, resulting in a spectacular one-handed catch by wide receiver Tayvion Robinson to break the shutout.
The scoring was over for both squads not even 10 minutes into the third quarter. Pitt running back Israel Abanikanda ran the ball effectively for the remainder of the game as the Panthers had the game in hand and chewed clock to clinch the win.
Pitt seized the opportunity to seemingly take a commanding lead in the ACC Coastal. For the Hokies, there are somehow even more questions than answers than there were last week. The defense played reasonably well despite having trouble making tackles and being on the field for over 38 minutes of game time. The offense continued the same theme from the majority of the season. Frequent stagnation with a few flashes of brilliance along the way.
Unfortunately for Virginia Tech, the flashes aren’t frequent enough. The Hokies will attempt to right the ship as they host the Syracuse Orange on Saturday at 12:30pm.
Written by Greg Atkins
