Two of the nation’s best defenses met Thursday night at Heinz Field. It’s shouldn’t be much of a surprise both the Pitt Panthers and Virginia Tech Hokies are struggling to move the ball through two quarters of play.
Ironically, two defensive breakdowns helped the Panthers score two touchdowns as Pitt holds a 14-6 lead at halftime.
The game’s initial touchdown came courtesy of a 53-yard touchdown reception by sophomore wide receiver Tyler Boyd. It was a simply fly route up the seam with a trailing cornerback. The mistake came from Virginia Tech safety Kyshoen Jarrett. The senior leader in the secondary took a terrible angle toward Boyd, which gave the wide receiver a free run to the end zone for the game’s first points.
Boyd was the biggest offensive threat for either squad. The wide receiver lead Pitt with 115 total yards. As a team, the Hokies only managed 61 total yards.
Jarrett was on the wrong end of Pitt’s second touchdown, too.
After a fumble, Pitt began its final drive of the first half on the Hokies’ 22-yard line. Three plays later, Pitt running back James Conner plowed through Virginia Tech’s defense for a 15-yard touchdown run. Jarrett met Conner in the hole, and he was in position to make the tackle. Conner simply shrugged off the safety on his way to pay dirt.
Virginia Tech, meanwhile, couldn’t do anything offense. Both of their field goal attempts came courtesy of good field position granted by special teams or the defense. Frank Beamer‘s squad finished the first half with only three first downs and six rushing yards. But it’s still a one-score game.
It’s up to Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Brewer to play better during the second half as long as Beamer doesn’t decide to make a change behind center to senior Mark Leal. Pitt simply needs to keep feeding their super sophomores, Connor and Boyd, and let their defense continue to dominate.