Pitt Seniors Stress Positivity After Loss

The Pitt Panthers senior class addressed a tough loss to Virginia.

Sep 21, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers tight end Gavin Bartholomew (86) runs after a catch against the Youngstown State Penguins during the third quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Panthers lost their second consecutive match, falling at home in Week 11 to Virginia in frustrating fashion.

The 24-19 loss to the Cavaliers served as a controversial and emotionally draining defeat. Seniors in tight end Gavin Bartholomew and safety Donovan McMillon, both team leaders, had the opportunity to chew their teammates out, but instead talked about their belief in their football team to bounce back. 

“I think the key is positivity,” McMillon said about how the team can rebound from two consecutive brutal losses. “The energy has got to be up. Going from 7-0 to two losses — that can break teams. But I think we work too hard for nine months of offseason to fumble and fold now.”

The two didn’t even complain about the controversial fifth-down play that Virginia had against Pitt. Instead, they mentioned the mistakes they made.

“Nothing is going to [always] go our way, we know that” Bartholomew said. “It’s the next play mentality. Whatever happens, you got to shake it. Whether it's calls or you missed a block, anything. You just got to shake it and get to the next play.” 

“We had countless chances to go win that football game as an offense and we just couldn’t get it done,” Bartholomew said.

“We play next play mentality so there’s always plays in a game that we have adversity,” McMillon said. “... we took it as a time to bounce back and go make a play again.” 

But it wasn’t all positive talk from the senior leaders. They were also willing to admit the faults their team had. The offense had dropped four simple passes, among other issues, and the defense allowed 17 second half points to a below-average Virginia offense. 

“Just not catching the ball,” Bartholomew said. “We got to be better.” 

“They scored twice in the second half so we got to see how we can correct that,” McMillon said.

Bartholomew pinpointed the issue between when the Kade Bell run offense worked like a well-oiled machine, when they executed a touchdown drive on 12 plays and 86 yards in just over four minutes, and when it looked like a below-average offense, such as when they punted on their first four drives.

“That’s what happens when we run an efficient offense,” Bartholomew said on the last touchdown drive. “Everyone gets lined up fast, that's the biggest thing for us… continuing at a good pace cause that throws a defense off. We play our best when we are fast. We just got to be better at that.”

McMillon wasn’t so blatant about the difference between the first-half Pitt defense which allowed seven points and the second-half Pitt defense which let 17 points get scored on them. He continuously pointed to the fact he needs to watch the film to see what the defense needs to do differently.

The Panthers are now set up to face two consecutive ranked opponents— Clemson and Louisville. And the Panthers can’t let the losing streak keep on rolling if they don’t want this season to turn from a success to a disaster.

“We play Clemson next weekend — it’s senior night. It’s a big game, everything that we want is still in front of us,” Bartholomew said. We just got to take it one game at a time and not look at the outside noise and just worry about who we play next.”

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