Turnovers Cost Pitt in Loss to Georgia Tech

The Pitt Panthers turned the ball over three times in a loss to Georgia Tech.

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers entered their ACC opener against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as three-touchdown favorites and left as two-score losers. They committed penalties that killed drives, let interceptions fly through their hands and a flood of turnovers killed what hopes the Panthers had of mounting a comeback. 

It was an ugly loss to a head coach-less team at home for Pitt, with the poor weather making the 26-21 loss that much more miserable for the crowd at Acrisure Stadium. 

Georgia Tech took the ball first and, while the Panthers were able to put pressure on star quarterback Jeff Sims, couldn't get him down. Sims' ten-yard scramble and 33-yard completion to E.J. Jenkins got the Yellow Jackets in plus territory before they stalled and Gavin Steward converted a 37-yard attempt to make it 3-0. 

Penalties plagued the Panthers as they produced little on offense and allowed Georgia Tech to stay on the field when P.J. O'Brien was flagged for roughing the punter and Nick Lappi was called for a block in the back while Pitt returned a punt. 

Vincent Davis finally got the chains moving for the Panthers by rushing for 27 yards on his first four carries of the night, but sloppy procedure from the offense resulted in a false start penalty and a timeout burned to avoid a delay of game. 

It took until their fifth drive of the game for the Panthers to cross midfield and they did it with the legs of Israel Abanikanda, who ate up 29 yards on seven rushes to get them into plus territory. But Georgia Tech bowed up and forced a turnover on downs to get the ball back with good field position at their own 33 yard line. 

Sims flipped the field with a 32-yard gain on the ground in the drive's first play, but that was all the Yellow Jackets could muster. Pitt held them to a field goal and stayed within a single score with 2:50 left in the half. 

With their next drive, the Panthers started to hit on some chunk plays in the passing game. Slovis completed four of seven passes for 53 yards, the final 29 of which came on a touchdown strike to Gavin Bartholomew to give Pitt a 7-6 lead with 1:04 left in the first half. The Panthers forced a three-and-out from Georgia Tech on the ensuing possession to close the half. 

Pitt got the ball back to open the second half, but gave it right back to Georgia Tech when Vincent Davis fumbled near midfield. Charlie Thomas recovered the loose ball and took it all the way inside the redzone, but the Jackets ran one play for no gain and a pair of penalties pushed them further back to make it third and 22 from the Pitt 29 yard line. They came away with another field goal and the lead at 9-7 with 8:36 left in the third quarter. 

After the two teams traded punts, Slovis threw his second interception of the season and set Georgia Tech up inside Pitt territory. The Yellow Jackets turned the favorable field position into three points and extended their lead to 

Pitt's next possession was short and disastrous. Davis fumbled on the first play of the drive and Georgia Tech started a drive inside of Panther territory for the third time in four drives. They finally found the endzone as Sims connected with Jenkins for a 21-yard touchdown to make it 19-7 with 10:30 left to play. 

Slovis found Wanye and Mumpfield for a pair of first downs on their next possession but an intentional grounding penalty and 10-yard loss on the next two plays killed whatever momentum the offense might have had. 

The Panthers held the Yellow Jackets on fourth down from the one yard line. They then took the ball 99 yards on nine plays to score a touchdown that brought them within a score at 19-15. Slovis connected with Jaden Bradley for a 26-yard score.

With the first play of their next drive, Hassan Hall bounced off Brandon Hill and kept running. He didn't step out of bounds before picking up 63 yards. That scamper set up an 18-yard scoring run from Sims to put it out of reach at 26-14. 

Slovis and Bradley added another touchdown connection with 16 seconds left to make it 21-16 but Georgia Tech recovered the ensuing onside kick to seal the loss. 

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