Over the last three years, because of injuries and performance woes, Pat Narduzzi has gotten used to making midseason changes at quarterback.<\/p>\n
Most recently, after Mason Heintschel\u2019s season-ending ACL tear Oct. 2 and lackluster play from veteran backup Holden Geriner, Narduzzi
\ndecided to start freshman Corey Dailey on Saturday at Boston College.<\/p>\n
Dailey was electric to begin but less so as the day went on, with penalties and poor pass defense adding up to cost Pitt the game in a 27-21 defeat at Alumni Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just didn\u2019t play good enough to win today, period,\u201d Narduzzi told 247Sports in Chestnut Hills, Mass. \u201cStarting a new quarterback, Corey Dailey, started off really good. We\u2019ll look at the videotape, but overall, just didn\u2019t play good enough to win in all phases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pitt had a final chance to snatch a victory late in the game after Boston College quarterback Mason McKenzie threw an interception with 2 minutes, 12 seconds to play.<\/p>\n
A few plays later, Dailey was intercepted for the second time trying to go deep with 1:34 to go, sealing Boston College\u2019s win.<\/p>\n
Dailey completed 11 of 25 passes for 193 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions in his first career start.<\/p>\n
The Panthers (5-2, 2-2 ACC) were penalized 13 times for 133 yards.<\/p>\n
Pitt limited the Eagles (3-3, 1-2) to 2.7 yards per carry, but McKenzie completed more than enough explosive plays through the air to move the sticks. He threw for 298 yards and a pair of scores.<\/p>\n
Panthers tailback Damon Ferguson rushed for a career-\u00adhigh 119 yards in Pitt\u2019s second straight defeat.<\/p>\n
Dailey made a huge splash instantly, on Pitt\u2019s first play from scrimmage: He threw a perfectly placed deep ball to Blue Hicks that went for a 75-yard touchdown.<\/p>\n
Eighteen seconds into the game, Pitt led 7-0.<\/p>\n
Then, on Boston College\u2019s opening possession, the defense came through with a big play as Kanye Thompson blocked a punt deep in Eagles territory.<\/p>\n
The ball bounced out of the end zone for a safety, and Pitt\u2019s lead grew to 9-0 less than two minutes into the game.<\/p>\n
After Boston College\u2019s free kick, a short Antonio Chadha field goal made it 12-0 about seven minutes into the game.<\/p>\n
But Bo MacCormack punched it in for Boston College on the Eagles\u2019 ensuing drive, and with 1:41 to go in the first quarter, the Panthers\u2019 lead was cut to 12-7.<\/p>\n
With just less than six minutes to go before halftime, Pitt\u2019s defense came up with a turnover.<\/p>\n
The Eagles drive, which ended on an ill-advised Montgomery throw that was intercepted by Raion Strader, was propelled almost exclusively by Panthers penalties.<\/p>\n
Over the course of a 15-play, 83-yard possession that consumed 8:17 of the second quarter, Pitt was flagged five times, four on the secondary for pass interference or holding.<\/p>\n
On second-and-goal from Pitt\u2019s 7-yard line, Montgomery got pressured and threw an easy interception to Strader.<\/p>\n
Said Narduzzi of Pitt\u2019s laundry list of infractions: \u201cI don\u2019t know. It was certainly one-sided, but, coaches coach, players play and officials officiate. So, I don\u2019t know what to say. Our guys play hard, they play aggressive and we\u2019ve got to play smarter, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Panthers\u2019 ensuing drive ended when Dailey threw a bit high for tight end Carson Kent, who got a hand on the ball only for the deflection to fall into the grip of the Eagles\u2019 KP Price.<\/p>\n
Seven plays later, McKenzie hit Javarius Green for a short touchdown pass to take a 14-12 lead with 51 seconds left in the first half.<\/p>\n
On the Eagles\u2019 second snap of the third quarter, McKenzie hit Landon Wright for a 69-yard touchdown.<\/p>\n
Just 36 seconds into the second half, the Eagles\u2019 lead had increased to 21-12.<\/p>\n
Pitt\u2019s first drive of the third quarter reached Boston College\u2019s 11-yard-line.<\/p>\n
But a third-and-long rush by Ferguson was stuffed, and the Panthers settled for another short Chadha field goal, making it 21-15 Eagles at the 10:25 mark.<\/p>\n
A second unfortunate turnover near midfield spoiled a promising Pitt drive about five minutes later.<\/p>\n
From Pitt\u2019s 47, after the Panthers moved the chains via a fake punt, Ferguson fumbled the ball while fighting for a first down.<\/p>\n
The Panthers responded with a 42-yard field goal drive to cut the Eagles\u2019 lead to 21-18 with less than a minute to play in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
To begin the fourth quarter, Boston College needed just 1:58 to score another touchdown and go up 27-18.<\/p>\n
McKenzie completed a 53-yard pass to Wright down to Pitt\u2019s 1-yard-line, and on the next play, Evan Dickens ran the ball in for the score.<\/p>\n
Chadha hit a 38-yard field goal to make it 27-21 with 8:13 to play.<\/p>\n
However, for the third straight time, Pitt got to the red zone and left with only three points.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had opportunities in the red zone, which is the same thing last week,\u201d Narduzzi said. \u201cWe get down the red zone, and we stall out. We got to find a way to make plays and finish those drives with touchdowns. It\u2019s hard to win football games kicking four field goals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the last three years, because of injuries and performance woes, Pat Narduzzi has gotten used to making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":886083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-886082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}