A season that started as one of Pitt’s best in the last 40 years has quickly turned for the worst. The Panthers turned in another sloppy performance Saturday night at Acrisure Stadium and suffered a 24-19 loss to Virginia, delivering another devastating blow to their bounce-back season.

The same issues that plagued the Panthers a week ago reared their head again as 11 penalties consistently put them behind the sticks and despite a shake-up along the offensive line that saw Ryan Baer start at left tackle, Terrence Enos Jr. at left guard and Isaiah Montgomery at right tackle, the Eli Holstein-led offense still looked as bad as it has since the team’s 17-15 win over Cal.

The defense picked off Virginia quarterback Anthony Colandrea twice but was gashed for 170 yards and two touchdowns on the ground which allowed the Cavaliers to control the clock and eventually the game.

“Obviously a disappointing outing, disappointed in a lot of different ways,” Pat Narduzzi said. “We had our chances to win the football game. We didn’t get it done.”

He added: “We lost as a team. Again, it starts with me. I’ve got to do a better job getting our guys prepared. I thought we had a great week of practice, but Virginia came in with a week off and did a nice job.

Unlike the game in Dallas a week ago, the Panthers were never truly out of this game until their final offensive drive. Despite Holstein being knocked out of the game after suffering a vicious late hit to the helmet and Nate Yarnell taking over midway through the fourth quarter, Pitt found a way to stick around.

On their second-to-last offensive drive of the game, Yarnell orchestrated a 12-play, 86-drive that cut Virginia’s lead to two. It was highlighted by a 34-yard run by Desmond Reid which was Pitt’s biggest play of the game and a 20-yard pass to Gavin Bartholomew over the middle of the field that put the Panthers on Virginia’s doorstep. Yarnell also made a gutsy diving play on third and 10 to pick up a first down on an 11-yard run.

The drive was different than any the Panthers had put together throughout the game. It was their longest in terms of yards covered and looked to be their most fluid. It concluded with Bartholomew’s first touchdown of the season on a three-yard pass into the flat.

“That’s what happens when we run an efficient offense, everyone gets lined up fast, I think that’s the biggest thing for us, is getting lined up fast and continuing at a good pace because that throws the defense off,” Bartholomew said. “We play at our best when we are fast, so we just have to be better at that and obviously we score points when we are fast.”

That’s when things started to get controversial. The Panthers went for a two-point conversion to try and tie the game and Yarnell found Bartholomew in the back of the end zone. However, Baer was called for his third holding penalty of the game.

“He did a technique we called trap his arm, and he knocked his arm down. That’s all it was,” Narduzzi said. “The guy wasn’t even close to the quarterback. You talk about non-factors. But players play, coaches coach and officials officiate.”

Then, with around six minutes to play, the Cavaliers were faced with a fourth and 1 and brought in third-string quarterback Grady Brosterhous to try for the conversion and chaos ensued:

“To be honest, I have no idea. It’s a great question,” Narduzzi said about why the down was replayed. “I’m sure (the ACC) will answer that for us on Monday or Tuesday. But it’s our job to get lined up and get in position. And it’s their job to get lined up and get in position as well. We had a stop on fourth-and-1. And no explanation.”

The ACC stated in a release after the game: “Prior to completion of the substitution process, the ball was improperly snapped before the officials were in position to officiate. There is no foul, the play clock is set to 25 seconds and the clock starts on the ready-for-play signal.”

That call allowed the Cavaliers to cap off a 16-play, 60-yard drive with a 32-yard field goal by Will Bettridge and put the game away.

Despite the controversial ending, the Panthers could’ve put themselves in a better position to win. Penalties and offensive line struggles contributed to the sputtering offense, but they also dropped multiple passes in crucial moments. It’s been a problem over the last few games but seemed to be the most apparent on this night.

“It’s not just quarterback, it’s everybody involved. We had way too many dropped passes out there today,” Narduzzi said. “It’s hard to get in rhythm when you’re not catching the ball like we had all year. And that’s our job to catch balls. It’s our job to get them to catch balls. We’ve got to do a better job in ball drills and catching the ball and making plays.”

Before exiting the game, Holstein was 10-of-23 for 121 yards while Yarnell finished the game 4-of-12 for 44 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

Throughout this week the Panthers talked about being better prepared as teams had developed a blueprint to stop Kade Bell‘s fast-paced and high-scoring offense, but the same issues appeared, again, and again, and again.

“We’ve got to do a better job creating plays and making plays,” Narduzzi said. “Like I said, I don’t know how many, six, seven drops, I don’t know. So you can’t move the ball, you can’t move the sticks if you don’t catch it and you don’t get to the right guy. We’ll sit down and reevaluate where we are, what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and try to put a better product out there. But it’s frustrating, it’s frustrating for our offense, coaches; it’s frustrating for our offensive players. And again, it takes 11, 11 guys out there that have to make plays.”

Two weeks ago the Panthers were riding high. They were undefeated and were coming off an electrifying win over Syracuse that saw them pick off an NFL-caliber quarterback five times and return three of them for touchdowns. Despite the dismal play of the offense, the defense was playing the best it had all season and was keeping the team’s perfect season alive.

But, the Panthers have all of a sudden lost their mojo.

The team that once smiled in the face of adversity has faltered when facing its largest challenges and the offense that was this team’s strength in the first five games of the season has suddenly become the team’s weakness. So, how does this team move forward?

“I think the key is positivity, a next-play mentality, like we always say,” senior safety Donovan McMillon said. “The energy has to be up, going from 7-0 to two losses, that can break teams. But I think we worked too hard for nine months in the offseason to fumble and fold now. So our mindset is already on Clemson. So, 24-hour rule, watch the film, figure it out and then the goal is to go beat Clemson.”