Rasheem Biles, Kyle Louis and Braylan Lovelace each returned an interception for a touchdown during a wild first half as No. 19 Pittsburgh cruised past visiting Syracuse 41-13 on Thursday.
Eli Holstein completed 11 of 15 passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns for the Panthers (7-0, 3-0 ACC), who have won their first seven games for the first time since 1982. Pitt won despite managing just 217 total yards, going 2 of 9 on third downs and possessing the ball for less than 19 minutes.
Syracuse’s Kyle McCord threw five interceptions — including four in the first half — and finished 35 of 64 for 321 yards. At one point, McCord had three completions and three interceptions, and things did not get much better thereafter as the Orange (5-2, 2-2) saw their three-game winning streak come to a halt.
On Syracuse’s first possession, McCord’s pass was intercepted by Biles, who stepped in front of an out route and ran 35 yards uncontested to the end zone.
A couple of minutes later, McCord had another pass intercepted — this time by Brandon George on a fortuitous play. McCord’s pass was deflected up in the air multiple times before George, who was lying on his stomach, snagged the ball just before it hit the turf.
That turnover led to a 49-yard field goal by Ben Sauls.
The next Orange possession resulted in another pick-6, as Louis stepped in front of McCord’s pass and weaved through Syracuse players en route to a 59-yard TD return.
Pitt’s first offensive touchdown came early in the second quarter, when Holstein found Censere Lee over the middle for a 20-yard score.
The cherry on top of the first-half uprising came with 1:12 left, when Lovelace grabbed a deflected screen pass and rumbled 33 yards to the end zone.
The Panthers’ fifth interception — a snag by Phillip O’Brien Jr. near the end of the third quarter — set up another touchdown for the hosts. Three plays later, Holstein found Raphael Williams Jr. over the middle for a 29-yard score.
Syracuse found the end zone twice in the second half, on a 1-yard QB sneak by McCord and a 2-yard TD rush by Dan Villari.
–Field Level Media
