Virginia Stumbles in 23-13 Loss to Pitt

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (6-3, 4-2 ACC) fell 23-13 to Pitt (5-4, 4-1 ACC) on Friday night at Scott Stadium.
 
The Cavaliers finished with 249 yards, while Pitt tallied 315 yards with 254 yards rushing. Virginia took a 10-7 lead into the half, but the Panthers outscored the Cavaliers 17-3 in the second half.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
UVA scored to tie the game 7-7 on a 42-yard pass to Terrell Jana (Vancouver, B.C.) at the end of the first quarter then took a 10-7 lead with a minute to go before the half. Pitt took a 14-10 lead at the end of the third quarter. UVA cut it to one on a 42-yard field goal by Brian Delaney (Chantilly, Va.), but the Panthers responded with a 75-yard rush on the first play of the ensuing drive.
 
STAT LEADERS
• QB Bryce Perkins
Passing: 17-24, 205 yards, 1 TD
 
• WR Terrell Jana
3 receptions, 71 yards, 1 TD
 
• FS Joey Blount
11 tackles, 0.5 TFL
 
NOTES
• UVA scored its 15th touchdown of 20 yards or more, and eighth from 35 yards or more with its lone touchdown in the first half.
• With 73 kick return yards, Joe Reed passed Darius Jennings (1,839) to become UVA’s all-time career leader in kick return yardage. Reed now has 1,903 career kick return yards.
• OLB Matt Gahm shared a sack with DE Mandy Alonso in the first quarter. It was the first sack of Gahm’s career.
• WR Terrell Jana’s 42-yard receiving touchdown in the first quarter was the first of his career.
• TE Tanner Cowley recorded a career-long 40-yard catch in the first quarter. 

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM
“Congratulations to Pittsburgh, and a game well played and a victory. They certainly earned it and deserved it. I think our team played, certainly, as they were prepared. In some manner, I wasn’t able to get through to our team and prepare them deeply enough for this game. We never did find rhythm offensively from beginning to end [with] turnovers and a number of penalties. The penalties meaning concentration-ish penalties rather than ones that I think were forced. A couple of big plays defensively that we gave up. We knew that was going to be a critical part to the game and so not making a few critical tackles. But, in general, I don’t think a staff, led by me, prepared this team, our team, to execute well enough at a high enough level to deserve the win. Critical plays matter and we didn’t make enough of them, I think that is really the bottom line.”
 
UP NEXT
Virginia will host its final home game of the season on Saturday, Nov. 10 against Liberty. The kick is set for 3 p.m. at Scott Stadium and will be Senior Day.