Kevin Gorman: Most meaningful win at Heinz Field, for Pitt and its fans

Pat Narduzzi has had some memorable victories as Pitt football coach, from beating rival Penn State at Heinz Field to stunning No. 2s Clemson and Miami in back-to-back seasons.

None were as meaningful as Pitt’s 52-22 victory over Virginia Tech on Saturday at Heinz Field. The Panthers didn’t just have ACC Coastal Division title hopes riding on this game, but also wanted to give their 19 seniors a fitting farewell in their home finale.

“It’s a great way to send your seniors out,” Narduzzi said. “To watch Qadree Ollison up on that ladder, singing that fight song, it’s hard to believe that’s the last time he gets to stand up on that ladder.

“That’s emotional,” Narduzzi said, before pausing and lowering his head in an attempt to fight back tears. He composed himself, letting out a long exhale before he continued. “We’ve still got two guaranteed wins to go here.”

Narduzzi caught his slip, then corrected it.

“Two games to go,” he said. “We’ve just got to take them one at a time.”

If Narduzzi sounded emotional, imagine how Pitt fans felt. They have watched the Panthers lose games of this magnitude on their home field so many times that they dread the sequels.

Since Heinz Field opened in 2001, Pitt has had three chances to win a conference title at home. All three times, the Panthers lost. In ’03, it was a 28-14 loss to Miami. In ’09, it was a 45-44 loss to Cincinnati. The next year, it was a 35-10 loss to West Virginia.

“Everyone knows how big of a game this was,” Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett said. “Nobody needed anyone to say that to them or relay that message. It was well understood by all of us.”

The Panthers (6-4, 5-1) are one win from playing for a conference title. Let that sink in for a moment. For the Panthers to make Narduzzi’s preseason prediction of playing for the ACC championship a prophecy, they needed to win the Coastal Division. To do so, Pitt needed to win two of its final three games.

Standing first in Pitt’s way was Virginia Tech, which stoned the Panthers four times from the 1-yard line in the final minute last season for a 20-14 victory in Blacksburg.

This time, the Hokies had no answer for Pitt.

The Panthers gained a school-record 654 yards, with 492 yards coming through the run game. But it wasn’t as simple as that sounds. Pitt raced out to a 17-0 lead and was about to score on its fourth consecutive possession when Pickett fumbled into the end zone. Instead of giving up a touchdown, Virginia Tech got a touchback. The Hokies answered with a four-play, 80-yard drive that one minute, 11 seconds.

This is where Pitt fans reflexively curl into a fetal position and start rocking back and forth. They are still haunted by Miami’s Tyrone Moss and Jarrett Payton, by Cincinnati’s Mardy Gilyard, by West Virginia’s Geno Smith and Tavon Austin. Pitt fans have learned to expect the worst.

So they were in for a surprise.

Ollison ran for 235 yards and three touchdowns, including a 97-yarder that broke Darrin Hall’s record for longest scoring play in school history. That play allowed Ollison to become only the sixth Panther to rush for 1,000 yards in multiple seasons. Hall rushed for 186 yards and a touchdown on seven carries, with gains of 53, 58 and 73 yards, and is 156 yards from giving Pitt a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in the same season for the first time.

Go ahead, Pitt fans. Pinch yourself. This was real.

The Panthers are one win away from clinching the Coastal, with Wake Forest (5-5, 2-4) up next. That has been Pitt’s goal, even after nonconference losses to Penn State, UCF and Notre Dame and an embarrassing ACC defeat at one-win North Carolina. Now, it’s within reach.

“Since I got to the university, we’ve been breaking down on ‘ACC championship.’ Finally, my senior year, we’re paving our own destiny,” Hall said. “Honestly, we think ahead but we’re in the moment. … We’re just so close.”

So close that Narduzzi’s message has become a motto: Focus on us. That was evident in Pitt’s selfless attitude, in the Panthers’ blocking at the line of scrimmage and downfield. That was evident when Pitt’s defense, with a 23-point lead late in the fourth quarter, got some payback when it stopped Virginia Tech four times inside the 4-yard line. Ollison responded with a 97-yard touchdown, doing a front flip into the end zone.

“It’s an emotional day, just being senior day, being the last time we’re going to walk into this stadium, the last time we’re going to do that Panther Walk, the last time we’re going to sit in those lockers, the last time we’re going to sing that fight song in that locker room,” Ollison said. “That’s very emotional. I’m just grateful that we came out and did what we were supposed to do and got the win at Heinz Field.”

So were Pitt fans, as their long wait for such a meaningful moment at Heinz Field was rewarded in record fashion. The Panthers’ seniors took one, last step down from the ladder and one step closer to an ACC championship.

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.