Pitt Handled Business in Opening Win vs. Duquesne

If there was one thing the Pitt Panthers absolutely couldn't do against Duquesne in the season opener, it was suffer a catastrophic injury. Lose, too, I guess. And no offense to the Dukes, a solid FCS squad, but the Panthers entered the game with such a drastic talent gap.

It was apparent when Desmond Reid fielded a line-drive punt at his own 12-yard line with 15 yards of space that he wasn't going to be stopped.

Pitt received strong performances from its stars, Eli Holstein shook off the rust to throw for four touchdowns for the first time in college career and some of the younger players received an extended run in the second half.

Pitt handled business in empathic fashion. And did it without suffering any major injuries.

"Obviously, you look at the game, I thought there were a lot of things we could clean up," Pat Narduzzi said after the game. "It’s a preseason game, really, that counts in the win-loss column. They all count as one.

 "I was happy with the way our guys finished the game. We talked at halftime about just going out and finishing. We started fast with a three-and-out and scored on offense. That’s kind of what you want to see — that’s really what should happen. It doesn’t always happen, right?

Holstein and the offense shook off a slow start, going three-and-out on the first possession, throwing a red zone interception on the third and going three-and-out on the fourth, to rattle off five touchdown drives over the next six possessions - including three sub-two minute scoring drives to end the first half.

Holstein finished the day with a 65% completion percentage, nearly 260 total yards and four passing touchdowns. He had the interception, a play in which he said he didn't see the back side safety, but he shook it off and finished strong.

No one had to say anything to Holstein either. He didn't change his approach and certainly didn't linger on the mistake.

“Like the old saying is, shook the rust off a little bit," Holstein said after the game. "It’s been a while since I’ve been out there and played a live game and everything like that. So, just settling down, calming down and just going out there and playing some football and having fun really led to those consistent drives. And doing the little things right really went a long way.”

Pitt racked up 460 yards of offense, some of which came from the Cole Gonzales-led second team unit, and that was with Reid and Kenny Johnson combining for over 200 yards in kickoff and punt returns.

Reid only had 12 touches against the Dukes, which still resulted in nearly 150 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, but he knows there's stuff he can clean up. He knows there's stuff the entire team can clean up, despite handling business on Saturday.

“I liked what I saw, but as a team, we’ve still got a lot of stuff to clean up," Reid said after the game. "QB as well. Everybody got a lot of stuff to clean up. That's the good thing, we did some good things today and we still wasn’t at our best. So, I’m excited for what’s coming up as a team.”

Pitt will remain at home this weekend, welcoming Central Michigan to Acrisure Stadium at noon. It's another opportunity for the Panthers to clean up the mistakes and get the team rolling heading into the tougher stretch of the season.