Pitt Loses Big East 'Championship Game'

The Pittsburgh Panthers suffered a heartbreaking 44 to 45 home loss in a very close football game against the Cincinnati Bearcats today. The result crowned Cincinnati as the champions of the Big East conference with a perfect 12-0 record.

Pitt’s Dion Lewis totaled 228 yards and three touchdowns, setting a new freshman scoring record, but it wasn’t enough as Pitt let up a 31 to 17 first half lead to the Bearcats. Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt says Mardy Gilyard’s 99-yard kickoff return for a Bearcats touchdown just before the half reversed the flow of the game.

“And then we came out the second half, and they scored a couple times and we couldn’t get anything going in the third quarter. We never really regained that momentum that I thought we had in the first half,” says Wannstedt.

Wannstedt says he doesn’t place any blame on Andrew Janocko for fumbling an extra point snap late in the game. If Pitt had converted that attempt, the game might have gone to overtime. The loss puts Pitt third in the Big East behind Cincinnati and West Virginia.