PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Defense was going to be an innocent bystander in what was billed as an offensive showcase at Heinz Field Thursday night. Turns out the Pitt defense did have a place and made some huge plays.
It started with a talk from head coach Pat Narduzzi in the defensive meeting before the game.
"I talked to our defense for 30 minutes today," Narduzzi said. "After (Randy) Bates got done, I just said listen, everyone is talking about offense. That was a championship effort by our defense. Just some incredible efforts by a bunch of guys."
"Coach Narduzzi before the game he came up to us 'look they are not putting respect on you guys right now," said linebacker Phil Campbell. "They are only talking about offense. Defense wins championships'. We took that as a challenge, we took that personal and I think it showed."
SirVocea Dennis led the team with nine tackles, five solo. He also had three tackles for loss.
"He was outstanding," Narduzzi said. "He has taken over that Mike position and he makes a lot of plays in there too. He makes plays wherever he is. I was happy with the effort he put out there today."
"He always gives our pregame speeches," Campbell said. "He's just a hard worker and a great football player. It's really fun playing next to somebody that I can look next to him and I know we are going to get it done."
Here are some of the highlights from the 30-23 overtime win over North Carolina.
· The Panthers defense forced 17 plays without a gain or for negative yardage (not including incomplete passes).
· Pitt finished with five sacks, led by Habakkuk Baldonado's 1.5. The Panthers are 19-1 in games which they have at least five sacks under Narduzzi
· Pitt had season-high 11 tackles for loss
· Panthers limited a UNC team averaging over 200 yards a game on the ground to 88 yards.
· Pitt stopped UNC three times on fourth down
"I think we are the number one fourth down defense in the country," Narduzzi said. "I think people should probably punt or do something else. Give the defense credit, our kids our players. Those are some huge stops."
Then there was the game-winning stop on 4th and 11 from the 26-yard line in overtime.
"We knew what time it was," Campbell said. "We kind of wanted that. We wanted to finish the game on defense. That kind of proves that we are a good defense also. I think we were tired of being slept on. I think we just proved who we were today."
The game ended on a MJ Devonshire interception. The first of his career for the Aliquippa graduate.
"There's been times when the offense had to bail us out," Devonshire said. "It was our turn to help them out. When they were struggling we had to pick our game up. That's what it was about, being brothers and playing for your brother across from you. We go against those guys for a whole month in August. It was our time to help them out."
"A huge shout out to the defense and how well they played against that caliber of an offense," Pickett said. "This win 100% goes to them."
