PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was as dominant a performance against a Power Four team as we’ve been from Pitt in a couple of years, and led by a true freshman making his first career start. What quarterback Mason Heintschel said of the opportunity and performance in a 48-7 Pitt win over Boston College.
Heintschel hit his first 10 passes, which included a pair of third-down conversions and a touchdown. He would have had a second touchdown, if not for a holding penalty wiping out a deep throw to Blue Hicks. The Toledo native finished 30-41 for 323 yards and four touchdowns with a quarterback rating of 171.5.
“I’m just glad to walk in here and get a W,” Heintschel said. “It’s important to me that we win games here. Just doing anything I can and doing my job is important to me.”
Head coach Pat Narduzzi said he change from Eli Holstein to Heintschel to give the team the best chance to win. He also lied about who the starting quarterback was this week to eliminate distractions during the week, and it worked.
“I think he did a heck of a job,” Narduzzi said. “He got the ball out. We moved the sticks. We got 40 minutes time of possession. I don't know how many three-and-outs we had. We moved the ball. We had the ball in our possession. I thought he delivered the ball. He made good decisions.”
“The biggest thing is we didn't turn the ball over. When you don't turn the ball over, you've got a chance to win football games. A week ago, we're minus five with two special teams mistakes and interceptions. So, you know, when you have the ball in your possession, you can get first downs. You move the sticks. You keep the defense off the field.”
Heintschel, who made an early impression last year coming in early for bowl practice and impressing during Spring drills, had the trust of his teammates. He in turn had trust in them, especially with receiver Kenny Johnson. He targeted him 11 games and Johnson had a career-high nine receptions for 115 yards.
“Confident, not arrogant, real confident,” Johnson said of the freshman quarterback. “He’s real focused on the details. He kept us away from negative plays. He played really solid, consistent football all game. I knew he was going to have a game.”
Johnson said he didn’t try to be Superman out there, just played within the system and that helped lead to success.
“He's efficient,” Narduzzi said. “Even during camp, he didn't have reps with the 1s. He wasn't playing with those number one wideouts. He's got a lot of trust in the receivers. He put the ball where it needed to be. He was very accurate in his passes. He gave our guys opportunities to make plays after they catch it.”
“He prepared his tail off. I think he was in the office at 8:00 Monday and was there until 6:30. I don't know if he went to any classes but he knew what when he was doing out there, and he was prepared. I appreciate that.”
“Trying to be as efficient as possible in this offense,” Heintschel said. “I think it’s a step in the right direction, but we’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s a great win. We are going to enjoy this tonight, but we got to get back to work (Sunday) for Florida State.”
Checklist
Coming into the game Saturday there were a number of areas Pitt has struggled in this year. Listed is Pitt’s ACC ranking at the start of the day and when they ended up doing against the Eagles
· Last in turnover margin (+3)
· Last in 3rd down conversions (9-17, 53%)
· Last in time of possession (39:08)
· 15th in rushing offense (172 yards)
Big win
It’s the quote of the day from receiver Kenny Johnson, who said the goals are still a championship and he said they can be unstoppable. What he said about breaking a two-game losing streak.
“I think we needed it a lot. It was such a relief just going out there and dominating the whole time like we should have been. We’ve lost games ourselves, I don’t think teams have beat us, just mistakes that we made. We cleaned it up this week and got better.”