Syracuse 20
Pittsburgh 33
Saturday, December 3, 2011 12:00 PM
(ET)
Recap: Pittsburgh 33, Syracuse 20
SportsDirect Inc. staff
Dec 3, 2011
Pittsburgh forced six turnovers to clinch a bowl berth and end Syracuse’s season with a 33-20 win on Saturday.
Pitt (6-6, 4-3 Big East) showed no hangover from last week’s gut-wrenching loss to West Virginia that knocked it out of the Big East title race.
The Panthers’ defense set up short fields for the offense, which has struggled all year adapting to Todd Graham’s hurry-up, spread system. It picked off Ryan Nassib on the game’s opening drive to set up an early touchdown and closed the game with an Antwuan Reed fumble recovery for a touchdown. Those turnovers eased senior quarterback Tino Sunseri, who played one of the most efficient games of the season, completing 25 of 34 passes for 259 yards and a touchdown.
Syracuse (5-7, 1-6 Big East) looked like a possible BCS team for the first half of the season but completely collapsed with five straight losses. The blame can be placed on Nassib, who turned the ball over four times in the final game of his career. The drop from first to worst in a matter of six weeks is a huge blow to head coach Doug Marrone, who picked up a bowl win last season and appeared to be turning around a downtrodden program. The Orange went undefeated on the road last season but went winless away from home in a return to the Big East basement this season.
Dec 3, 2011
Pittsburgh forced six turnovers to clinch a bowl berth and end Syracuse’s season with a 33-20 win on Saturday.
Pitt (6-6, 4-3 Big East) showed no hangover from last week’s gut-wrenching loss to West Virginia that knocked it out of the Big East title race.
The Panthers’ defense set up short fields for the offense, which has struggled all year adapting to Todd Graham’s hurry-up, spread system. It picked off Ryan Nassib on the game’s opening drive to set up an early touchdown and closed the game with an Antwuan Reed fumble recovery for a touchdown. Those turnovers eased senior quarterback Tino Sunseri, who played one of the most efficient games of the season, completing 25 of 34 passes for 259 yards and a touchdown.
Syracuse (5-7, 1-6 Big East) looked like a possible BCS team for the first half of the season but completely collapsed with five straight losses. The blame can be placed on Nassib, who turned the ball over four times in the final game of his career. The drop from first to worst in a matter of six weeks is a huge blow to head coach Doug Marrone, who picked up a bowl win last season and appeared to be turning around a downtrodden program. The Orange went undefeated on the road last season but went winless away from home in a return to the Big East basement this season.
