Duke football falls to Pittsburgh 58-55 in a shootout

After an anemic offensive showing last week, Duke had no problem scoring points against Pittsburgh, but defensive woes and turnovers were simply too much to overcome.

The Panthers defeated the Blue Devils 58-55 Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium in the first ACC matchup between the two teams. Pittsburgh quarterback Tom Savage completed 23-of-33 passes for 424 yards and six touchdowns.

In a wet and wild game, Duke still found itself within striking distance in the game's closing minutes but came up just short. A diving catch by Kevin Weatherspoon on third down sealed the victory for Pittsburgh.

"The parts that hurt, and the parts that you can't quite put your finger on is why we struggled in certain areas of execution that kind of just crept in," head coach David Cutcliffe said. "We have to play clean. We can't give up big plays."

Duke (2-2, 0-2 in the ACC) was reminded of its defensive struggles at the end of last season, allowing a number of explosive plays through the air that forced the Blue Devils to play from behind throughout.

The Panther receiving tandem of Devin Street and Tyler Boyd had no problem finding open space against the Duke secondary. Boyd finished the contest with eight catches for 154 yards and three touchdowns. Street added six receptions for 166 yards and two scores of his own.

But it was the ground game, not the passing attack, that proved problematic for the Blue Devils in the early-going. Pittsburgh's running game, powered by true freshman James Conner—who finished with 173 yards on 26 carries—set the team up for the game's opening score.

"I think we had some deep ball insecurity," redshirt senior cornerback Ross Cockrell said. "Give credit to Pittsburgh. They had two talented receivers—they showed up."

Duke mounted a response late in the first quarter to claw back to 13-7, but the Panthers scored long passing touchdowns on back-to-back plays—the first on a 67-yard toss to Street, the second a 69-yard hookup to Boyd—to widen the gap.

The Blue Devil defense struggled, allowing Pittsburgh (2-1, 1-1) to rack up 598 of total offense on the afternoon.

Brandon Connette looked significantly more comfortable in his second start of the season, but had to overcome a rocky start. The redshirt junior threw two interceptions in his first three passing attempts, but recovered to have a career day, completing 21-of-32 passes for 323 yards and four touchdowns. He added 101 yards and two more scores on the ground.

"When you throw pick sixes and you throw four in a game and you're still competing at the level that he did, that is a defining moment as a football player," Cutcliffe said. "It's very difficult to be the one to make those mistakes.... He got better and will continue to get better. I am a believer in Brandon Connette."

Connette was bitten by the turnover bug again in the fourth quarter, tossing two more interceptions to finish with four on the game.

Trailing 27-7 early in the second quarter, wide receiver Jamison Crowder helped Duke to claw back into the game, scoring three touchdowns in the period. The first came on a 62-yard pass from Connette, the second on a seven-yard run for the first rushing touchdown of his career and the last one on an electrifying 82-yard punt return.

Crowder racked up 279 all-purpose yards in the game, finishing with seven catches for 141 yards. He became the first Duke player to record a touchdown rushing, receiving and on special teams since his wide receivers coach, Scottie Montgomery, accomplished the feat in 1999.

"That's one heck of an athlete," Connette said. "Most college football players don't have the option of playing with someone like that. He's a special football player."

The Panthers added a touchdown in the closing seconds of the first half and ripped off 21 consecutive points to take a 51-28 lead. The game seemed out of reach, but Connette led the Blue Devils back into the game, throwing a 75-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Braxton and running one in from a yard out.

In one of the game's key stretches, Crowder scored a fourth touchdown on a 71-yard bubble screen with 10 minutes to play, but the score was called back for a holding penalty. Three plays later, Connette was ultimately undone by his fourth interception of the contest, which went right to Pittsburgh linebacker Anthony Gonzalez, who returned it 37 yards for a score to make it 58-41.

The Blue Devils added two scores and had a chance to get the ball back in the waning seconds, but the defense could not come up with one final stop.

"This is a game we'll need to remember, not only as a team but as a program," Cutcliffe said. "We're better than what we played."