Utah Knocks Off Pitt in OT Thriller

In a collision of two worlds -- West vs. East, run vs. pass, old school vs. new school -- it was the new school, new blood Utah Utes winning out against Big East favorite Pittsburgh Thursday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

After rallying from a 24-13 deficit to tie the game with a last second field goal, Pittsburgh saw its momentum collapse with an interception on the opening play of overtime. Utah, after nearly hemorrhaging the game away, capitalized and connected on a short field goal to claim victory, 27-24.

Utah was turnover-happy early, spotting the Panthers an early 7-0 lead on a pair of fumbles. Showing the toughness and grit more associated with Pitt, the Utes shrugged off the mistakes and dominated the rest of the way. They clamped down the Panthers' Heisman candidate tailback Dion Lewis, holding him to 75 yards while keeping quarterback Tino Sunseri in check until late in the fourth quarter. It was Sunseri's first career start, and it showed. With Lewis under wraps, Sunseri struggled to make first downs through much of the game as Utah and its passing game steadily built a lead and dominated the trenches.

Several times the Utes nearly jumped to huge leads only to watch the Panthers hang around just enough to where a fourth quarter rally was even possible. Eventually Pittsburgh's playmakers emerged, spurred by receiver Jon Baldwin's big fourth quarter. His 44-yard touchdown catch with seven minutes left narrowed the margin to 24-21 and put a raucous home crowd on its heels, temporarily.

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Overall, the Utes were superior on offense and defense but a punting mistake late in the fourth quarter and Pittsburgh's overall talent edge kept things close.

The game was won when Sunseri tossed an interception along the sidelines to freshman safety Brian Blechen on Pitt's first play in overtime. It was a dangerous play call, with Sunseri rolling to the right and needing a powerful throw on the move, and he left it slightly behind his receiver. Blechen flew in to make the play and Utah's field goal was a formality thereafter.

The real drama was just before the end of regulation. With Pitt moving in for the short field goal to tie the game, Utah twice called timeout to ice the Panthers' kicker. On his first effort the ball went safely through, and on the second he hooked it hard left. Utah fans celebrated but a timeout at the last moment negated the failure. Armed with another opportunity and with Utah coach Kyle Whittingham avoiding use of his third and final timeout, kicker Dan Hutchins scooted the ball just inside the upright to extend play past regulation.

With the loss, the Panthers will return home with the proverbial tail between their legs. They won't earn as much respect as they're due for traveling across the country to play a very difficult team in their home stadium, but a loss is a loss. Meanwhile Utah can claim it has felled the preseason Big East favorites, adding fuel to the BCS Automatic Qualifying conference vs. Non Automatic Qualifying conference chatter.