After Pittsburgh pasted Virginia Tech last season, 38-7, at Heinz Field, Panthers players claimed they made Tech quit.

Virginia Tech used those comments as motivational bulletin-board fodder all last week in preparation for last Saturday’s rematch of two undefeated teams.

With their Bowl Championship Series chances at stake, the then-No. 3 Hokies vowed this year would be different, that they would make the Panthers quit.

Turns out Pittsburgh pulled off the biggest upset of the college football season because it refused to.

By completing two comebacks, Pitt battled to a shocking 28-21 victory over the Hokies. Virginia Tech fell to No. 8, and Pitt climbed into the rankings for the fist time this season at No. 22.

‘We had quite a bit of adversity to overcome,’ Pitt coach Walt Harris said. ‘We got behind by 14 two different times. Our kids fought back.’

Virginia Tech sprinted to a 14-point lead using its heralded special-teams play. Two botched Pitt punts — one blocked by Tech’s Jimmy Williams — led to first-quarter touchdown runs by Kevin Jones and Lee Suggs.

Pitt went down two touchdowns in Lane Stadium at night and on ESPN. Virginia Tech had never lost in that situation, and with the 14-point lead, it looked like the Hokies would continue their march toward a Dec. 7 meeting with Miami for the Big East championship.

Instead, the Pitt-Miami matchup will decide the conference title, while Virginia Tech has to hope for luck.

Pitt engineered the upset using big plays from freshman receiver Larry Fitzgerald and a game-sealing touchdown run by Brandon Miree.

Fitzgerald — the Big East’s leading receiver with 648 yards and seven touchdowns — performed memorably. His five catches, 105 yards and three touchdowns were impressive, but they only begin to tell the story.

He hauled in three highlight-film touchdowns by out-leaping helpless defenders and utilizing uncanny body control. Fitzgerald’s dominance showed in the third quarter, when he caught two touchdowns on the same pattern — a goal-line fade.

Fitzgerald’s acrobatics and Velcro-like hands tied the game, and Miree’s heroics ensured the Pitt victory. Miree gained 53 of his 161 yards on a touchdown gallop straight through Tech’s defense with 4:11 left, dashing the Hokies’ national-title aspirations.

‘We let it get away from us,’ Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. ‘Give them credit. They’re a team that’s for real.’

Just now are people realizing how good the Panthers are. Pitt has won 13 of 15 games dating back to last season — tied for the second-best run in the nation, behind Miami.

Last year’s 45-7 loss to Boston College was the turning point that sparked Pitt’s climb to power, Harris said. After that numbing loss, Harris simplified the offense, and Pitt’s players rededicated themselves.

Pitt didn’t lose another contest all season and this year has quietly compiled a 7-2 record. But the Panthers made some noise in defeating Virginia Tech, and Pitt’s spot in the rankings shows its newfound recognition.

‘We’re real excited about being in the Top 25,’ Harris said. ‘We think we’re a good football team. We just haven’t got the respect we deserve, but we also understand we’re responsible for developing that respect. We’re No. 22, but we expect to be more.’

History lesson

The refrain is taught by every high school history teacher: Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Notre Dame should have heeded that wisdom.

In 1993, the Irish started 8-0 and scored their biggest victory with a win over Florida State in the season’s eighth game. The next week, they fell from the unbeaten ranks by losing, 42-41, at home to Boston College.

This season, Notre Dame cemented its return to college football’s elite with a victory over FSU in the eighth contest. The next game was last Saturday, and the result was eerily familiar.

Notre Dame suffered its first loss of the season, a 14-7 home defeat to BC that dropped the Irish to 8-1 and from No. 4 to No. 9.

The Eagles beat the Irish at their own game. Boston College forced seven fumbles — three of which it recovered — and had two interceptions. The Eagles turned the ball over just once.

‘We did (stress forcing turnovers and protecting the ball),’ BC coach Tom O’Brien said. ‘It’s a great formula to play football. We were just able to out-execute Notre Dame.’

The game’s biggest play came with Notre Dame threatening on the BC 14-yard line with 4:03 left in the first half. Irish quarterback Pat Dillingham dropped back and felt fierce pressure from BC’s defensive rush. Trying to throw the ball away, he delivered a horrid shovel pass directly to BC linebacker Josh Ott, who took the ball 71 yards for the decisive touchdown.

‘You don’t know when everything is going to come to you, but the trick is to always be around the ball, and eventually something is going to happen,’ Ott said. ‘While I was running, I just kept thinking, ‘Don’t trip, Don’t trip.’ ‘

Boston College also stole the Irish’s luck, which may have been cosmically related to first-year Irish coach Tyrone Willingham’s decision to wear green uniforms. The tradition is usually reserved for scenarios in which Notre Dame needs a change of fortune.

‘If they are going to break out the green jerseys,’ O’Brien said, ‘we obviously are a formidable opponent for them.’

The victory helped BC regain confidence after a brutal conference schedule that’s already included Miami, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh.

‘It obviously means a lot,’ O’Brien said. ‘This was an exhilarating win as you can have, going into Notre Dame and knocking them off as a top-5 football team. It’s been a tough haul, but we’re on the plus side of the ledger right now.’

What more can you ask?

Miami has won 30 straight games and is fresh off a 25-point road victory. Apparently, those figures don’t impress the Associated Press polls’ voters.

Miami had been ranked No. 1 all season and 21 straight weeks dating back to last year. A lethargic 42-17 showing at Rutgers, though, dropped the Hurricanes to No. 2 behind Oklahoma.

Worse yet for Miami, its drop in the poll vaulted Ohio State to No. 2 in the BCS standings and left Miami at No. 3, on the outside looking in for the national championship game.

If the season ended today, Miami would be watching Oklahoma and Ohio State play in the Fiesta Bowl.

‘Nobody wants us in the national championship game,’ Miami tailback Willis McGahee told the AP. ‘The minute we lose, we’ll probably fall down to No. 10. I don’t know why there are so many haters.’

Funny a Miami player should say, ‘the minute we lose,’ as if that possibility is inevitable rather than impossible. Miami’s growing sense of vulnerability is why so many ‘haters’ have joined the anti-Hurricane bandwagon.

The ‘Canes lead the Big East in penalty yards allowed, and they have appeared disinterested in their previous three games, against Florida State, West Virginia and Rutgers.

On Saturday, the 1-8 Scarlet Knights led Miami, 17-14, at the end of three quarters. After its 45-minute nap, Miami woke up to outscore Rutgers, 28-0, in the final quarter. Despite the lopsided final score, the first three quarters stuck in the voters’ minds.

‘You look at the score, and it’s a 25-point win on the road, and everything is fine,’ Miami coach Larry Coker said. ‘But it’s not fine. (We’re) living on the edge. When you do that, everything has to fall in place. If you have something that doesn’t go right, then you’re probably not going to win those games. The fact is you can’t continually do that.’

Miami has an opportunity to reassert itself Saturday when it plays at Tennessee. The Volunteers are unranked but still garner respect, and playing in front of 100,000-plus fans at Neyland Stadium should be enough to end Miami’s slumber.

‘The thing we have to do is make sure to get corrected and win the games,’ Coker said. ‘If we do that, the polls will certainly all take care of themselves.”

This and that

If Virginia Tech’s loss to Pitt wasn’t damaging enough, the Hokies have to deal with Kevin Jones’ strained left hamstring. The injury will likely keep Jones from playing this Saturday at Syracuse. … Last Tuesday, before his team’s game against Miami, Rutgers coach Greg Schiano decided to convert defensive lineman Dave Ott to an offensive guard. Ott, an outstanding guard in high school, had four days of practice to relearn the position before facing one of the nation’s best defensive lines. ‘That shows you where we were at on our offensive line,’ Schiano said. … After BC’s upset of Notre Dame, crazed Boston College students tried to crash into Alumni Stadium to tear down the goal posts, even though the game was on the road. The students were denied entry, so they went to the practice field, tore those goal posts down and carried them away. ‘We don’t need ’em,’ O’Brien said. ‘They can have ’em.’ … West Virginia (6-3) became bowl eligible with its 46-20 victory over Temple on Saturday. … BC’s Josh Ott was named Big East Defensive Player of the Week for his 15 tackles, recovered fumble and touchdown against Notre Dame. Miami’s McGahee and Pitt’s Fitzgerald shared offensive honors, and SU’s Steve Gregory won the special-teams award. … Weekly shot at Ken Dorsey: Until the fourth quarter against Rutgers, the Miami quarterback looked like a high school player, throwing errant passes and buckling under what little pressure Rutgers applied. Dorsey isn’t even the strongest Heisman candidate in his own backfield; that distinction belongs to McGahee, who has rushed for 1,034 yards in eight games this season.

Published on November 5, 2002 at 12:00 pm