Recap: Pittsburgh 42, Miami 16

The Pittsburgh Panthers defeated the Miami Hurricanes 42-16 on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium. Miami had three quarterbacks see action, with Jake Garcia leading Miami with 192 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. Starter Tyler Van Dyke tallied 83 yards before leaving with injury again in the first quarter. Jacurri Brown completed 2 of 3 passes for 4 yards. Jaylan Knighton led the Canes with 72 rushing yards on 7 carries. Will Mallory made the most of his senior day, leading the Canes with 9 catches for 103 yards and a touchdown.

Miami opened the game with a promising drive, reaching the Pittsburgh 11 after a 39-yard completion to Mallory. However, Van Dyke was pressured two plays later and he threw an interception that was returned 67 yards by SirVocea Dennis. Pittsburgh capitalized 4 plays later with a two-yard touchdown run by FBS rushing touchdown co-leader Israel Abanikanda.

Miami would throw another interception two plays later, as Brown was picked on a deep pass with no Miami receiver around. Miami would stop Pitt on downs at the goal line, but punt 6 plays later. Pitt would then extend their lead to 14-0 on a 66-yard touchdown strike from Kedon Slovis to Jared Wayne.

The Panthers would further push their lead to 21-0 early in the second quarter after recovering a Mallory fumble. Abanikanda would score two plays later on a 11-yard run. The lead swelled to 28-0 after the Panthers engineered a 7-play 89-yard drive that ended with another Slovis touchdown to Wayne for 26 yards with 31 seconds left in the half.

The Panthers scored on their second drive of the second half, with Wayne grabbing his third touchdown of the day, a 7-yarder. After Miami answered with a Mallory touchdown, the Panthers again answered to push the lead to 42-9 on a 26-yard C’Bo Flemister touchdown run. Garcia found Xavier Restrepo for a 4-yard touchdown to notch Miami’s final points of the game.

Miami’s season ends at 5-7, while Pitt ends the regular season at 8-4 and awaits their bowl game destination.