The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Pittsburgh Panthers 2025 Edition

THAT’S HOW YOU FUCKING DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Miami went on the road and blew out the Pitt Panthers 38-7 on Saturday afternoon.

Craig T. Smith is back with your Game Recap:

Mike Schiffman is here as always with your 3 stars:

Let’s get into this edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:

The Good

• A win! Winning is hard, and I’m never taking it for granted. IDC IDC IDC.
• Getting a lead early. Would have liked even more, but hey.
• That last touchdown. Needed it for the scoreboard watchers.
• QB Carson Beck. 23/29 passing (79.3% completions) for 267 yards with 3 TDs and 1 INT. This is the player I expected to see this year, and he’s been on a heater the last 4 games.
• WR Malachi Toney. The elite playmaker stuffed the stat sheet against Pitt. 13 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown, 5 carries for 30 yards, and 1/2 passing for 9 yards and a touchdown.
• RB Girard Pringle Jr. 10 carries for 82 yards. He gashed Pitt’s defense repeatedly and helped put Miami in position to score several times.
• RB Mark Fletcher Jr. 10 carries for 30 yards and a TD. Not the biggest numbers, but he converted multiple 3rd downs and scored a key touchdown. That’ll work.
• 4 players caught touchdowns today: WR Malachi Toney, RB Marty Brown, WR C.J. Daniels, and TE Elija Lofton (from Toney).
• The entire Miami defense. Absolute dominance at every level today. Pitt had 1 good drive. Other than that, they were in lockdown with no hope for parole. OUTSTANDING job.
• EDGE Rueben Bain Jr. The return of the Destroyer of Worlds. 5 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, 1.5 sacks, and several huge run stops. He’s incredible.
• DT Ahmad Moten Sr. 2 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks. He started the day with a sack on Pitt’s first play, and was unblockable the whole way. He was more impactful than his stats, and his stats were great for a DT!
• S’s Zechariah Poyser and Jakobe Thomas both had 5 tackles.
• CB Xavier Lucas had 4 tackles and a forced fumble on a 4th down stop when Miami was up 31-7.
• S/Nickel Bryce Fitzgerald. 2 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 2 QB hurries, and a game-ending interception. AND he downed a punt on the 1 yard line on special teams. Incredible game from 13.
• P Dylan Joyce. Only punted twice, but a 40yd average and 1 downed at the 1 yard line is great work.
• K Carter Davis. 1/1 on FGs and a touchback on every kickoff. That’s the dream.
• This is the mentality we need to have. HYFR Mario.

• DT Ahmad Moten Sr. with a sack on the first play of the game. His development into an All-ACC caliber player has been incredible to see.

• S Zechariah Poyser with a TFL on 3rd down to force Pitt into a 3 and out on their first offensive drive

• The trickeration continues with a Malachi Toney touchdown pass to Elija Lofton in the low red zone. YOU LOVE TO SEE IT!!!

• The return of Reuben Bain Jr, the destroyer of worlds! His 2nd sack of the day pictured below.

• Malachi Toney continues to showcase his elite talent. This time, a TD reception to put Miami up 17-7.

• Mark Fletcher Jr. scoring this tough touchdown, running over Pitt defenders on his way to the endzone to give Miami a 24-7 early in the 3rd quarter.

• Malachi Toney set the record for most receiving yards by a freshman in Miami Hurricanes history. The record was held by Ahmmon Richards, and before him Michael Irvin. Elite company if ever I’ve seen it. CONGRATS, MALI!!!!

• Miami extends the lead with this touchdown pass to Marty Brown

• THIS IS THE ENRGY WE NEED AFTER A 4TH DOWN STOP, MARIO!!!!!

• Miami with a perfect coffin corner punt, downed by Bryce Fitzgerald at the 1.

• Shoutout to Defensive Coordinator Corey Hetherman. Man has transformed Miami’s defense

• Just gonna put this here

• C.J. Daniels with the capper on this beautiful leaping catch for a 33 yard touchdown!

• 416 yards of offense
• 276 yards passing
• 140 yards rushing
• 29 first downs
• 5.9 yards per play
• 11.5 yards per completion
• 3.9 yards per rush
• 35:55 time of possession to Pitt’s 24:05.
• 7 chunk plays — 5 passes (15+), 2 runs (10+)
• Only allowed 5 chunk plays — 3 passes (15+), 2 runs (10+)
• 4/5 red zone scoring
• 22 first downs
• 4/7 on 3rd down
• 71 to 54 offensive play disparity
• Only facing 7 3rd downs all game
• Held Pitt to 229 yards of offense
• Held Pitt to 199 yards passing
• Held Pitt 30 yards rushing
• Held Pitt to 1.4 yards per carry
• Held Pitt to 11 first downs
• Held Pitt to 4/13 on 3rd down
• Held Pitt to 1/2 on 4th down
• Pitt (correctly) called for 9 penalties for 88 yards
• Pitt QB Mason Heintschel. 22/32 passing for 199 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. Good completion percentage, but the freshman magic ran out today.
• 6 TFLs
• 4 sacks
• 1 turnovers created — Fitzgerald interception
• The advanced stats chart is back and it shows the story of a Miami blowout victory.

The Bad

• Malachi Toney letting the first punt land and then roll. Could have run up to catch it before it bounced, or catch it after the first HUGE Sunday hop. Cost Miami about 15 yards of field position.
• Stalling in the red zone on the 2nd offensive drive and settling for a field goal. We need touchdowns when we’re down there.
• Carson Beck threw a bad interception up 31-7 and looking to REALLY make the score lopsided. Locked on Malachi Toney and missed a wide open C.J. Daniels. This was Beck’s first INT since SMU.
• Allowed 6 TFLs. Want this number lower.
• Allowed 2 sacks.
• Allowed Pitt to go 1/1 scoring in the redzone
• 5 penalties for 23 yards.

The Ugly

• Keelan Marion with a horrible drop on 2nd and 5 on the first drive killed it. Beck was sacked on the next play and Miami had to punt, so that drop had a direct correlation to Miami not scoring points there. You CANNOT have that.
• Miami with a BAD coverage bust turning the Tight End loose with no coverage allowing Pitt to score to take a 7-3 lead.
• The return of procedural penalties. 2 false starts and an offsides. Those are always ugly and we can’t have any of them.
• Miami called for “assisting the runner” on a rushing touchdown. Absolutely laughable. First, Brown had already scored. Second, McCoy was blocking a man and his hand was barely touching Brown. Absolute bullshit call. My GOD.

Team Grades

Offense: B+

After a drop and a punt on their first drive, Miami scored points on their next 5 possessions. They only settled for one field goal, and added 4 touchdowns to put the game away by the middle of the 3rd quarter. The offense was dynamic, varied, and efficient. Sure, the ball found Malachi Toney a lot, but Pitt kept leaving him open so that’s really their fault.

Carson Beck played another great game, and proved that he’s a top tier quarterback. He’s now 13-3 against ranked teams in his career, and will set the single season completion percentage record for the Miami Hurricanes. He had one bad play that was an interception looking for Toney (and missing a WIDE OPEN Daniels), but outside of that Beck pitched a perfect game. 11 TDs and 1 INT in his last 4 games, all Miami wins. That’s the kind of performance we were looking for from Beck this season.

Welcome back, Miami’s run game. The combination of Pringle Jr. and Fletcher Jr. found yards and space often, with Pringle being the explosive runner, and Fletcher being the tough yardage converting runner. After last week’s terrible run showing against Virginia Tech, this was a sight for sore eyes. Congrats to the OL for blocking it up, for the RBs for finding the holes, and for OC Shannon Dawson for calling good plays.

The continuation of procedural penalties was an unweclomed sight. 2 such penalties is too many.

Going up top to Daniels for the late dagger touchdown to make the score more lopsided shows Cristobal and company know the situation facing this team. I’m just glad Beck was on fire and dropped a perfect dime to Daniels for the score.

Defense: A+

This was nearly a perfect game from the defense, with only 1 Pitt drive earning them points. The defense was fast, disciplined and PHYSICAL today, and Pitt was simply outclassed. Sure, I wanted the shutout, but even with allowing points, this was a masterclass from Miami’s defense.

THIS is the rush defense that I’ve grown to know and love. After stumbling with their worst performance against the run last week at Virginia Tech, Miami’s defense was absolutely killer in this aspect, holding Pitt to 30 yards and 1.4 yards per carry today. After Pitt gashed Georgia Tech in the run game over and over and over again last week, this was a truly monumental performance to lock them down. Shoutout to the staff and players; this was an incredible job of the highest level in the biggest moment.

Miami’s pass defense was pretty good, but allowed a couple plays they’d like back. Pitt found ways to confuse the secondary on a couple early drives. But after that early success, it was full lockdown from Miami’s secondary.

Miami’s pass rush was dominant. Pitt couldn’t block Miami at all. 6 TFLs and 4 sacks on the day, and several more possible but Bryce Fitzgerald couldn’t finish the plays. He did well to get pressure, but the next step in his development is getting the QB on the ground. Still, Miami was all over Pitt’s offense and the Panthers had no answers.

Special Teams: B+

Kickoffs were great. Punting was incredible. Davis went 1/1 on FG attempts. And the coverage units were great, especially Fitzgerald downing the punt at the 1.

Keelan Marion had a massive kick return that was 1 step away from going to the ‘partments, so that’s a bonus. The minor demerit was Malachi Toney letting an early Pitt punt bounce and roll about 15 yards, costing Miami precious field position when the game was scoreless. I admit that’s harsh grading, but I’ve never been one accused of grade inflation, even when I was an actual full-time teacher lol.

Coaching: A+ x10

This grade is A+ x10 for each win this regular season. Miami ends the regular season with consecutive 10 win seasons for the first time 2002 and 2003. This is a great achievement, and the coaches deserve all the credit for it.

Mario Cristobal’s tough guy/alpha male mentality clearly rubbed off on this team today. “There’s no such thing as cold weather. There are only soft people” is some macho man type stuff….but the team bought in and it worked. Miami was clearly the tougher team mentally and physically today and the scoreboard showed it.

OC Shannon Dawson continued to dial things up on offense that kept the defense off guard, and used his best players to great effect. It wasn’t perfect because no game is, but this was damn close. If Beck sees Daniels on a crosser on the interception play, this score is likely 45-7. Yeah, that’ll work for me any day.

And DC Corey Hetherman. What can I say? He’s been the best coordinator in the country and completely revamped Miami’s defense in a single season. Pittsburgh didn’t have a chance in hell against the Canes today, and Hetherman is a big reason why that was the case.

I love the fact that Cristobal had the offense go for a touchdown on 4th down late in the game while up 31-7. Pitt took a timeout when Miami was in operation shutdown/run the ball to end the game mode, so they got what they got when Miami decided to throw the ball. That killer instinct to make the score look more appealing is what we needed, and credit to Cristobal for bucking his conservative reputation by going for it there.

Miami won. Miami blew out a ranked Pitt team on the road by 5 scores. This same Pitt team that just beat Georgia Tech last weekend. Full and deserved credit to the coaches for motivating the team, coming up with a plan, and ensuring the team executed the plan to flawless perfection.

A++++++++++.

Bravo!

That’s it for this installment of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Hop in the comments and let me know your thoughts.

Go Canes