Texas defense holds off Panthers

JASON W. DUGGER
Daily Texan Staff

Texas linebacker Jason Reeves helped the Longhorns finally capitalize on a Pittsburgh mistake Saturday afternoon.

But more important, his 45-yard interception return for a touchdown with 1:45 left in the game assured the Longhorns that their own mistakes wouldn't come back to haunt them.

The Longhorns (2-0) turned a three point fourth-quarter deficit into a 38-27 win over the Pitt Panthers (2-1) in front of 62,875 at Memorial Stadium.

Texas, which entered the game No. 15 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, moved up to No. 13 with the win and is also ranked 10th in the USAToday/CNN football poll.

"That was a heck of a football game," Texas coach John Mackovic said. "The difference in the game was in the fourth quarter. Their defense played as hard as they could, but they just didn't have anything left. Our defense had something left."

Plagued by turnovers and missed opportunities all afternoon, the Longhorns were able to come up with the big plays, both on defense and offense, when they needed it most.

The Panthers had the football and were up 27-24 with 7:13 to go. But the Texas defense held Pitt to three and out, capped by nose guard Chris Akins' 6-yard sack of Panther quarterback John Ryan.

The Longhorns got the ball back with 5:38 and calmly marched 56 yards, mixing up plays in the air and on the ground.

Texas quarterback James Brown, who was bothered by a sore arm, began the drive by completing two 18-yard passes to receivers Justin McLemore and Mike Adams, respectively.

The crucial play, however, came with the Horns facing a third-and-four from the Pitt 14. Brown took the snap from center, faked a pitch right and ran around the left side for a 9-yard gain to keep the drive alive. Two plays later, Texas fullback Ricky Williams punched it in from one yard out with 2:10 left to give Texas a 31-27 lead.

The Horns' defense iced the game after safety Tre Thomas tipped a Ryan pass on fourth down into the arms of Reeves, who then sprinted down the left sideline with blockers ahead of him and into the end zone for the final Texas score.

"We knew [Pitt] couldn't stop us," Brown said. "We were just making stupid mistakes and stopping ourselves. Going into those last two series we just had to play smart, not make those critical mistakes and move the ball like we knew we could."

Brown finished 18 of 36 for 306 yards, and he threw for two touchdowns. But he also fumbled once and threw three interceptions, including two costly ones in the fourth quarter.

"James had one of those up and down games," Mackovic said. "At his best, he was really good. We had some set-ups that were just crystal clear, and he hit them."

Ryan (16 of 35, 206 yards) didn't fare much better as he was picked off five times on the day. However, before Reeves' touchdown return, the Horns could muster only a field goal off those turnovers.

Thomas, who hadn't had an interception in his Longhorn career, came away with three picks by himself. And like Reeves, safety Chris Carter had visions of a touchdown when he picked off Ryan's pass at the Texas 7-yard line with no defenders downfield. But when he went to transfer the ball to the other hand, he fumbled it and was fortunate to recover it for the Horns.

Although Carter had a good laugh about the play, he wasn't laughing when describing his team's play against the Panthers.

"We didn't play up to our potential," Carter said. "We still have a lot of areas to work on. We made some big plays, but we're not happy."

The Horns won't be much happier either with the loss of defensive end Tony Brackens, but that is the reality. Brackens went down in the first half with a hairline fracture in his left tibia just below his knee, and is expected to miss two to four weeks. Also injured was offensive lineman Dominic Bustamante, who sprained his left knee. He could be out three to four weeks.

While the Longhorns' defense came up with some big stops, they showed they still have trouble stopping the run. Demetrius Harris and Chris Patton combined for 166 yards on the ground.

Harris, who finished with 119 yards on 23 carries, put the Panthers on top 27-24 when he rumbled in for an 18-yard TD run up the middle with 9:06 to play in the fourth quarter.

The score came only two plays after Brown telegraphed a pass to the left side that was picked off by John Jenkins, who then returned it 31 yards only to be forced out of bounds by Brown at the Texas 24.

On the Horns' next possession and down at the 5-yard line, Brown drilled a pass into the right corner of the end zone that bounced off the hands of tight end Steve Bradley and into the hands of Thad Culpepper.

"I don't know if [Brown] was getting pressured," Adams said. "But it's just the second game. We're going to get a lot better. When it was crunch time, we moved the ball and took care of the ball."

The Panthers surprised the Horns with an onside kick that was recovered by kicker Todd Barton to open the second half. Pitt would cash in with a one-yard plunge from fullback Chris Schneider to pull ahead 17-14 with 13:13 left.

"We decided to do [the onside kick] at the half," said Pitt head coach Johnny Majors. "Our kicker does an excellent job and he executes this play well in practice."

Adams gave Texas a 21-17 lead when he and Brown connected on a 33-yard touchdown pass play at the 5:59 mark of the third. Adams finished with 88 yards on five receptions.

In the first half, Pitt held a decisive 21:16 to 8:44 advantage on time of possession. One drive in the second quarter went for 21 plays, covered 83 yards and chewed up 10:32 on the clock.

But the Horns' defense held Pitt to a 22-yard field goal, giving Brown and company a chance to respond before the half. With only 1:16 to play in the second quarter, Brown engineered a drive that culminated with a 15-yard TD pass to Pat Fitzgerald to give the Horns a 14-10 lead at halftime.

"Our offense was one where we had to do just about everything," Mackovic said. "You name it, we used it."

The Panthers opened the game's scoring when receiver Dietrich Jells caught an 8-yard pass from Ryan to go up 7-0 with 2:43 left in the first. Texas answered 1:21 later when tailback Shon Mitchell sprinted around the right side for a 19-yard touchdown run to knot the score at 7-7. Mitchell led the Horns in rushing with 71 on 14 carries.


Pittsburgh   7  3 10  7 -- 27
Texas        7  7  7 17 -- 38

Pit--Jells 8 pass from Ryan (Ferencik kick)
Tex--Mitchell 19 run (Dawson kick)
Pit--FG Ferencik 22
Tex--Fitzgerald 15 pass from Brown (Dawson kick)
Pit--Schneider 1 run (Ferencik kick)
Tex--Adams 33 pass from Brown (Dawson kick)
Pit--FG Ferencik 32
Tex--FG Dawson 35
Pit--Harris 18 run (Ferencik kick)
Tex--Ri.Williams 1 run (Dawson kick)
Tex--Reeves 45 interception return (Dawson kick)

A--62,875.
                        Pittsburgh  Texas
First downs             19          23
Rushes-yards            41-174      39-174
Passing                 206         306
Return Yards            36          79
Comp-Att-Int            16-35-5     18-36-3
Punts                   5-44        3-43
Fumbles-Lost            0-0         3-1
Penalties-Yards         2-21        9-65
Time of Possession      33:29       26:31

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING
    Pittsburgh - Harris 23-119, Patton 13-47, Schneider 2-5, Ryan 2-(minus 4),
            Jells 1-7.
    Texas - Mitchell 14-71, R. Williams 14-66, Brown 9-37, Adams 1-0,
            Wilson 1-0.

PASSING
    Pittsburgh - Ryan 16-35-5-206.
    Texas - Brown 18-36-3-306.

RECEIVING
    Pittsburgh - Durham 5-94, Jells 5-40, Harris 2-23, Anderson 2-21,
            Jackson 1-13, Seagraves 1-15.
    Texas - Adams 5-88, R.Williams 4-67, McLemore 4-59, Fitzgerald 3-31,
            Davis 1-49, Bradley 1-12.