by Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania– The Pitt Panthers of the ACC welcomed the Kent State Golden Flashes of the MAC for the week one opener at Acrisure stadium. Pitt defeated the gritty Golden Flashes 55-24. Despite the score Kent State was only trailing by a touchdown at one point in this ball game. The Flashes started off slow on offense, head Coach Kenni Burns expressed his displeasure when asked about the slow start “We caught up to the games instead of creating the tempo, we cannot do that again”.
Pitt debuted their seven seconds or less offense that fires off plays at a rapid rate. In under 3 minutes Pitt drove down the field through air and land, Redshirt freshman from Alabama Eli Holstein looked calm, cool, and collected on his first drive as a starter. He connected with veteran wideout Konata Mumpfield for an 11 yard passing TD. “The first couple of drives we tried to figure it out, but we figured it out… I thought we got a hang of it” Said Burns when asked about Pitt’s offense.
Kent State’s first drive ended before it ever went underway. The Flashes were forced to punt as this led to disaster for Kent State. Desmond Reid returned the punt 78 yards for a 14 to nothing lead for the Panthers. This marked not just the first punt return of the season for Pitt, but the first one since 2022.
Kent State had to act fast if they planned on staying in this game and that’s exactly what the Flashes of Kent did. Seven plays into a drive deep in Panther territory, Kent State was in fear of stalling out with a fourth and medium situation in front of them. Devin Kargman delivered for the Flashes as he roped a ball to the middle of the field hitting Luke Floriea in stride for a 36 yard touchdown.
Pitt had two responses to Kent State that extended the Panther lead even further. A Derrick Davis two yard rushing touchdown and a Raphael Williams Jr reception for a touchdown.
Before the Davis touchdown, a targeting call was made against Kent that gave Pitt yardage and a fresh set of downs “Terrible situation for the kid but it was targeting, it was a good call” Said Burns when addressing the Targeting situation.
Kent finally got true moment at the end of the first half. A drive that stalled out on their own side of the field resulted in a strange touchdown. Kent State’s kick was fumbled by the Panthers as the ball dropped into the hands of Naim Muhammad. Muhammad proceeded to run the ball 34 yards to the endzone putting the Flashes down only by two touchdowns of a score of 28-14.
Pitt attempted to respond to Kent State as they drove deep into the redzone of the Flashes. Holstein delivers a ball on his backfoot that is intercepted by Alex Branch who ran the ball to Pitt’s side of the field. Kents drive ended in an interception that sent the game into half time.
Kent had a strong drive to start their half, a strong balance of runs and pass led the Flashes down the field and all they needed was a moment to give Chrishon McCray a shot at the end zone. McCray delivered as he hauled in the perfect pass from Kargman bringing the Flashes just a score away from evening up the score. “First half we weren’t being dudes… play makers showed up” Said Burns
The Flashes never got a chance to tie the game due to the Panthers offense being pitch perfect in the second half. Kent scored on a FG but couldn’t contain Pitt’s offense the remainder of the game. A 46 yard touchdown Rush from Reid, 10 yard and six yard receptions from Johnson and Williams extended the lead even further for Pitt.
Despite competing early into the second half, Coach Burns expressed displeasure on his teams performance “Unacceptable on every level, from start to finish” Kent State ran out of steam as the second half went on and their fate was eventually sealed
Kent State will attempt to bounce back next week at their home opener against St. Francis.
