YSU stuns Pitt
PITTSBURGH — Paul Chryst won over his players at Pittsburgh with a refreshing bluntness that has given the beleaguered program a sense of calm.
Winning games, apparently, is going to take a little while longer.
Maybe a lot longer.
Youngstown State spoiled Chryst’s debut with the Panthers, outclassing Pitt in nearly every area in an emphatic 31-17 upset on Saturday night.
“My hat goes off to Youngstown State,” Chryst said. “They are very well coach. They’re a good team. Tonight, they were the better team.”
Much better.
The Penguins, a Football Championship Subdivision program, beat a Bowl Championship Series team for the first time in school history behind an offense that frustrated the Panthers from the start.
Kurt Hess passed for 154 yards and two touchdowns and Andre Stubbs had 172 all-purpose yards and two scores for Youngstown State.
“In our locker room, we believed we could do it,” Hess said. “We believe in each other. It’s easily the biggest win of our careers.”
This wasn’t a last-second stunner. The Penguins never trailed, baffling Pitt with a spread offense that kept the Panthers off balance during a soggy night at Heinz Field. Youngstown State converted 11 of 16 third downs and held the ball for more than 35 minutes.
“I don’t want to take anything away from their victory, but that’s not the real Pitt out there,” said Panthers defensive back Andrew Taglianetti. “It’s definitely frustrating that you work so hard on first and second down and then third down comes up and they were converting them.”
Tino Sunseri threw for 239 yards and a score for Pitt, but the Panthers had no answer for the Penguins while losing to a FCS program for the first time.
Pitt committed two turnovers — including one by senior running back Ray Graham deep in Youngstown State territory — and couldn’t produce a big play when it needed one.
“I don’t feel like we were dominated,” Chryst said. “I don’t feel like we were getting hammered. But we did not dominate, by any means, either side of the ball.”
The Panthers brought in Chryst in January hoping the former Wisconsin offensive coordinator could bring a sense of calm to a program that went through three coaches in 15 months.
Graham returned from a torn ACL in his right knee that cut short his 2011 season to rush for 71 yards on 14 carries, but had the costly fumble and only broke one big run against a defense that struggled last season.
