University of Pittsburgh Athletics
No. 10 Hurricanes Blow Away Panthers, 45-0
9/28/1996 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
No. 10 Hurricanes Blow Away Panthers, 45-0
9/28/1996
MIAMI - Ryan Clement threw three touchdown passes and Tony Gaiter caught three scores as number 10 Miami (Florida) handed Pittsburgh its second straight monumental defeat, 45-0.
Miami (4-0, 2-0 Big East) posted its second straight shutout in its final tuneup for its October 12th showdown with archrival Florida State. The Hurricanes posted a 33-0 victory at Rutgers September 12th and have outscored its Big East opponents 78-0 in two games.
"We're as much on track as you can be this time of year," Miami coach Butch Davis said. "I give credit where it's due. Our kids worked hard in the off-season. We practice in the heat and our practices are physical. Subsequently, we're playing virtually the same guys that we did the beginning of the season."
Miami has allowed just 13 points this season and just one touchdown, a punt return score against The Citadel in its second game.
"We try not to ever let anyone score against us, especially in the red zone," Miami linebacker Twan Russell said. "Our defensive line has been getting upfield and applying pressure. That makes our job as linebackers easy."
Pittsburgh (1-4, 0-2) has been outscored 117-0 in the last two weeks after a school-worst 72-0 loss to Ohio State September 21st. The Panthers have been blanked three times this season, including a 34-0 defeat to West Virginia in the season opener, their other Big East game.
Miami was in control from start to finish, beating Pitt for the eighth straight time and taking a 15-8-1 edge in the all-time series. The Panthers have not defeated Miami since a 36-19 victory on October 16th, 1976.
Clement was 14-of-23 for 208 yards and was not intercepted.
"The first half went well for us," Clement said. "We did some things we wanted to do. Our offense has great depth and talent. We are going to be hard to stop this year."
Gaiter caught four passes for a career-high 135 yards as Miami held a 567-190 advantage in total offense.
"I wasn't nervous, I was excited, I was jacked up," said Gaiter of his first start. "This is what I have been asking for since I got here -- opportunity -- and today it came through."
"I'm not suprised at his performance," Davis said of Gaiter. "We expected this from Tony Gaiter following his performance during spring practice."
The Hurricanes threw for 353 yards and ran for 214 more, aided by Danyell Ferguson's 117 yards on 18 carries. Ferguson moved into second place on Miami's all-time rushing list with 2,039 yards and joined leader Ottis Anderson as Miami's only backs to run for more than 2,000 career yards. Anderson accrued 3,331 yards in his career.
Miami got 28 first downs to just nine for the Panthers and ran 16 more plays that Pitt. The Hurricanes averaged 7.9 yards per play to just 3.4 for the Panthers.
"They have a dominating defense," Pittsburgh coach Johnny Majors said. "They are much better than they were last year. I'm disappointed we lost to a much superior team."
"Our main objective was to come out and stop the run," Miami defensive end Kenard Lang said. "Once we stopped the run, the rest came easy, especially pass rushing."
Ferguson ran for an eight-yard touchdown 6:28 into the game to give the Hurricanes the lead for good. Miami gained 70 yards in 10 plays over 4:24 on the drive.
Clement connected with Gaiter on a 19-yard score to double the lead with 6:16 left in the second quarter and threw a 34-yard scoring strike to him to make it 21-0 with 96 seconds left in the opening half.
The drives took only a combined 4:50 off the clock, even though Miami ran 13 plays and gained a combined 148 yards on the marches.
Clement tossed a 17-yard TD pass to Nick Williams 3:05 into the third quarter and Scott Covington found Gaiter for a 65-yard score as Miami built the cushion to 35 points 6:16 into the second half.
Miami again flexed its muscle, as the drives used just 2:05 and covered 155 yards in only five plays. It was the Pittsburgh defense failing, as Miami had just one turnover against the Panthers offense, an interception.
Trent Jones exploded for a 33-yard touchdown run 87 seconds into the fourth quarter and freshman Andy Crosland added a 50-yard field goal with 50 seconds left for the final margin.
On the fourth-quarter drives, Miami held the ball for 16 plays and 7:29, gaining 87 yards.
Pete Gonzalez was 7-of-17 with one interception for 67 yards for Pittsburgh, which got 55 yards on five carries from Lafann Williams. Billy West added 42 yards on 11 carries as the Panthers ran for 134 yards.
"Losing here doesn't bother me at all," said backup quarterback Tony Zimmerman, who missed all four of his passes. "I came to Pitt to play."
NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
PITTSBURGH 0 0 0 0 0
MIAMI FLA (10) 7 14 14 10 45 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QTR: MFLA - TD, DANYELL FERGUSON 7 YD RUN (ANDY CROSLAND
KICK), 6:28
2ND QTR: MFLA - TD, TONY GAITER 19 YD PASS FROM RYAN CLEMENT (ANDY
CROSLAND KICK), 8:44
MFLA - TD, TONY GAITER 24 YD PASS FROM RYAN CLEMENT (ANDY
CROSLAND KICK), 13:24
3RD QTR: MFLA - TD, NICK WILLIAMS 10 YD PASS FROM RYAN CLEMENT
(ANDY CROSLAND KICK), 3:05
MFLA - TD, TONY GAITER 15 YD PASS FROM SCOTT COVINGTON
(ANDY CROSLAND KICK), 6:16
4TH QTR: MFLA - TD, TRENT JONES 33 YD PASS FROM SCOTT COVINGTON
(ANDY CROSLAND KICK), 1:27
MFLA - FG, ANDY CROSLAND 50 YD, 14:10
Pittsburgh Miami Fla
First downs 9 28
Rushed-yards 34-123 41-214
Passing yards 67 353
Sacked-yards lost 0-0 0-0
Return yards 2 32
Passes 7-22-1 20-31-0
Punts 6-47.3 3-41.3
Fumbles-lost 3-0 5-1
Penalties-yards 4-36 10-80
Time of possession 28:08 31:52
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Pittsburgh-L Williams 5-55, West 11-42, Duck 8-17,
Schneider 3-10, K Thompson 2-4, Gonzalez 1-3, Dinkins 1-2,
Beasley 1-0, Zimmerman 2-minus 10. Miami Fla-Ferguson 18-117, T
Jones 8-62, Mcmillan 10-35, Russell 1-6, Williams 1-2, Bippen
1-2, Joseph 1-0, Covington 1-minus 10.
PASSING: Pittsburgh-Gonzalez 7-17-1-67, Zimmerman 0-4-0-0,
Schneider 0-1-0-0. Miami Fla-Clement 14-23-0-208, Covington
6-8-0-145.
RECEIVING: Pittsburgh-Schneider 2-13, Hoffart 1-25, Butler
1-12, L Williams 1-9, Jones 1-6, Dinkins 1-2. Miami Fla-T
Gaiter 4-135, Chambers 3-40, Ferguson 3-33, Benton 3-19, Joseph
2-44, T Jones 1-25, Fulcher 1-19, Williams 1-17, Daphnis 1-13,
Popovich 1-8.
Att: 32,747
