The Pitt Panthers, powered by an air raid with Eli Holstein at the helm, defeated the Central Michigan Chippewas, 45-17, at Acrisure Stadium Saturday to improve to 2-0.
Holstein tied his career high for single-game passing touchdowns with four and completed 21 of 28 for 304 yards and an interception.
Ten different players caught passes. Holstein credited the success and the connection the players have with one another to their coachability and some solid scheming on the part of the coaching staff.
“We know what they’re doing before they even call it,” Holstein said. “Great calls today, just getting guys open. We’re able to go out there and execute. The chemistry that I have with all those receivers, and tight ends through the spring and summer, we are just comfortable with each other and the offense. Play fast, be physical and make some plays.”
The Panthers had a field day through the air with Poppi Williams tallying six receptions for 121 yards and two touchdowns. Williams caught a 48-yard scoring pass to put the game out of reach when Pitt went up 31-17.
Holstein’s connection with Williams is flourishing. Last season, Williams tallied 426 receiving yards and six touchdowns. He’s already rolled up 166 receiving yards in two games this season.
“We had a great camp, just creating a connection,” Williams said. “We must have that trust in each other. He knows where he wants me to be and where to get open. It’s about trust. I’m always open.”
Running back Desmond Reid hauled in five passes for 69 yards and ran for 46 yards on 10 carries.
Holstein found two tight ends for touchdowns with Justin Holmes and Josh Altsman both finding the end zone for the first time as collegiate receivers. Holstein did not throw a touchdown pass to a tight end all last season.
Altsman caught three passes for 31 yards and Holmes caught two passes for 25 yards.
Holstein saluted the work that the two tight ends have been doing so far on the season.
“Nobody deserves it more than those guys,” he said. “I’m happy to get those guys scores today.”
Pitt held CMU to 217 total yards while piling up 461, including 340 through the air.
Pitt threw the first punch with a three-minute drive that was capped by Holstein’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Williams.
After a Central Michigan field goal, Pitt extended its lead to 14-3 on a 74-yard drive that took just 79 seconds and concluded with Holstein’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Holmes. Holstein followed that with a 2-yard scoring pass to Altsman and Trey Butkowski’s 43-yard field goal made it 24-3.
Jordan Kwiatkowski picked off a Holstein pass and took it to the Panther 13 at the tail end of the first half, and Jadyn Glasser’s 2-yard touchdown run cut the lead to 24-10 at halftime.
Holstein was 19 of 25 for 216 yards and three touchdowns in the first half.
Central Michigan pulled to within 24-17 on a drive that consumed half the third quarter, but the Panthers responded quickly with a 35-second drive that was capped by Holstein’s 48-yard touchdown pass to Williams to make it 31-17.
Juelz Goff put the game away with a 2-yard touchdown run.
Redshirt freshman Zack Crothers led Pitt’s defensive charge with 1.5 sacks, two tackles for losses and seven total tackles.
“I think it just shows who we have on the defense,” Crothers said. “We’re all physical. We know we can stop the run, or just everyone. Everyone’s doing their job. We can game plan for that type of game, and we know how to play that.”
He and Rasheem Biles, who tallied 11 tackles total, helped shut down the run as Pitt limited the visitors to 84 yards.
“We just locked in on our keys for real,” Crothers said. “We knew that they were going to run the ball. We just had to get downhill. That was the focus.”
Crothers said playing Central Michigan was good preparation for next week’s Backyard Brawl meeting with West Virginia.
“They’re probably going to come out with the same mentality,” Crothers said. “They’re a great team. They’re going to come try and run it down their throat. We just have to stop it again.”
Photos by Mike Longo Jr.
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