Cougs Stall At Pitt Stop Late Td Gives Panthers 17-13 Win Over WSU And Its Struggling Offense

Broken containment translated cruelly into broken dreams for Washington State’s young football team Saturday night.

Pittsburgh quarterback John Ryan, showing the poise of the fifth-year senior he is, scrambled out of the pocket late in the fourth quarter and calmly floated a 6-yard touchdown pass to Dietrich Jells, giving the Panthers a 17-13 win over WSU in the season opener for both teams.

Ryan’s game-winning throw came with just 1:14 left and brought a thrilling and unlikely end to an intersectional matchup that had threatened to put 35,513 Pitt Stadium fans into a torpor by halftime.

WSU, after mustering only 144 yards of total offense through the first three quarters, looked like it might somehow survive 149 yards of penalties and some severe defensive growing pains when senior running back Frank Madu scored from 11 yards out late in the game.

Madu’s run over right tackle capped an impressive 80-yard drive and put the Cougars up 13-10 with 4:21 remaining.

But then Ryan, who kept the drive alive with the help of a fourth-down pass that was every bit as bizarre as it was gutsy, pushed his team 75 yards and into the end zone on its next possession to win it.

And he did it without any help from tailback Billy West, the Big East Conference’s offensive player of the year, who was sidelined early in the second quarter after separating his shoulder.

With West out of the picture, Ryan turned to Jells, another fifth-year senior, who responded with nine catches for 131 yards and two TDs.

His biggest came on Pittsburgh’s last offensive play when he sneaked away from WSU cornerback Brian Walker near the back of the end zone to pull down Ryan’s soft pass.

Jells ended up in single coverage when Cougars linebacker Chris Hayes, who was helping Walker on the double-team, broke coverage to stop Ryan from scrambling left.

“That was my man, I’ll take responsibility for that,” Walker said of Jell’s game-winning catch. “I came out of coverage and you’re suppose to stay disciplined on your man on a scramble.”

Nearly everyone in the Panthers’ corps of receivers seemed to have a hand in a strange fourth-down play that kept the winning drive alive.

Ryan, who completed 28 of 47 passes for 266 yards, was attempting to drill a pass over the middle to Sadiq Durham, but Cougars cornerback Greg Burns hit Durham from behind just before the ball arrived.

Flags dropped immediately and it looked like the Panthers were going to get the first down by penalty. But the ball bounced off Durham, tipped off the fingers of at least one WSU defender and possibly another Pitt receiver before ending up 12 yards downfield in the arms of Curtis Anderson.

That allowed Pitt to decline the pass interference penalty and take the play.

WSU coach Mike Price called it the key to the game.

“That fourth-and-7 play was a difficult call and an unusual play to say the least,” he said. “They showed a lot of guts by doing that and it worked out for them.”

The Cougars, who finished with 296 yards of total offense - just 48 fewer than Pitt, proved to be their own worst enemies, especially in the first half when penalties and poor field position limited their point production to a 32-yard Tony Truant field goal.

They did not make a first down until more than 4 minutes had elapsed in the second period and they finished a miserable 4 for 15 on third-down conversions.

The offensive struggles, which mirrored those of last season, were simply too much for WSU’s game, but untested, defense to overcome.

“I was kind of like a wasted first half offensively,” Price said. “Our defense played very well at times in the first half, but they just got tired at the end.”

“Penalties killed us,” said Davis, who completed 19 of 31 passes for 197 yards. “It was the first game of the year and the little mistakes we had we can’t afford to have.

“If you’re first-and-25 all day, you’re going to have a hard time scoring points, I don’t care who you are. But then Pitt’s returning nine starters on defense, too, so let’s not forget that. They’re not bad.”

Still, the Cougars had their chances - including a early scoring opportunity that slipped away when Davis fumbled the snap from center on a fourth-and-2 play from the Pitt 30.

The great field position had come courtesy of a Greg Burns interception - one of three the Cougars made on the day.

But it was wasted when Price elected to gamble on fourth down instead of trying a field goal.

That was one of two crucial decisions that didn’t work out.

The other came late in the third period when Price wasted a timeout to contemplate going for a touchdown on fourth down from the Pitt 2.

The Cougars had just driven 20 yards after Ken Moore jumped on a muffed Pittsburgh punt on the Panthers 22. But after an 8-yard pass from Davis to tight end Eric Moore moved the ball to the 2, Price burned his timeout and opted to have Truant kick the chip-shot field goal.

“I just didn’t know how far it was,” Price explained of his decision. “I was trying to figure out how close we were to the goal line, but it was just a little too far for us.

“Maybe if we do that one over again and kick the first field goal … who knows. There were those two plays where there were coaching decisions and we didn’t come out good enough to win, so that was my fault.”

As it turned out, the Cougars wasted their third time out of the second half to set up their defense for a second-and-8 play that hardly seemed critical at the time.

And the decision came back to haunt them when the offense was left without any timeouts while trying to answer Pitt’s final score in the final minute.

Davis moved the Cougars from their own 28 to the Panthers’ 48 but ran out of time and was forced to throw a desperation pass that was picked off in the final second.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo