No One Has News Tip On Pass

There was some crack investigative reporting going on following Pittsburgh’s 17-13 win over Washington State on Saturday night.

Writers and broadcasters were trying desperately to make sense out of a bizarre fourth-down pass play that played a major role in the game’s outcome.

Unfortunately, not even the players involved could come up with a consensus explanation of exactly what happened when Panthers quarterback John Ryan’s fourth-and-7 pass from his own 28-yard line bounced off intended receiver Sadiq Durham and into the arms of teammate Curtis Anderson, hitting at least one WSU defender along the way.

The play helped prolong the game-winnig drive that ended with Ryan completing a 6-yard touchdown pass to Dietrich Jells with 1:14 left in the game.

“I don’t know what happened,” WSU cornerback Greg Burns said of the strange fourth-down play.

Burns didn’t recall if he touched the ball while trying to defend against Durham. Brian Walker, the Cougars’ other cornerback, thought he might have tipped it, but wasn’t sure.

And almost everyone who saw the play agreed that one of WSU’s safeties - either Terrell or Derek Henderson - got a hand on the ball.

“I remember the ball was tipped and I actually went to (tackle) the wrong man,” said Walker, who ended up recovering and getting downfield to help put the stop on Anderson after a 12-yard gain.

The only certainty was that the Panthers were going to get a first down no matter what, because at least two officials had thrown penalty flags after Burns interfered with Durham.

“I got there early,” Burns admitted. “I knew it was going to be a PI (pass interference). I was trying to time it, but I swiped down too early.

“I guess the ball popped into the air after that and when I looked up, No. 23 (Anderson) had the ball and was running it.”

WSU coach Mike Price called it the key play of the game because it helped Pitt answer the go-ahead touchdown his team had scored less than 3 minutes earlier.

Ryan said he was surprised that his coach, Johnny Majors, gambled from his own territory with more than 3 minutes remaining.

“I didn’t think he would go for it,” Ryan said. “I thought there was enough time on the clock to punt.

“After the throw, I saw the hit, then the flag, and I knew it was pass interference.”

No Billy Ball

Pitt coach Majors seems like a realist, for when running back Billy West - the Big East Conference offensive player of the year - suffered a separated shoulder early in the second quarter, the Panthers didn’t carry on any masquerade. The running game was, for all purposes, shelved.

Backups Chris Patton and Demetrius Harris managed 61 yards on 14 carries, but Pitt ran the ball only 11 times in the second half.

“Patton is a tough player,” said Majors, “and he did well while he was in there. But we’ve got a rebuilt offensive line and we have a guy moved from defense to offense who had three procedure penalties, so it was tough to run. Even when West was in there, there was not much daylight. So we looked to pass.”

And quarterback John Ryan came up with a 266-yard passing day - only USC’s Rob Johnson had better numbers against WSU a year ago while Jells caught eight balls and became Pitt’s all-time receiving yardage leader.

“I knew that West was out and the pressure would be on the receiving corps,” said Jells.

No rush

For the first time since the loss at Tennessee in last season’s fourth game, the Cougars defense failed to record a sack - and rarely put any pressure on Ryan.

“He had all day to throw it,” admitted defensive coordinator Bill Doba, “but in fairness to our guys, he was throwing quick slants and ‘90’ routes, which is virtually impossible to get any sacks out of.

“So we tried to cover - five, six guys, whatever we had.”

Dwayne Sanders, WSU’s only veteran defensive lineman, was also slowed by the flu, so at times the line was manned by three rookies - Da’vid Evans, Gary Holmes and Darryl Jones - and sophomore Shane Doyle, who made his first collegiate start.

Who’s No. 1?

Pitt has won nine national football championships of various varieties - sixth all-time behind Notre Dame, Yale, Princeton, USC and Alabama. Interestingly, the first of those came in 1915, when the Panthers went 8-0 under Glenn “Pop” Warner - the same year Washington State ran the table at 7-0, including a Rose Bowl victory over another Eastern power, Brown.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo