Pitt (6-0) and Syracuse (5-1) met for a huge ACC contest on Thursday night, and the No. 19-ranked Panthers delivered quite an emphatic statement in the first half. The Pitt defense intercepted Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord four times, returning three of them for touchdowns.
The turnover parade started on Syracuse’s opening possession when Rasheem Biles jumped an out route and returned it 35 yards for the game’s first score.
Later in the quarter, with Pitt already leading 10-0, Kyle Louis joined in for the Pitt defense by intercepting McCord and returning it 59 yards for the second defensive touchdown.
The third pick-six came from Braylan Lovelace when he intercepted a tipped screen pass and returned it 33 yards for a touchdown to give Pitt a 31-0 first half lead.
McCord entered Thursday’s game as one of the top quarterbacks in the country this season and had only been intercepted six times on his first 282 passing attempts. He also had 19 touchdowns in helping the Orange race out to a really strong start.
The first half showed none of that improvement.
Pitt is the first team since Florida Atlantic University in 2005 to have three interceptions returned for a touchdown in a single half.
Along with the interceptions, Pitt’s pass rush also kept McCord on the run the entire first half while the Panthers also had at least two other potential interceptions dropped.
In total, McCord threw five interceptions.
Syracuse went on to lose, 13-41. Pitt remains unbeaten at 7-0, while the Orange fell to 5-2.
