Pittsburgh Defeats Rutgers, 42-32

10/19/2003

Larry Fitzgerald finished with eight catches for a career-high 207 yards and two TDs.

PISCATAWAY- Larry Fitzgerald continued to move up in every Pittsburgh all-time receiving category with a career day, while Rod Rutherford had another career game himself as Pittsburgh defeated Rutgers, 42-32, before 28,101 fans at Rutgers Stadium.

            With 207 yards receiving today and two touchdowns, Fitzgerald is now tied for second all-time with nine 100-yard receiving games for Pittsburgh, trailing Antonio Bryant, who had 13 100-yard receiving games. His 207 yards receiving are also a career high.

            As for Rutherford, he had 381 yards passing, a new career high, while throwing for three touchdowns and running for one touchdown as well. With Rutherford?s four touchdowns on the day, he now has 22 total touchdowns, passing and running, on the season.

            The Panthers got the scoring started early. After receptions of 17 and 40 yards from Ruterford to Fitzgerald, Jawan Walker ran six yards into the end zone for his first career touchdown, giving Pittsburgh a 7-0 lead. He would later add a second touchdown on a 55-yard run down the left sideline. Walker finished the day with 17 rushes for 81 yards.

            Later in the quarter Rutherford hit Kris Wilson in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown reception. The touchdown was Wilson?s fourth of the year and it gave Pittsburgh a 14-0 lead.

            Rutgers got on the board on the first play of the second quarter on a one-yard pass from Ryan Hart to Brian Leonard to cut the Panther lead to 14-7. The Scarlet Knights put themselves in position to score on the final play of the first quarter when Hart hit tight end Ray Pilch for a 66-yard completion.

            Later in the quarter, on an Andy Lee punt, Rutgers fumbled the ball and Lewis Moore recovered for Pittsburgh. Seven plays later, Rutherford ran in a touchdown from five yards out, his first rushing touchdown of the year, and it gave the Panthers a 21-7 lead.

            Fitzgerald kept his consecutive games with a touchdown streak alive on the Panthers next offensive possession. Rutherford found Fitzgerald in the end zone for a 43-yard touchdown reception. This marks the 12^th consecutive game Fitzgerald has found the end zone, one shy of the Big East record of 13 consecutive games. The Rutherford-Fitzgerald tandem struck again minutes later on a 26-yard touchdown to give Pittsburgh a 35-7 lead.

            At halftime, Rutherford was 20-28 passing with 347 yards, three passing touchdowns and one running touchdown. Fitzgerald had eight catches for an already career high 207 yards and two touchdowns, giving Pittsburgh a 42-7 lead.

            In the third quarter, Rutgers attempted to get back in the game. Justin Hairston ran in a touchdown from four yards away. The extra-point attempt was blocked by J.J. Horne. Then, with three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Leonard finished off a 70-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown reception, his second of the game, to cut the Panther lead to 42-20.

But Rutgers wasn?t done. On the ensuing Pittsburgh possession, Rutherford fumbled the handoff, and the Scarlet Knights recovered. Leonard scored his third touchdown of the game on a seven yard run. The two point conversion failed but Rutgers was back in the game trailing 42-26 after three quarters.

Late in the fourth quarter, Rutgers kept marching closing to the Panthers. Leonard scored his second rushing touchdown of the game and fourth touchdown of the game overall on a one-yard touchdown run. Once again the two-point conversion failed, but the Scarlet Knights were within 10, 42-32.

With two and a half minutes remaining, Rutgers got the ball back on their own 31-yard line. However, Tez Morris came up with an interception as Rutgers tried to throw downfield, and the Panthers held on to win 42-32.

Pittsburgh (4-2, 1-0) will be back home next Saturday to take on Syracuse (4-2, 1-1) for their homecoming game at noon in Heinz Field.

Pittsburgh vs. Rutgers

October 19, 2003

Game Notes:

?    Larry Fitzgerald now has recorded at least one touchdown in his last 12 games. The NCAA record is 13 held by Charles Rogers of Michigan State.

?    Larry Fitzgerald finished with eight receptions for 207 yards and two touchdowns. The 207 yards receiving are a new career high and now Fitzgerald has 114 career receptions, placing him eighth on the school?s all-time list. Fitzgerald now has 1,874 yards receiving in his career ranking him sixth on the all-time Pittsburgh list.

?    Larry Fitzgerald?s 13 touchdowns this season ties the Big East record for touchdown receptions in a season with Pittsburgh's Terry Murphy.

?    With 207 yards receiving, this marks the fifth time this season, and ninth time in his career that Larry Fitzgerald has recorded 100 yards receiving, tying him for second on Pittsburgh?s all-time 100-yard receiving games with Latef Grim and Dietrich Jells. Only Antonio Bryant has more with 13. Fitzgerald is fourth all-time in the Big East in this category behind Bryant, Marvin Harrison of Syracuse, and Andre Davis of Virginia Tech.

?    Rod Rutherford recorded his first rushing touchdown of the season, a 5-yard run in the second quarter. His four touchdowns on the day (three passing, one rushing) give him 22 total touchdowns for the season.

?    With 381 yards passing today, Rod Rutherford now ranks fourth on Pittsburgh?s all-time passing yards list with 4,764 yards passing. With three passing touchdowns today, this marks the fifth time in the past six games that Rutherford has thrown for at least three touchdowns.

?    Pittsburgh is now 19-6 (.760) in their last 25 games.

?    Pittsburgh has now scored in 82 consecutive games, the second-longest streak amongst Big East members behind Virginia Tech (102 games).

?    Pittsburgh has now won six consecutive times against Rutgers and 18 of the past 21 meetings.

?    Pittsburgh is now 5-2 in Big East openers under Head Coach Walt Harris.

?    The Panthers have won 10 of their past 13 road games and are 2-1 on the road this season.

?    Greg Lee saw his first career action while making his first career start at wide receiver for Pittsburgh and recorded his first career reception.

?    Jawan Walker?s six-yard touchdown run in the first quarter was his first of his career. He added another touchdown of 55-yards later in the second quarter.

?    Shawntae Spencer?s fumble recovery in the first quarter was his second of the season.

?    Yogi Roth?s 20-yard reception in the first quarter tied the longest of his career.

?    Lewis Moore?s fumble recovery in the second quarter was his third of the season to lead the team.

?    Kris Wilson?s nine catches for 110 yards are both career highs.

?    With both Kris Wilson and Larry Fitzgerald having over 100-yards receiving, this marks the second time in three games the Panthers have had two players in one game with over 100-yards receiving. Larry Fitzgerald (135 yards) and Princeell Brockenbrough (100 yards) each had over 100-yards receiving against Texas A&M on September 27, 2003.

?    J.J. Horne blocked a Rutgers extra-point attempt for his first career block. It is the first blocked extra-point since Joe Conlin blocked an extra-point in the Tangerine Bowl in 2001.

?    H.B. Blades recorded his first career fumble recovery in the fourth quarter.

?    Tez Morris and William ?Tutu? Ferguson recorded their first interceptions of the season.

University of Pittsburgh Athletics

Pittsburgh Defeats Rutgers, 42-32

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