Pitt
Grambling St.
Pittsburgh Downs Grambling State, 34-10
9/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 8, 2007
Preview Coach Wannstedt's Post-Game Press Conference - FREE Coach Wannstedt's Post-Game Press Conference Highlights from the Game
Quotes | Notes | AP Photo Gallery 
| Mike Drazdzinski Gallery | Joe Kapelewski Gallery
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- LeSean McCoy ran for three touchdowns on his first four carries in the first quarter and Kevan Smith threw for 202 yards and a score in his first career start, helping Pittsburgh quickly open a 21-point lead during a 34-10 victory over Grambling State on Saturday.
Smith became the second Pitt quarterback to win his initial start in as many weeks, throwing a 50-yard touchdown pass to tight end Nate Byham in the second quarter and connecting with Oderick Turner on a 61-yard completion in the third quarter that led to a Conor Lee field goal.
Smith, a redshirt freshman, replaced Bill Stull, who was lost for at least a month with a torn ligament in his right thumb during a season-opening 27-3 victory over Eastern Michigan. Smith (15-of-22, 1 interception) had thrown only four passes in his career, all of them last week, before beating out freshman Pat Bostick in practice to make the start.
McCoy, one of Pitt's most promising running back recruits since Curtis Martin, ran for 107 yards on 19 carries and scored Pitt's first three touchdowns in his second college game.
McCoy, a freshman from Harrisburg, Pa., was one of the nation's most recruited running backs two years ago. The fourth game of his high school senior season, he broke his right ankle, badly tearing a ligament.
The extensive rehabilitation required after that injury led McCoy to spend last season at a prep school before he signed with Pitt (2-0). He is off to a promising start at Pitt, with 175 yards in his first two games.
The last Pitt freshman to run for at least 100 yards was LaRod Stephens-Howling with 105 yards against Syracuse in 2005. Stephens-Howling was Pitt's starter last week and gained 67 yards but, with McCoy running so well, got the ball only three times against Grambling (1-1).
Grambling's speed was a worry to Pitt -- the Tigers were coming off a 31-10 victory over Alcorn State in coach Rod Broadway's debut -- but that didn't prove a factor. A blocked punt and an interception led to two of McCoy's touchdown runs and a 21-0 Pitt lead with 11 minutes gone.
The Tigers also hurt themselves with 108 yards of penalties. They also failed to score three times after moving the ball inside the Pitt 10 during the second half.
McCoy didn't have problems with Heinz Field's notoriously slippery grass or a steady rain that lasted until just before halftime. He ran for 25 yards on his first carry before gaining 17 yards on a swing pass from Smith. McCoy later scored from the 5.
After Pitt's Brian Kaiser blocked Tim Manuel's punt, McCoy scored on Pitt's next play from the 7 with slightly less than six minutes left in the first quarter. McCoy scored again, on a 13-yard run, less than two minutes later after Eric Thatcher intercepted Brandon Landers' pass. Landers was 19-of-40 for 155 yards and three interceptions.
Despite getting into the end zone whenever he got close in the first quarter, McCoy didn't get the ball on any of Pitt's three plays after a Mike Phillips interception at the Grambling 4 late in the second half. Pitt settled for Lee's 20-yard field goal.
