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Pittsburgh upsets No. 23 Cincinnati

Oct 20, 2007 - 9:45 PM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Pittsburgh continues to dominate Cincinnati.

LaRod Stephens-Howling carried 13 times for 100 yards and ran for the game-winning touchdown as Pittsburgh stunned 23rd-ranked Cincinnati, 24-17, in Big East Conference action Saturday.

In addition to snapping a four-game losing streak and securing their first conference win this season, the Panthers (3-4, 1-1 Big East) improved to 7-0 in the all-time series against Cincinnati (6-2, 1-2).

"What you saw out there today was a poorly coached football team, and that stops and starts with me," Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly said. "We were poorly prepared and we didn't execute in any facet of our game ... That was a sloppy game by a poorly coached team. It stops and starts with me and I deserve all the criticism."

Short touchdown runs by quarterback Ben Mauk and Doug Jones staked the Bearcats to a 17-10 halftime lead.

But Pittsburgh played stingy defense in the second half, and a pair of field goals from Conor Lee made it 17-16 with just over 11 minutes to play in regulation.

After seeing its lead cut to one, Cincinnati appeared to be getting in rhythm on its next offensive drive.

However, running back Butler Benton fumbled after racing 24 yards on a screen pass, and Kennard Cox recovered for the Panthers at their own 39.

"I thought the entire defense played phenomenal," said Pittsburgh quarterback Pat Bostick, who finished 18-of-29 for 167 with one touchdown and an interception. "They made a couple really big plays and put us in a position to win. This was a great performance by the entire team."

Pittsburgh spent the next five minutes marching toward the Bearcats' end zone and took its first lead of the game at 5:03 when Stephens-Howling scored on a seven-yard run. Bostick then connected with Oderick Turner on the two-point conversion to make it 24-17.

"The touchdown felt great to be able to run up the middle and break some tackles," Stephens-Howling said. "I knew I could do it all along and I'm glad they had the confidence in me to do it."

The Bearcats' hopes of tying the game faded when cornerback Aaron Berry intercepted Mauk with 2:48 remaining.

When Panthers running back LeSean McCoy rushed for a first down on critical 3rd-and-3 with just over two minutes to play, the Bearcats - out of timeouts - had no hope.

McCoy finished with 140 yards on 25 carries, which marked the first time since 1988 that two Pittsburgh running backs surpassed the 100-yard mark in the same game.

"I attribute two backs running for 100 yards to us playing awful football," Kelly said. "Don't get me wrong, LeSean McCoy is heck of a back and LaRod Stephens-Howling played a great game.

"But at the end of the day, we were poorly prepared and executed at a very low level."

McCoy, who ran for 165 yards and three touchdowns in a loss to Navy on October 10, has rushed for 828 yards and nine touchdowns this season. The freshman is on pace to become the Panthers' first 1000-yard rusher since Kevan Barlow in 2000.

"It's big to have two runners over 100 yards," McCoy said. "LaRod motivates me all the time. I know how good he is."

Darrell Strong hauled in the lone touchdown pass for Pittsburgh, whose coach, Dave Wannstedt, handled his duties from a coaching box after tearing his left Achilles' tendon Tuesday. The former NFL coach had never beaten a ranked team prior to Saturday.

"Our guys came out today, and I am going to give the credit to the seniors because that's where I think it starts," Wannstedt said. "They did everything they could do to try and win this football game."

Mauk was 21-of-32 for 237 yards with an interception in the loss and also carried 10 times for 97 yards, including his one-yard touchdown.

"We shot ourselves in the foot today with penalties (12 for 98 yards) for sure, but there were a lot of things that went wrong," Mauk said. "There were a lot of missed reads and missed assignments throughout the game. Give Pitt credit, but we really hurt ourselves."

This was the second straight defeat for Cincinnati, which had won nine consecutive games before losing to Louisville last weekend.

That defeat caused the Bearcats to fall from from 15th to 23rd in the rankings, and Saturday's upset is certain to send the team tumbling out of the top 25.

"Last week, we talked about putting forth a great effort and just coming up short," Kelly said. "When you lose two weeks in a row, it's time to stop talking about effort and time to start looking at your play."