By Dave Holcomb
SouthernPigskin.com

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Pitt took its first lead over Eastern Michigan on a Kenny Pickett game-winning touchdown pass to Taysir Mack with 47 seconds remaining. The Panthers defeated the Eagles, 34-31.

If Eastern Michigan had possessed the lead for one more minute in Thursdays Quick Lane Bowl, the Eagles would have led wire-to-wire over Pitt. Instead, the Panthers won their first bowl game under fifth-year head coach Pat Narduzzi.

Pitt took its first lead over Eastern Michigan on a Kenny Pickett game-winning touchdown pass to Taysir Mack with 47 seconds remaining. The Panthers defeated the Eagles, 34-31.

The score gave Pitt its sixth one-possession victory of the season and first bowl win since 2013. More importantly, it could launch Pitt to bigger and better things next year.

Down by three, it seemed as though the Panthers were about to have their most important possession of the game starting with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. Fortunately for Pitt, it didnt turn out to be the teams most vital drive because Pickett and the offense went three-and-out.

The third-down play was particularly agonizing, as the Panthers ran quickly up to the line of scrimmage to run a simply bubble screen on third-and-1. The result was a two-yard loss and Pitt punted with under five minutes left.

Pitts defense, though, wouldnt let that be the teams final opportunity to kick the game-winning field goal. A quick three-and-out from Eastern Michigan gave Pitt another possession with 2:37 remaining.

Pickett had a terrific night and was at his best on the last drive. He connected for three passes of at least 15 yards, including two going for more than 20. Pickett struck Mack for a 25-yard touchdown to give Pitt a four-point lead. Mack made the catch, a beautiful adjustment to a nice throw, despite getting interfered with on the route.

The game-winning drive was icing on the cake for Pickett in his best game of the season. He finished with a season-high 9.3 yards per attempt, throwing for 361 yards and three touchdowns. It was the first time this season he had three touchdowns with zero interceptions.

96 of Picketts passing yards came on one deep touchdown toss to Maurice Ffrench in the second quarter. At the time, Pitt trailed 10-3 and wasnt showing much interest in winning the bowl game, but the big play, the longest pass in program history, ignited the Panthers offense for the remainder of the night.

Ffrench led Pitt with 12 receptions and 165 yards along with the touchdown. This performance gave Ffrench 96 catches this season, which broke Larry Fitzgeralds individual season record of 92 receptions from 2003.

The Pitt faithful shouldnt get too carried away with the junior quarterbacks tremendous play Thursday, as it came against a below .500 MAC team, but the Panthers can be excited about Pickett continuing his development into 2020.

In his final four games of the year, Pickett completed about 63 percent of his passes for 7.8 yards per attempt, four touchdowns and one interception. He had three 300-yard games during that stretch.

For Eastern Michigan, its the second straight year with the Eagles giving up a bowl lead in the final minute and losing. Last year, they fell to Georgia Southern on a 40-yard field goal during the last seconds.

Eagles quarterback Mike Glass III accounted for nearly 400 yards of offense and three touchdowns, which also moved him into the school record book. Glass surpassed Charlie Batchs single-season Eastern Michigan record of 3,390 total yards of offense, which he set in 1997.

But Glass night ended in defeat and a shocking ejection. Before facing fourth-and-10 with 10 seconds left, Glass struck a Pitt defender in the head and hit a referee while taking another swing at a second Panthers player.

Because of the ejection, backup quarterback Preston Hutchinson was pressed into duty for the fourth-down attempt and threw an incomplete pass, essentially ending the game. While their odds of a comeback were extremely slim, Glass temporary lapse in judgement really hurt his team, and it ended his historic season on a ginormous negative note.

On top of that, that will be the seniors final time on a college field. Glass should be remembered for all the great things he did this year and during his career, but what a horrible way to go out.

It was the exact opposite for Pickett, though, as he saved his best for the very last. Looking ahead to next season, his improvement late in the year should give Pitt plenty of hope in the division race of the crazy Coastal next fall.