Damon Ferguson Jr. rushed for a career-high 102 yards and a touchdown for the third straight game as Pittsburgh dominated on the ground and earned a 27-13 ACC victory over visiting Syracuse on Thursday night.
Filling in for Ja’Kyrian Turner for the second straight week, Ferguson had his first career 100-yard rushing game after the freshman had 59 yards in last week’s win over UCF.
The Panthers earned their 12th straight home victory over Syracuse and beat the Orange for the 21st time in the past 25 meetings.
Ferguson needed 10 attempts in the first big game of his collegiate career and highlighted things with a 32-yard run down the right sideline with 12:38 left in the second quarter that gave the Panthers (3-0, 2-0 ACC) a 14-0 lead two plays after Syracuse was called for pass interference and unsportsmanlike conduct.
Ferguson also had a 33-yard run in the third quarter that set up quarterback Mason Heintschel’s 9-yard TD that gave the Panthers a 24-10 lead after the extra point.
La’Vell Wright added 81 yards on the ground and his 2-yard TD opened the scoring with 3:16 left in the first quarter shortly after a holding penalty kept the drive alive.
Heintschel completed 10-of-23 passes for 123 yards and contributed 41 rushing yards while Antonio Chadha had a 42-yard field goal in the second quarter and a 34-yarder in the fourth.
The Panthers totaled 245 yards on the ground as coach Pat Narduzzi was on the sidelines for his 144th game, surpassing Jock Sutherland (1924-1938) for the most in school history.
Syracuse (1-2, 0-2) allowed the game’s first 17 points and committed ten penalties for 94 yards after committing 14 penalties in last week’s loss to California.
Steve Angeli completed 13-of-25 passes for 161 yards but threw two interceptions and faded after completing nine of his first 11 attempts. He was replaced by Amari Odom with 8:09 left and the Kennesaw State transfer completed all seven of his passes for 44 yards.
Ahmad Miller led the Orange with 78 rushing yards, including a 2-yard TD with 3:28 left in the second quarter. Shay Barker made a 42-yard field goal and a 30-yard field goal for his first two career field goals after Tripp Woody’s 29-yard try sailed well wide with 10 1/2 minutes left in the second.