Pitt vs. Bowling Green State University. Number 40 is Scott McKillop.

It wasn’t the opening they were expecting. The Pitt Panthers were taken by surprise Saturday, August 30, by Bowling Green State University at Heinz Field. The Bowling Green Falcons, a favorite in the MAC conference, smacked Pittsburgh with a 27-17 loss that jolted the Pitt players and coaches.

"To say the least, I can't tell you how disappointed our football team is considering how much work and effort was put into the start of the season,” Coach Dave Wannstedt said. “I thought our players came out and were ready to play."

"[But] Working hard just gives you a chance to win. It doesn't guarantee anything. I told the players this is the lesson to learn from this game."

Coach Dave Wannstedt

Middle linebacker (and Kiski Area grad) Scott McKillop and running back LeSean McCoy were quick to shoulder the blame.

"Our offense didn't perform as well as we'd like to today, but there are two sides to that,” McKillop noted. “When adversity hits, the entire defense along with myself personally as a leader, needs to step up and make plays." Scott McKillop was the number two leader on the team in tackles for the game, with six (three solo and three assisted.) Austin Ransom was number one with seven tackles.

McCoy pointed the finger at himself as well, saying "We made a lot of mistakes today especially by putting the ball on the ground. I'll take the blame on that. Their (Bowling Green) defense had my number. Give them credit."

Pitt jumped out to a 14-0 nothing lead but Bowling Green countered in the second quarter with gadget plays and misdirection that resulted in the game being tied, until three seconds left in the first half. Coach Wannstedt pointed out in his post-game conference that his team was aware of some of Bowling Green’s trick plays, preparing for them, but were caught off-guard at the brand new ones. Pitt kicked a field goal with three seconds left to go into the conference with a 17-14 lead.

"In the first half, we felt like we did what we had to do to win the game,” Wannstedt said. “Then, we made some mistakes. They gave us some unusual situations that we knew they would do and we had a tough time adjusting to them. We had some mistakes due to inexperience which is going to happen and that was the difference in the ballgame."

"There was consideration to go for it on fourth down in the first half. I thought we were playing good defense. We played a field position game. I didn't want to give the ball to their offense. With their history, they are a veteran group and they know what they are doing."

Kiski Area grad Scott McKillop

McKillop, a game captain, added, "We came out in the first quarter and played well. In the second quarter, Bowling Green came out with a little more flash to their offense. They went to a quick hurry-up offense and caught us off guard. We have to come up with big stops."

"We can't let them score like they did today in the red zone. If we played better in that aspect of the game, I think the result would have obviously been a lot better."

"To be a good defense we need to keep teams out of our end zone and not give up more than three points. We need to come in tomorrow, look at the film and see what we did well and didn't do well and improve on that."

Franklin Regional grad John Malecki (74) started his first game at Pitt

"We were a minus-3 in turnover margin and we've been saying all preseason and even last season, whoever wins the turnover margin is usually going to win the game. It's something we need to work on."

Fellow Kiski Area grad Adam Gunn, in his last year (as well as McKillop), had four tackles (two solo, two assisted) and one quarterback hurry before being injured after forcing a fumble. Gunn suffered a concussion but was not taken to the hospital.

Franklin Regional product John Malecki, an offensive guard, started his first game at Pitt.

Bowling Green Head Coach Gregg Brandon said “Our players came out fired up from the start and played hard the whole way…It was a bit of a struggle for our offense in that first quarter, but I thought if we could hang in there on the scoreboard then we could get some things going. We had a lot of stuff in our offensive game plan, easily the most ever for an opening game. With all the new motions and formations, I think it took a little time for our players to get in sync. But once that happened we really got on a roll."

“We blitzed on almost every single play. Give a lot of credit to our defensive coordinator. He was down on the sideline dialing up new schemes and formations for our guys and I thought that was really the difference in shutting down their running game."

"I give a lot of credit to their defensive line. That's an immensely talented and physical group. I thought our offensive line did a masterful job against them, especially after the first quarter. I think there might have been some opening day jitters at first, but after that we were really able to step up and handle what they threw at us."

Pitt is now 0-1 for the season, and 25-3 against MAC opponents.