The Pittsburgh Panthers closed out their regular season today against the 9-and-1 Louisville Cardinals, falling to the visiting Southern team, 48-24. The Panther finish with a .500 season at 6-6. Though a bowl bid is a possibility, at this point for the Panthers, it is a distant possibility—and that distant possibility may be in Canada, at the International Bowl.

One bright spot was Tyler Palko, whose 307 yards of passing offense put him past Dan Marino to take second place among Pitt’s all-time career total offense leaders, behind Alex Van Pelt.

Former Kiski Area players Scott McKillop and Adam Gunn each had two tackles. Both play behind senior standouts.

Pitt Seniors were honored on Senior Night at the beginning of the game. Coach Dave Wannstedt said, "I take my hat off to all the seniors, they are a very special group of guys, there just wasn't enough of them...this is a small group of seniors, and next year we have a small group coming up also. This is going to be a tough off-season. There are a lot of things that need to get done and we need to bring along our kids at a fast pace...The last five games we had a chance for us to make a play that would have made a difference in that game, but we just didn't make it."

Wannstedt was asked about a possible bowl bid. He replied, "If we got offered a bowl, that would be great because of the extra practice for the young guys on the team and it would be a great reward for the seniors."

H.B. Blades said, "I lost my last game and I want to go out a winner. For me that is the reward of a bowl game: the opportunity to have one more chance."

When asked about what legacy he left behind for the team, Blades added, "I believe I left a legacy of hard work, but it is time for the young times to play. It is time for Scott McKillop to get on the field. He's worked hard and I can't wait to see him play next year."

Pitt fumbled on its first possession after getting a first down. Louisville tried to recover the fumble but wound up kicking the ball around. It looked like they never picked it up to gain possession and the replay on the jumbotron seemed to confirm it. The officials, closer to the play however, saw it differently. They called it a fumble recovery by the Cardinals. In the Big East conference, officials can review a play, and to the crowd’s relief, they did review it.

They still called the play a fumble recovery for Louisville, who promptly marched the ball down the field for a TD, the first of the game. The Cards were up 7-0.

The Panthers started the next drive at the 20yrd line. They drove it back 13 plays and 80 yards, answering with a touchdown on a 6-yrd carry by LaRod Stephens-Howling. It made the score 7-7.

A Pitt fumble recovery by Sam Bryant 2 plays later on the Louisville 21yrd line put the Panthers in scoring position again. A gadget play which saw Derek Kinder take a reverse from Pitt QB Tyler Palko and pass it to Oderick Turner resulted in a Panther 21-yrd touchdown. Pitt took the lead 14-7.

Louisville came back but had to kick a field goal, making the score 14-10 at the beginning of the second quarter. Pitt ran a series of downs but were unable to score. It would result in a punt to the Cards the next quarter.

After the Panthers relinquished the ball at the start of the second, Louisville’s quarterback, Brian Brohm, completed a 42yrd pass to Mario Urrutia for a touchdown, putting the Cardinals up by 3, 17-14. 5 minutes and 20 seconds later the Panthers had pushed to the Louisville 13 but had to settle for a field goal. However, the game was now tied.

Louisville took 8 plays to break the tie. It wore almost 4 minutes off the clock and put them up by a touchdown, 24 to 17. The ball traded sides 3 more times but neither team was able to add any more points to the board that half.

Pitt closed the half with 161yrds passing, compared to Louisville’s 183yrds passing. Neither team burned up the field with the running game during the half. Louisville totaled 57 yards rushing and Pitt followed up with 44 yards on the half. Louisville had a slight edge in some halftime stats, but was fairly even in most of the statistical categories.

Seven minutes into the second half, Louisville put seven on the board, and suddenly the Cardinals were up 31-17. An interception one play later again put the ball into the hands of the visiting Southerners, who took only 4 plays in a minute and a half to notch another TD on their belt. The Panthers trailed 38-17 at the end of the third quarter.

A Louisville field goal 2 minutes into the 4th quarter made the score 41-17. Pitt refused to give up, however, and answered 5 plays and 1 and a half minutes later with a Palko-to-Oderick Turner 21yrd TD. It was now Louisville 41, Pittsburgh 24.

The two teams traded possessions a few times until Tyler Palko interception turned the ball over to the Cards, who used it to set up a 75-yrd touchdown pass. With 5:54 left in the game put the Cardinals way out of reach of the Panthers, who would end the game losing 48-24.

Nearly 42000 were attendance at the afternoon game.