Game Stats (pdf)PITTSBURGH (AP) -- For the second-straight contest early turnovers proved to be too much for the USF (3-3, 1-1 BIG EAST) football team to overcome, this time resulting in a 31-17 loss at Pittsburgh in league action Saturday on the road.
Pitt (3-4, 2-1 in Big East), winning consecutive games for the first time under Wannstedt, fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter following a blocked punt and a fumble by Palko, only to surge back with three touchdowns in a six-minute span in the second quarter.
Palko, who threw for 411 yards and five touchdowns in a 43-14 win over USF in Tampa last season, found Greg Lee on a 69-yard scoring pass play on the opening play of the second quarter, then hit Lee again for 41 yards to the Bulls' 3 following a Darrelle Revis fumble recovery. Palko then threw a 3-yard scoring pass to fullback Tim Murphy to make it 14-10.
Another USF fumble, this one by quarterback
Pat Julmiste, was recovered by J.J. Horne and returned eight yards to the Bulls 12, and Palko later ran it in from a yard out to put the Panthers up 21-10 with nearly nine minutes left in the second quarter.
USF got back to 21-17 on a Jumiste-to-
Andre Hall scoring pass play of 76 yards, but another fumble by a Bulls quarterback, this time by backup
Courtney Denson, was returned by Bernard "Josh" Lay to the Bulls 8. Palko then found tight end Darrell Strong on an 8-yard TD pass late in the third quarter.
Hall, the Big East's leading rusher coming into the game with 519 yards in five games, had a combined 210 yards with 19 carries for 79 yards and a game-high 131 yards on seven receptions. But his big game couldn't prevent USF's second loss in a row since the Bulls upset then-No. 9 Louisville 45-14 on Sept. 24.
Freshman LaRod Stephens-Howling led Pitt with 91 yards on 14 carries, with most of his yardage coming in the second half as the Panthers mostly kept the ball on the ground to preserve their lead.
The game was USF's first in Pittsburgh since Sept. 8, 2001, when a neophyte Bulls program scored its first victory over an established Division I-A team by surprising Pitt 35-26, one of the biggest upset losses in Pitt history.
