PITTSBURGH _ It would be a cliche to say Pitt football walked into a buzz saw. But what about Oklahoma State bringing its buzz saw to Pittsburgh and shredding the Panthers to the tune of their worst loss since moving to Heinz Field?
The turning point of the game was the opening kickoff as, ninth-ranked Oklahoma State rolled into Pittsburgh Saturday and rolled right back out with a 59-21 rout that was a total mismatch early and often on both sides of the ball.
"That's about the worst day you can have at the office," Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said afterward.
Beforehand, Narduzzi called it "pick your poison" when defending the Cowboys, but it's tough to tell which poison the Panthers picked. Oklahoma State racked up 423 yards passing and 93 rushing, with five touchdowns by air and two by land.
It became too cumbersome to keep track of every missed assignment or whiffed tackle defensively, and all statistics seemed equally absurd when taken as a whole, so suffice it to say the Cowboys did whatever they wanted whenever they wanted en route to the most points against Pitt in a half since Ohio State put up 52 in 1996.
Pitt's previous worst loss at Heinz was a 42-10 blowout at the hands of Syracuse in 2001, the Panthers' first season at their current home.
"We had troubles covering 'em on defense, we had trouble getting first downs on offense and at least keeping our defense off the field," Narduzzi said. "I haven't looked at the stats, but I'm sure we didn't win the time of possession."
Actually, that's about the only category Pitt did win, 31:32 to 28:28. But it's easy to understand why Narduzzi would think otherwise.
Let's take a crack at some of the other mind-boggling numbers:
_Oklahoma State's 676 yards passing is the most ever against Pitt, barely edging Virginia Tech's 675 last season at Heinz Field.
_Senior quarterback Mason Rudolph had a banner day for his Heisman Trophy campaign, hitting on 23 of 32 passes for 497 yards and five touchdowns _ and left the game after one third-quarter drive.
_Four Oklahoma State players hit 100 yards receiving, the first Football Bowl Subdivision team to do so since Texas Tech in 2005.
_The Cowboys averaged 9.4 yards per play, had 10 pass plays of more than 25 yards and finished 10 of 14 on third down (9 of 9 in the first half).
"Whether it was a hangover from last week (at Penn State), obviously it starts with me not getting our guys as ready to play as they need to be," Narduzzi said. "That's a good football team. That is a Top 5 football team, for sure."
Oklahoma State scored a touchdown on every drive of the first half, save for its merciful kneel-down with 16 seconds left in the second quarter. Not one possession took more than 3:16, and none were shorter than 54 yards. Even when Pitt got its first real stop _ an Avonte Maddox interception at the goal line early in the second half that ended Rudolph's FBS-leading streak of six games and 213 passes without a pick _ Oklahoma State turned right around and returned an interception of its own for a touchdown.
It was simply that kind of day for the Panthers, whose only source of intrigue was provided by yet another quarterback quandary.
Starter Max Browne was pulled early in the second quarter in favor of backup Ben DiNucci, who scored Pitt's only touchdown last week. This time, DiNucci got an extended audition to be the No. 1, but had his ups and downs as he finished 13 of 25 for 28 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions.
DiNucci led a touchdown drive on his first possession, his first throw was a screen pass that Quadree Henderson took 74 yards before being caught from behind, and he also tossed a score to Rafael Araujo-Lopes. Browne was 7 of 10 for just 60 yards.
"We got a decision to make, for sure," Narduzzi said. "You look at it, Max wasn't very productive when he was in there."
Indeed, the offense was again listless for a second consecutive week, getting into the red zone just twice and converting 5 of 15 third downs. Browne missed a big chance early when he overthrew a wide-open Jester Weah on Pitt's second possession.
Pitt now goes from a vaunted air attack to a powerful ground game, traveling to Atlanta to face ACC foe Georgia Tech (1-1) at 12:20 p.m. Saturday in both teams' conference opener.
"I tell the guys every day: short memory," Maddox said. "That thing is in the past now."
True, but this one might be in the Pitt record books for a long time.
