DURHAM, N.C. _ Darrin Hall tried to give Pitt a jolt of energy once, and it didn't work. So he did it again, and that time, it took.
Hall, starting at tailback for the second week in a row, turned in a career day with 254 yards rushing, including the longest play from scrimmage in Pitt history, to lift the Panthers to a 24-17 win Saturday at Duke. It was already a banner day for Hall after his 79-yard touchdown run for Pitt's first score, but who could've seen the rest coming? His 92-yard scamper for a score in the third quarter bested George McLaren's 1917 record by a yard, and still, Hall wasn't done.
His 4-yard touchdown put Pitt back in front, 21-17, with 10:38 to go. On the ensuing Duke drive, the defense bent but didn't break, and was rewarded by the Blue Devils missing a 36-yard field goal wide right.
A 45-yard field goal from Alex Kessman gave the Panthers (3-5, 1-3) some breathing room from there, and they escaped with their first ACC win of the season to halt a two-game skid.
Duke (4-4, 1-4) has now lost four in a row, and the sparse crowd at Wallace Wade Stadium witnessed a very long day for a run defense that entered the game ranked 16th in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Other than Hall's initial burst, the first half was an exercise in offensive futility, as both teams combined for seven completions on 20 pass attempts. Five possessions ended with a punt, two with a missed field goal, one with a blocked field goal and one with a fumble.
If not for Hall exploding through a humongous hole opened by Pitt's offensive line, the Panthers would've gone four consecutive quarters without a touchdown, dating to last week's loss to N.C. State. It wasn't for lack of sustained drives, though. The offense actually produced its longest of the season, an 18-play, 61-yard epic that covered 9:45 but ended with a 47-yard missed field goal by Kessman.
In fact, Pitt's last two drives of the first half and first two of the second produced 42 plays for 135 yards using 21:20, but the scoreboard never changed.
It did for the Blue Devils, though, when quarterback Daniel Jones found tailback Shaun Wilson running wide open down the middle of the field. Wilson caught it and did the rest on a 58-yard touchdown that gave Duke its first lead, 10-3.
Apparently, all it took to bring Pitt back to life was another big play by Hall, who came in with just 108 yards on the ground all season. He eclipsed that soon into the second quarter, and his big literal breakthroughs led to a figurative one for the Panthers.
