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PITTSBURGH — Packed into the corner of a cramped room at the bottom of Heinz Field, DaeSean Hamilton struggled to get the words out.
This, he said, was the worst he had ever felt after a football game.
“Yeah. By far,” the Penn State wideout said quietly. “I know I’m supposed to let it go and move on to the next one. But I’ll never forget that.”
The impact of Saturday’s 42-39 loss to Pitt, the impact of that first taste of the rivalry, had begun to set in for Penn State’s players, who had been told to treat it like any other game.
But that wasn’t easy after this one. And no one was hit harder than Hamilton, who blamed himself for the defeat after a potential go-ahead touchdown clanged off his hands in the final minutes.
“It was just not being able to finish,” said Hamilton, who led the Lions in catches (eight) to go with 82 yards and a 2-point conversion catch. “Not being able to come through for my team. The amount of work I put in. The amount of work the team puts in. For us to get that close and not pull out a win is upsetting.”
It was, of course, hardly all on Hamilton.
The Lions (1-1) surrendered the most points they ever had in 97 games against Pitt.
They were bullied up front on both sides of the line as the Panthers ran for a stunning 341 yards and went 99 yards for a touchdown on their opening drive.
They surrendered an 84-yard kickoff return to set up what proved to be the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter.
They wasted a five-touchdown effort from Saquon Barkley, who became just the sixth player in Penn State history to achieve the feat and the first since Ki-Jana Carter in 1993.
They turned the ball over four times.
“He’s gonna say that one play defined the game,” Barkley said of Hamilton. “We all went up to him and told him that it doesn’t.”
Somehow, they were still in position to go ahead or tie in the final minutes, even after Hamilton’s drop, finally ending on Trace McSorley’s ill-advised bomb to the end zone that was intercepted by Pitt’s Ryan Lewis.
“The reality is we didn’t play smart enough or mistake-free enough to win,” Lions coach James Franklin said. “If you lose the turnover battle and turn the ball over in your area of the field, you’re going to have a hard time winning consistently. That was probably the biggest difference in the game.”
Franklin said that a receiver ran a wrong route on the Lions’ final snap and was also upset that no one was able to knock the errant ball away from Lewis, who had an easy shot at the pick.
“Trace put it up for somebody to make a play,” said tight end Mike Gesicki, who was downfield on the play along with redshirt freshman Irvin Charles. “I’ve gotta run faster. Irv’s gotta go make a play on it. Everybody needs to be held accountable on that play. Trace may have been the dude that let it go, but everybody else was right there and had a chance to make a play on the ball.”
The Panthers (2-0) were thrilled to be able to take advantage.
Though this was the first game in the series since 2000, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi kept stoking the anti-PSU flames with his players behind closed doors.
“Just the fact they’re Penn State,” Panthers slot receiver Quadree Henderson told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Coach Narduzzi said they’re arrogant.”
“Hopefully,” Pitt quarterback Nathan Peterman said, “they think this is a rivalry now.”
No doubt.
McSorley (24-35, 332 yards) was answering questions outside Penn State’s locker room when he was interrupted by loud shouts of “Hail to Pitt” by a passerby.
Who happened to be Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett.
That was from one Panthers running back. His modern-day counterpart, James Conner, claimed bragging rights after leading the charge with two touchdowns and 146 total yards.
“This,” Conner said after the game, “is our state.”
“They won the game. They can say that this year,” said Barkley, whose five scores felt almost like a footnote on a bizarre afternoon.
“Fortunately enough, we play them again next year.”
