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I really hate doing things like these, so I offer it with the following precursor: Things are bound to have been left off this list. Some intentionally because there simply wasn't enough room and maybe a few unintentionally that I simply forgot about.
Also, some of these are games and not necessarily individual 'moments'. That's just the way it is, though, boys and girls.
Irregardless of all of that, over the next ten days, I'll be bringing you the top ten football moments of 2013 as I see them.
No. 5 - Little Caesars Pizza Bowl Win
No, getting to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl clearly wasn't the team's ultimate goal. But let's face it - new quarterback, new conference, lots of freshmen playing big roles - getting to any bowl was an achievement of sorts. And if you're there, might as well win, right?
Pitt not only did that, but they did it with their backs up against the wall. They were playing the MAC champions in Bowling Green - a pretty good team that won ten games and had a top five defense. All year long, we'd talked about the offense struggling against good defenses, but that wasn't the case in the bowl. Pitt put up 30 points on a team that was only allowing half of that.
Further, they did it with a slew of injuries. The Panthers didn't have three of their starting offensive linemen, the school's all-time leader in receptions in Devin Street, or starting defensive end Bryan Murphy. As if that weren't enough, they also didn't have starting quarterback Tom Savage for the entire second half due to an injury.
Despite all of that, they still managed to put together one of their better games of the year and give Pitt a season above .500. Conner's individual performance was big but I think that the win gave Pitt a winning record makes this a bigger overall moment.
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