Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Nathan Peterman faked a screen pass to find running back James Conner for a great 35-yard touchdown pass against Syracuse.
The Pittsburgh Panthers were hosting their ACC cross-divisional rival in the Syracuse Orange on Saturday afternoon. While Pittsburgh lost the ACC Coastal Division crown to the rival Virginia Tech Hokies, the Panthers are playing great ball in the second half of their season under second-year head coach Pat Narduzzi.
Pittsburgh was briefly trailing the Orange at home on Saturday when quarterback Nathan Peterman finds star running back James Conner for the go-ahead 35-yard touchdown against Syracuse.
Conner is better as a runner than a receiver, so this helped him get open on this brilliant play design by Pittsburgh. Peterman attempts to run a bootleg with a screen pass option. As Conner creates some separation, Peterman was able to dump the ball over two Orange defenders’ heads to hit Conner.
Conner would take it to the house on a 35-yard touchdown reception. He has overcome so much in the last year with tearing his ACL in his knee in the 2015 season opener against Youngstown State. Around this time a season ago, Conner would be diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
He would battle through his cancer diagnosis all winter and through spring practice. Conner has rebounded most marvelously in 2016. While Pittsburgh had lofty expectations in 2016 that the program did not hit, the football team seems to be heading in the right direction under Narduzzi.
Next: Ranking The 25 Best Rivalries In College Football
Pittsburgh and Syracuse were conference rivals when they both were members of the old Big East. With the Big East becoming strictly a basketball conference, both Pittsburgh and Syracuse would join the ACC. They would re-emerge as cross-divisional rivals with Syracuse in the ACC Atlantic and Pittsburgh in the ACC Coastal.