MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) – James Conner ran for two touchdowns and broke three of Tony Dorsett’s records, Pittsburgh secured bowl eligibility by beating Miami 35-23 on Saturday night in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Quarterback Chris Voytik threw for a score and ran for another for Pittsburgh (6-6, 4-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), which won its final two games to earn a seventh-straight bowl opportunity.
Duke Johnson ran for 89 yards and passed Ottis Anderson for No. 1 on Miami’s all-time rushing list. Phillip Dorsett caught a 51-yard touchdown pass and became the seventh player with 2,000 receiving yards for the Hurricanes (6-6, 3-5), who dropped their third straight and lost consecutive home games for the first time since October 2012.
Johnson ran for a touchdown and caught a scoring pass from Brad Kaaya, who has thrown at least one touchdown pass in all 12 games in his freshman season. Kaaya finished with 296 yards and two touchdowns.
Pitt never trailed, scoring touchdowns on three of its first four possessions.
Miami got within 21-20 when Johnson caught a 17-yard pass from Kaaya for a score early in the third quarter, but Tyler Boyd’s 53-yard return of the ensuing kickoff set the Panthers up for a five-play, 43-yard drive capped by Chris James’ 15-yard touchdown run.
And aided by a pair of third-down penalties, Pittsburgh – which lost six out of seven games in one stretch this season, including a home defeat to Akron – put a stranglehold on the game early in the fourth.
A pass interference call on Miami’s Artie Burns nullified a third-down incompletion from the Miami 20, and stopping Conner on third-and-goal from the 1 was wiped out by someone jumping into the neutral zone before the snap. Eventually, Voytik scored on fourth-and-inches by leaping over a pile at the goal line and the Panthers had a 35-23 lead.
That sent many in the Hurricane crowd to the exits, and they didn’t miss much in the final 13 minutes.
Conner now has 24 rushing touchdowns, breaking a tie with Dorsett for Pitt’s single-season record. He also passed Dorsett’s single-season marks for total touchdowns (23) and points (140), all those being set by the Hall of Famer in 1976 when he won the Heisman Trophy and led the Panthers to the national championship.
Johnson’s record-setting carry came just 23 seconds into the third quarter, which was received by an ovation and someone marking the game ball to present him as a keepsake.
In the stands, Cassandra Prophet-Mitchell jumped from her seat when the play started and started sobbing tears of joy when it was over, knowing the record finally belonged to her son.
Anderson finished with 3,331 yards in his four-year Miami career; Johnson now has 3,387 in his three-year career which likely has just the bowl game remaining. Johnson is likely to skip his senior season and enter the 2015 NFL Draft.
Boyd caught five passes for 72 yards and a touchdown for Pitt, which had lost its last eight games against the Hurricanes since 1997.
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