September 1, 2018 Week 1 · Regular Season Belt defended

Pittsburgh defends the belt, 33–7, at home over UAlbany.

Home · Defending Holder

Pittsburgh 33

Away · Challenger

UAlbany 7

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Pittsburgh came in 281 days into reign #301, which began with a win over Miami, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. It was the last defense: Penn State took the belt in the very next belt game, on September 8, 2018.

For UAlbany this was its first shot at the belt; it had never held the belt. It still hasn’t: 2 attempts in all, every one of them a loss or a tie.

This is the only time Pittsburgh and UAlbany have met with the belt on the line.

AI-Written

Recap

Pittsburgh's defense set the tone early, with Damar Hamlin returning an interception 79 yards just moments after UAlbany's Maurice Ffrench had taken a kickoff back 91 yards for a touchdown. The Panthers scored on four of their first five possessions, with Kenny Pickett leading an efficient offense that accumulated 407 total yards and dominated time of possession at 27:25. Though UAlbany's Vincent Testaverde had some success moving the ball through the air, completing passes to Dev Holmes for touchdowns and consistently finding receivers downfield, Pittsburgh's defense forced three interceptions to control the game. The Panthers' balanced attack, featuring rushing touchdowns from Kenny Pickett and Qadree Ollison alongside Pickett's two touchdown passes to Rafael Araujo-Lopes, overwhelmed the visiting Great Danes in a 33-7 rout that saw Pittsburgh secure the belt.

Maurice Ffrench's 91-yard kickoff return TD for UAlbany gave the visitors an early lead before the momentum shifted
Damar Hamlin's 79-yard interception return that set up Pittsburgh's first scoring drive demonstrated defensive dominance
Kenny Pickett's back-to-back touchdown passes to Rafael Araujo-Lopes in the second quarter (3 yards and 42 yards) put the game out of reach
Three total interceptions by Pittsburgh's defense, including a Q3 interception by Neven Sussman, controlled field position throughout

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

PittsburghUAlbany

Total yards407323

Rushing yards23860

Passing yards169263

First downs2116

3rd down conv.6/95/13

Turnovers22

Penalties–yards6–557–40

Time of possession27:2530:26

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 14:48	UAlbany	+91 yd	Ethan Stark kickoff for 56 yds , Maurice Ffrench return for 91 yds for a TD (Alex Kessman KICK)
Q1 14:48	UAlbany	-79 yd	Vincent Testaverde pass intercepted Damar Hamlin return for 79 yds to the Alban 19
Q1 14:48	UAlbany	+37 yd	Vincent Testaverde pass complete to Jerah Reeves for 37 yds to the Pitt 43 for a 1ST down
Q1 11:03	Pittsburgh	+5 yd	Kenny Pickett run for 5 yds for a TD (Alex Kessman PAT MISSED)
Q1 7:46	Pittsburgh	+20 yd	Qadree Ollison run for 20 yds to the Alban 9 for a 1ST down
Q1 4:42	Pittsburgh	+9 yd	Maurice Ffrench run for 9 yds for a TD (Two-Point Conversion failed )
Q1 4:42	UAlbany	+40 yd	Vincent Testaverde pass complete to Dev Holmes for 40 yds to the Pitt 35 for a 1ST down
Q1 1:45	UAlbany	+9 yd	Vincent Testaverde pass complete to Dev Holmes for 9 yds for a TD (Ethan Stark KICK)
Q1 4:42	UAlbany	+28 yd	Vincent Testaverde pass complete to Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks for 28 yds to the Pitt 5 for a 1ST down
Q1 1:45	Pittsburgh	+26 yd	Kenny Pickett pass complete to Taysir Mack for 26 yds to the Alban 49 for a 1ST down
Q2 10:17	Pittsburgh	+3 yd	Kenny Pickett pass complete to Rafael Araujo-Lopes for 3 yds for a TD (Alex Kessman KICK)
Q2 10:17	UAlbany	+23 yd	Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks run for 23 yds to the Pitt 43 for a 1ST down
Q2 1:08	Pittsburgh	+42 yd	Kenny Pickett pass complete to Rafael Araujo-Lopes for 42 yds for a TD (Alex Kessman KICK)
Q2 1:08	Pittsburgh	+21 yd	Alex Kessman kickoff for 65 yds , Donovan McDonald return for 21 yds to the Alban 21
Q3 15:00	UAlbany	+0 yd	Vincent Testaverde pass intercepted, touchback. Damarri Mathis return for no gain
Q3 10:22	Pittsburgh	+8 yd	Kenny Pickett run for 8 yds to the Alban 48 Kenny Pickett fumbled, forced by Eli Mencer, recovered by Alban Kareem Gibson
Q3 7:43	Pittsburgh	+0 yd	Kenny Pickett pass intercepted Neven Sussman return for no gain to the Alban 19
Q4 8:07	UAlbany	+40 yd	Vincent Testaverde pass complete to Dev Holmes for 40 yds to the Pitt 20 for a 1ST down
Q4 8:07	UAlbany	+20 yd	Vincent Testaverde pass complete to Dev Holmes for 20 yds to the Alban 28 for a 1ST down

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Pittsburgh

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
Kenny Pickett	16/22	154	7.0	2	1
Ricky Town	1/1	15	15.0	0	0

UAlbany

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
Vincent Testaverde	18/29	263	9.1	1	2

Rushing

Pittsburgh

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Qadree Ollison	7	73	10.4	0	20
A.J. Davis	13	46	3.5	0	14
Kenny Pickett	6	42	7.0	1	12
Darrin Hall	4	22	5.5	0	12
Shocky Jacques-Louis	3	21	7.0	0	9
Maurice Ffrench	2	17	8.5	1	9
Rafael Araujo-Lopes	2	17	8.5	0	12

UAlbany

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks	14	57	4.1	23
Karl Mofor	7	22	3.1	11
Dev Holmes	1	8	8.0	8
Jerah Reeves	1	6	6.0	6
Will Brunson	1	-2	-2.0	0
Vincent Testaverde	4	-31	-7.8	0

Receiving

Pittsburgh

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Rafael Araujo-Lopes	3	50	16.7	2	42
Taysir Mack	3	44	14.7	0	26
A.J. Davis	2	19	9.5	0	16
Jim Medure	1	15	15.0	0	15
Tre Tipton	2	14	7.0	0	8
Aaron Mathews	1	9	9.0	0	9
George Aston	2	8	4.0	0	6
Maurice Ffrench	1	4	4.0	0	4
Tyler Sear	1	3	3.0	0	3
Shocky Jacques-Louis	1	3	3.0	0	3

UAlbany

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Dev Holmes	9	148	16.4	1	40
Jerah Reeves	3	58	19.3	0	37
Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks	1	28	28.0	0	28
Donovan McDonald	4	26	6.5	0	12
Karl Mofor	1	3	3.0	0	3

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Pittsburgh

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	TD
Saleem Brightwell	5	3	0	0	0
Jazzee Stocker	4	4	0	0	0
Anthony McKee Jr.	4	3	1	1	0
Dennis Briggs	4	3	0	0	0
Elijah Zeise	4	1	0	0	0
Quintin Wirginis	3	3	0	1	0
Damarri Mathis	3	3	0	0	0
Keyshon Camp	3	2	2	2	0
Rashad Weaver	3	2	1	1	0
Dewayne Hendrix	2	2	0	0	0
Bricen Garner	2	2	0	0	0
Damar Hamlin	2	2	0	0	0
Paris Ford	2	2	0	0	0
Oluwaseun Idowu	2	1	0	0	0
Therran Coleman	2	1	0	0	0
Deslin Alexandre	2	0	0	0	0
Rashad Wheeler	1	1	1	1	0
James Folston Jr.	1	1	0	0	0
Michael Smith	1	1	0	0	0
Marquis Williams	1	1	0	0	0
Chase Pine	1	0	0	0	0
Maurice Ffrench	0	0	0	0	1

UAlbany

Player	TOT	SOLO	TFL
Levi Metheny	13	7	0
Eli Mencer	8	5	0.5
Tyler Carswell	7	4	0
Josh Wynn	6	3	0
Kareem Gibson	5	2	0
Danny Damico	3	3	0
Nick Griffin	3	2	0
Kareem Brown	3	2	0
Brian Dolce	2	1	0
Hayden Specht	2	1	0
Roberto Roena	2	0	0.5
Jack Dudzinski	1	1	0
Griffin Clancy	1	1	0
Neven Sussman	1	1	0
Ty Tobias	1	1	0
Isaiah Watson	1	1	0
Dante Mount	1	1	0
Nick Dillon	1	0	0
Mazon Walker	1	0	0

Fumbles

Pittsburgh

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Kenny Pickett	1	1	0

UAlbany

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Kareem Gibson	0	0	1

Interceptions

Pittsburgh

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Damar Hamlin	1	79	0
Damarri Mathis	1	0	0

UAlbany

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Neven Sussman	1	0	0

Kick Returns

Pittsburgh

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Maurice Ffrench	2	98	49.0	91	1

UAlbany

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Donovan McDonald	1	21	21.0	21	0

Kicking

Pittsburgh

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Alex Kessman	0/0	0.0	0	3/4	3

UAlbany

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Ethan Stark	0/0	0.0	0	1/1	1

Punt Returns

Pittsburgh

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Rafael Araujo-Lopes	2	2	1.0	4	0

UAlbany

No recorded stats in this category.

Punting

Pittsburgh

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Kirk Christodoulou	2	93	46.5	0	2	56

UAlbany

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Ethan Stark	5	181	36.2	0	2	42

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401013092) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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