In a crowd of around 60,000, my father and I were two that attended Pitt vs. Clemson. Coming into the game, Pitt was 5-1 and off to their best start since 2015. Meanwhile, Clemson at 4-2, their worst start since 2014. Pitt was ranked 23rd in the nation in the AP top 25 while Clemson was the first team out (basically 26th) so it was set to be a great game, and it was.

The first quarter started out really slow, especially for Pitt. Their first 5 drives consisted of 4 punts and a lost fumble.

Despite an early interception, Clemson’s offense was still looking a lot better as they scored an early touchdown and after that lost fumble they were driving down to make it a 2 score game, but they were stopped and were forced to punt.

In the middle of the 2nd quarter, you could really begin to see a trend that Pitt had throughout the game: their elite 3rd down play. Pitt ended the game being 12/20 on 3rd/4th down conversions, while Clemson was 4/11. This was shown as Kenny Pickett threw a dot on a 3rd and 7 to his best receiver Jordan Addison for a 23 yard TD. After another Punt, They reached a 3rd and 5 on Clemson’s 39 yard line, and it was incomplete. They decided to go for it on 4th down, and he threw another touchdown with 40 seconds left in the half, in turn giving Pickett the all-time completions record for the team.

With Clemson getting the ball to start the 2nd half down 14-7, it looked like Clemson could take over control of the game again. However, QB DJ Uiagalelei threw a shovel pass right to a Pitt lineman and he ran it back to the house.

Despite a field goal on the next possession, that seemed to break the spirits of Clemson as they were much more sluggish defensively and Pitt added to their lead with 2 field goals to make it a 3 score game.

Even though Clemson had a touchdown early in the 4th, a 15 play 8 minute drive iced the game for Pitt as they move up to 17th in the nation while Clemson looks to be in shambles.

Being at the game, it was the most electric crowd I’ve ever been a part of, and the only one that even comes close was a Penguins game I attended.

Even though I went to the actual Death Valley of Clemson, which hosted about 25,000 more people, both games were blowouts and it wasn’t close to as intense as this.

I was sitting next to two depressed Clemson fans, but they and everyone else were really nice and it was a truly great time, to the point where I almost lost my voice from screaming so much.

It was a truly unforgettable experience and it felt like I was sitting front row to the greatness of this team.