Mason Heintschel threw for 304 yards and three touchdowns, Ja’Kyrian Turner rushed for a season-best 127 yards and Pittsburgh ran away from Stanford in the second half for a 35-20 Atlantic Coast Conference victory Saturday afternoon in Stanford, Calif.
Seeking a fourth straight home win, the Cardinal (3-6, 2-4) grabbed a 10-7 lead midway through the first period on a 35-yard pass from Ben Gulbranson to CJ Williams.
But Deuce Spann ran 4 yards for a go-ahead score on the first play of the second period and Heintschel connected with Raphael Williams for a 5-yard TD later in the quarter, helping the Panthers (7-2, 5-1) ease off into a 21-13 halftime advantage.
Pittsburgh then dominated the final 30 minutes on both sides of the ball, with Heintschel completing his big day with a 14-yard scoring strike to Jake Overman before Shawn Lee Jr. intercepted a Gulbranson pass and raced 30 yards for a 35-13 lead.
Stanford’s only score of the second half came with just 18 seconds remaining on a 19-yard pass from backup quarterback Elijah Brown to Williams, his second TD of the game.
Heintschel finished 23 for 38 while recording the fourth 300-yard and third three-touchdown games of his freshman season. He also suffered two interceptions.
Turner’s 127-yard rushing effort nearly doubled the previous best of his freshman season, while Kenny Johnson topped Panthers receivers with four catches for 71 yards and the game’s first score, a 17-yard hook-up with Heintschel.
Gulbranson was intercepted three times during a 17-for-30, 228-yard effort. Brown went 10 for 14 for 102 yards in relief. Both had one TD pass.
Williams was the game’s leading receiver for Stanford with seven catches for 122 yards and the two scores. The Cardinal actually out-passed the visitors 336-304.
In winning its fifth straight game, Pittsburgh outgained the Cardinal 466-326 overall mostly on the strength of five sacks that drove the host’s rushing total into the negative at minus-10. The Panthers rushed for 162 yards.
