ATLANTA — Nate Peterman threw three touchdown passes and Chris Blewitt kicked a 56-yard field goal in the closing minutes to help Pittsburgh beat Georgia Tech 31-28 on Saturday.
Peterman completed 14 of 21 passes for 162 yards.
Tyler Boyd had eight catches with two touchdowns to become Pitt's career leading receiver, and the Panthers burned all but 1 minute, 4 seconds of the final 8:13 with a 14-play drive that ended on Blewitt's school record-long kick.
Pitt (5-1, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) is unbeaten in its first three conference games for the first time since 2010.
Georgia Tech (2-5, 0-4 ACC) has lost five straight, its longest single-season skid since it went 1-10 in 1996. The Jackets, who began the season as favorites to win the league's Coastal Division, must regroup before hosting No. 11 Florida State next weekend.
Boyd, the ACC's leading receiver this year, began the winning drive by recovering his own fumbled punt return at the Pitt 31, but he kept the chains moving with a 5-yard catch that converted the second of two fourth-down plays on the possession.
Peterman connected with J.P. Holtz for a 6-yard TD that put the Panthers up 28-21 late in the third, their first lead since Boyd's 6-yard catch made it 7-0 early in the first.
Pitt's defense, which began the day seventh in the nation in yards allowed, gave up a staggering 337 yards in the first half, but the Panthers recovered to hold Georgia Tech's potent rushing attack to just 112 yards rushing in the second half.
Pitt had to do without its season leading tackler, Jordan Whitehead, when the freshman safety left the game with a head injury late in the second and didn't return.
Georgia Tech's Marcus Marshall broke off a 58-yard touchdown run to make it 7-all in the first quarter, and quarterback Justin Thomas had runs of 51 and 45 yards to set up two other TDs.
The Panthers kept the score tied 21-all at the end of the second quarter when Khaynin Mosley-Smith blocked Harrison Butker's 50-yard field-goal attempt.
Marshall, who added a 7-run TD run to make 28-all early in the fourth, had 159 yards rushing on 10 carries. Thomas had 95 yards rushing and was 6 of 15 for 106 yards and a touchdown.
