Kenny Pickett has had a love-hate affair with Miami, a team that represented his best and worst games as Pitt’s quarterback.

Pickett made his first career start against Miami when they were ranked No. 2 in the 2017 season finale, passing for 193 yards and a touchdown and scoring on a 22-yard naked bootleg run for a 24-14 upset victory over the previously undefeated Hurricanes.

Last year, however, Pickett was 14 of 22 for 130 passing yards as the Panthers couldn’t muster any offense in a 24-3 loss at Miami in the season finale.

This time, Pickett couldn’t lead Pitt to a touchdown and was upstaged by a freshman quarterback who rescued the Hurricanes for a 16-12 victory on Saturday afternoon at Heinz Field.

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1. Kick it: Alex Kessman had missed two field-goal attempts of 50 yards or longer this season, but Pat Narduzzi didn’t hesitate to send his kicker out for a fourth-and-11 at the Miami 36.

Kickers are required to have a short memory, so Kessman had to forget about missing a 50-yarder in the season opener against Virginia and a 57-yarder against Delaware, both at Heinz Field.

Narduzzi needed a short memory, too, considering Kessman missed a 19-yarder with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter in the 17-10 loss at Penn State.

That’s a decision Narduzzi will never live down.

This time, Kessman delivered with a 54-yard field goal to extend his Pitt record with his seventh career field goal of 50-plus for a 3-0 lead at 11 minutes, 15 seconds of the first quarter.

It was the first sign Kessman would play a pivotal role.

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2. Pick it: Pickett’s two first-half interceptions certainly didn’t help Pitt’s cause.

The first came on a pass tipped by linebacker Zach McCloud into the hands of cornerback DJ Ivey. That led to Camden Price’s 22-yard field goal to tie the score at 3-3.

The second came when Pickett rolled left and was looking for Maurice Ffrench and was intercepted again by Ivey at the Pitt 17. Four plays later, Cam’Ron Harris scored on a 1-yard run to give Miami a 10-3 lead.

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3. Drop it: To make matters worse, in between those two picks, Pitt lost a fumble.

Taysir Mack dropped a pass and the ball bounced off the left leg of safety Amari Carter and into the hands of Gurvan Hall.

Tight end Naki Griffin-Stewart, a Rutgers transfer, also had a pair of dropped passes. And senior receiver Aaron Mathews of Clairton dropped one, as well. The Panthers would drop two more on their final drive.

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4. Stop it: The Panthers’ fortunes changed early in the third quarter, when cornerback Damarri Mathis intercepted a N’Kosi Perry pass on third-and-8.

That led to a 29-yard field goal by Kessman to cut it to 10-9 with 12:14 remaining in the third quarter.

Pitt entered the game as the nation’s leader in sacks, with 36, but didn’t register one in the first half. It wasn’t until Patrick Jones dropped Perry for a 6-yard loss on a third-and-7 in the third quarter.

The Panthers came up with another big stop against the Hurricanes on a fourth-and-3 at the Pitt 25, as Jaylen Twyman pressured Perry into throwing an incomplete pass.

On a day when its offense couldn’t find the end zone, Pitt was going to live and die with its defense.

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5. Bop it: After Pitt took a 12-10 lead on Kessman’s 29-yard field goal with 7:19 left in the fourth quarter, Miami replaced Perry with freshman Jarren Williams.

Williams led the Hurricanes on a late-fourth quarter touchdown drive, going 62 yards on nine plays.

That included a 5-yard pass to K.J. Osborn on a fourth-and-1 at the Miami 47 and an 8-yard run on third-and-2 at the Pitt 40. After nearly having a sideline pass intercepted by Pitt safety Paris Ford — who tapped his toes inbounds but lost control of the ball — Williams came up big.

Williams drilled a pass to Osborn, who beat Dane Jackson and bounced off Damar Hamlin for a 32-yard touchdown to give Miami a 16-12 lead with 58 seconds left.

And, that quickly, Pitt’s hopes of an ACC Coastal title repeat were dashed.

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