Sep 24, 2006 By Stephen Flinn For The 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – Before yesterday, Pitt never played The Citadel. After the Panthers had their way for most of the game in a 51-6 victory at Heinz Field, the Bulldogs probably wished they still had never played the Panthers. It was a stark comparison to Pitt’s last game, a 38-23 loss to Michigan State.

“Just to echo what I told the players, we talked about bouncing back no matter who the opponent was and I thought we did that with all the players coming out and ready to play,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “You’re supposed to win the ones you’re supposed to and that’s what we did, plus we improved to three wins. Now we’ll get ready for the next game.”

Pitt scored on five of six possessions in the first half and took a 35-6 lead into the locker room. Tyler Palko fueled that outburst with three touchdown passes. He completed 13 of 14 passes for 250 yards in the first half.

“I’ve been working on my accuracy,” Palko said. “I thought the entire offense executed as a team today.”

Palko retired for the day midway through the third quarter after completing 15 of 17 throws for 313 yards and four touchdowns. He also climbed up the ladder on a couple Pitt all-time lists. He jumped to fifth place in career passing yardage, passing up John Congemi, who threw for 6,299 yards from 1983 to 1986, and moved into fourth place for career total offense, passing up Congemi and Tony Dorsett.

“My main goal here has never been to get into the record books,” Palko said. “I just want to help my team as much as I can while I’m wearing the Pitt uniform and try to catapult this program to the next level before I leave.”

Pitt’s first touchdown was a Palko-to-Derek Kinder 20-yard connection.

Kinder entered the game leading the nation in total receiving yards with 370 on 16 catches, and also ranked second in receiving yards per game with a 123.3 average. He’s averaging 23.1 yards per catch. Kinder had four receptions for 75 yards and one touchdown against the Bulldogs.

“Derek remains steady for us,” Wannstedt said. “He just continues to work hard, do a good job, and has been a big contributor to our offense so far.”

Palko was not the only Panther to enter the record books. Six others recorded career firsts during the game: sophomore running back Conredge Collins, redshirt sophomore receiver Marcel Pestano, sophomore running back LaRod Stephens-Howling, junior tight end Darrell Strong, and freshman running back Kevin Collier.

On Pitt’s second possession, Palko tossed a screen pass to Collins, who scampered down the left sideline untouched for his first career touchdown to push Pitt’s lead to 14-0 midway through the first quarter.

Stephens-Howling burst through the middle for a 7-yard score less than a minute into the second quarter to make it 21-0.

Kinder fumbled the ball after a 16-yard gain on the Pitt 48 to set up The Citadel’s only score, which cut Pitt’s lead to 21-6.

The Panthers responded with two touchdowns to take a 35-6 halftime lead. Strong took a lateral and threw a 30-yard flea flicker score to Stephens-Howling. The TD pass and catch were firsts for both.

“I’ve been waiting for that call for three years,” said Strong, who was recruited to Pitt as a quarterback. “I threw my gloves off in the huddle and hoped they wouldn’t notice it, so when I didn’t hear their coaches screaming from the sidelines to look out for a trick pass, I knew we had ’em fooled.”

Palko’s third touchdown pass , a 22-yard strike, gave Pestano his first career TD reception.

Pitt picked up two more points on a safety when The Citadel snapped the ball out of the end zone while in punt formation in the third quarter.

Palko’s fourth scoring toss was a 52-yarder to Oderick Turner to make it 44-6.

Collier scored his first touchdown at Pitt with a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter to finish the scoring.

“Our passing game is very good, so we may not be able to run as much as we want, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to work hard in practice every week at our running game,” Collier said. “As a team, we want to run the ball better and we need to be more productive, and I was thankful I got the opportunity to get in today and score a touchdown, but most of all, we want to win.”