2016 Pinstripe Bowl final score: Northwestern beats Pitt at Yankee Stadium

Northwestern beat Pitt in an exciting Pinstripe Bowl on Wednesday in New York, 31-24. The Wildcats finished the 2016 season 7-6 and the Panthers 8-5.

Pitt’s best chance to come back came just inside the three-minute-remaining mark in the fourth quarter, with Northwestern up by a touchdown.

With Pitt quarterback Nathan Peterman and running back James Conner injured, backup QB Ben Dinucci got the Panthers to Northwestern’s 18-yard line. That’s where the Wildcat defense stood up.

Dinucci nearly connected with tight end Scott Orndoff for a game-tying touchdown from 18 yards out, but a pack of defenders converged on Orndoff, and safety Jared McGee jarred the ball loose in the nick of time.

Orndoff could’ve caught it, but give some credit to McGee for separating the receiver from the ball. Dinucci threw an interception to McGee on the ensuing fourth-and-10 play, and Pitt came away still down seven with 2:49 to play. But the Panthers made a stop after that and had got a two-minute drill opportunity to tie.

But Dinucci threw an interception to Northwestern’s Kyle Queiro, and the game was over. It was a Mariano Rivera-like save at Yankee Stadium — in a close game, sure, but ultimately without much drama at all.

This was a really entertaining bowl game, particularly in the second half. Pitt came back from a 14-3 deficit just before the half to take a 17-14 lead, and the teams got into a pattern of score-trading that kept things close until the end. Northwestern running back Justin Jackson put on a show all day, including on a 40-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that featured a vicious juke move.

Jackson was brilliant. He ran for 226 yards and three touchdowns on 33 carries, and Pitt rarely had any kind of answer for him.

Pitt and Northwestern both struggled in fits and starts this year, but each finished strong in the lead-up to bowl season. The Panthers finished the regular season with three straight wins to get to 8-4, including a triumph over Clemson in Death Valley. The Wildcats started 0-2 with losses to the MAC’s Western Michigan (which turned out to be pretty good, of course) and FCS Illinois State, but they closed the year on a 6-4 run.

It was Pitt’s last game with offensive coordinator Matt Canada, who took over an offense that scored 28 points per game last season and got it up to 42 during the regular season this year. Canada is off to LSU, where he’ll be Ed Orgeron’s offensive coordinator next season. A key task for Pat Narduzzi is finding Canada’s replacement.

Northwestern won 10 games in 2015, and this year was never anywhere near that good. But Pat Fitzgerald’s Wildcats got themselves together down the stretch and turned in a wholly respectable season. There’s something to be said for that.

The Pinstripe was Pitt’s 33rd all-time bowl appearance; and the Panthers were 13-19 coming into the day. Northwestern entered 2-10 in its 12 all-time bowl appearances.