Mason Heintschel completed 20 of 27 passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday as Pittsburgh pulled off a massive 42-28 victory over No. 16 Georgia Tech in Atlantic Coast Conference play in Atlanta.

Freshman Ja’Kyrian Turner ran for a career-high 201 yards — including a game-sealing 56-yard rush — as Pitt (8-3, 6-1 ACC) built a 28-0 lead and held on. The Panthers have to beat Miami and have either Duke or SMU lose next Saturday to clinch a spot in the conference title game.

Georgia Tech (9-2, 6-2) would have clinched a spot in the ACC Championship Game with a win. Its conference title chances became incredibly small with this loss, requiring a number of results to all go its way next week.

Haynes King threw for 257 yards and two touchdowns, but also threw two interceptions in the loss. King rushed for 76 yards and a score for the Yellow Jackets, who face No. 4 Georgia on Friday.

Trailing by 14, Georgia Tech threatened to cut its deficit to a touchdown, but King was picked off by Braylan Lovelace, who returned it 100 yards to push Pittsburgh’s lead to 35-14 with 5:55 left in the third.

The Yellow Jackets pulled within 14 again at the 8:34 mark of the fourth, as Jamal Haynes’ 4-yard rush cut the deficit to 35-21.

Georgia Tech then forced a Pitt turnover on downs, before King connected with Isiah Canion for a 5-yard touchdown pass with 4:51 left, trimming Pitt’s lead to seven.

Turner then iced the game with a 56-yard rushing score with 2:41 left.

Heintschel began the scoring with a 31-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Johnson with 7:49 left in the first quarter.

After Pitt stuffed Georgia Tech on fourth down, the Panthers doubled the lead on Heintschel’s 19-yard pass to Justin Holmes.

Kavir Bains-Marquez then picked off King in Yellow Jackets’ territory before Juelz Goff’s 1-yard rushing score gave Pittsburgh a 21-0 advantage with 39 seconds left in the opening quarter.

The onslaught continued after Georgia Tech’s three-and-out, as Heintschel’s 3-yard rushing score stamped a seven-play, 54-yard drive with 11:47 remaining in the first half.

Georgia Tech finally found the end zone at the 4:45 mark of the second quarter, as King’s 5-yard rush pulled the Yellow Jackets within 21.

After a Pitt punt, Georgia Tech trimmed its deficit in half on King’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Canion with 1:08 left.

Pitt’s Sam Carpenter missed a 35-yard field goal as time expired, leaving the Panthers’ halftime-lead at 14.

Georgia Tech was 4 of 18 on third and fourth downs in the contest.

–Field Level Media