Palko’s Passes Lead Pittsburgh

Derek Kinder turned Tyler Palko’s sideline passes into a pair of long touchdowns in the third quarter, helping Pittsburgh end its road woes Friday night with a 33-15 victory over Cincinnati in the Big East Conference opener for both teams.

Kinder turned a short pass into an 80-yard score on the first play of the second half, avoiding two tacklers along the way. Minutes later, he ran past a defender on a 55-yard touchdown play that put Pittsburgh, 2-0 overall, in line for its first road victory since the end of the 2004 season.

The junior receiver, who has become Palko’s most dangerous option, had three catches for a career-high 172 yards.

Cincinnati (1-1) unraveled once Palko started hooking up with Kinder. The senior quarterback completed 11 of 21 passes for 267 yards, throwing three touchdown passes for the second straight game. He also had three during an opening 38-13 win over Virginia, including a 72-yarder to Oderick Turner and a 78-yarder to Kinder.

In the first half, Cincinnati would get a couple of first downs, stall around midfield, then pin the Panthers with a punt.

Their first five possessions started at their 15, 26, 15, 2 and 17.

Pittsburgh ended the road slump in its first visit to Cincinnati since 1922. The Panthers were 0-5 on the road last season, a slide that began with a 16-10 overtime loss to Ohio when Palko’s pass was returned for a touchdown.

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No. 8 Louisiana State’s obvious talent is one thing. As for the notoriously rabid Tigers fans in 93,000-seat Death Valley, Arizona Coach Mike Stoops isn’t concerned about today’s game at Baton Rouge.

“Everyone makes a big deal out of all the noise,” Stoops said. “So [they] make a bunch of noise and throw stuff at you. To me, that’s football. That’s what happens when you go on the road. We’re going to have to play great defense and find ways to move the football and keep it close.”

It seems Stoops knows just what to say, finding ways to potentially anger LSU fans even while paying their team a compliment.

“They’re like USC. They’re a very good football team,” Stoops said.

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Cornerback Tarell Brown, who probably would have drawn most of the coverage on Ohio State receiver Ted Ginn Jr. in tonight’s game between the No. 1 Buckeyes and No. 2 Longhorns in Austin, Texas, is suspended after his arrest earlier this week on drug- and weapon-related charges.

Although the drug charge was dropped Friday, the gun charge remained and a Longhorns spokesman said Brown would not play.