Who is Pitt?

The Bulls go on the road to open up the Big East portion of their schedule as they take on the Pitt Panthers who are 2-2 on the season. Pitt is coming off of a tough loss at home against Notre Dame and dropped another game the week before to Iowa. Pitt is looking to impress the nation in front of a national audience on ESPN (8PM).

Pitt is bringing their high octane offense to the table, but have been very inconsistent at times, especially with Sunseri running the show. Pitti is averaing 221.5 yards passing per game. The USF secondary will have to shut them down and deal with the size of their wide receivers. They are averaging 148.8 yards rushing the ball, led by Ray Graham, who is a very explosive back that will try to take over the game (defensive line and linebackers have to step up here). Pitt is scoring 27.3 points per game as well, so this will be a real test for USF.

Pitt is allowing 105.5 yards rushing per game (using a 3-4 defense) so there will be a challenge for USF to get their running game going. They are allowing 306.2 yards passing per game, so Daniels and the skill players will have to attack the secondary of Pitt and try to take advantage against them. They are allowing 22.8 points per game, so after putting up over 50 points the last two weeks, the Bulls will find it a little bit tougher to get on the scoreboard. Pitt is also outscoring their opponents 42 to 22 in the third quarter, so it will tough for USF to keep Pitt from coming back after the break and try to get back ahead.

This is going to be a real tough test for USF. After three games at home, a national audience on a Thursday night will be real test for USF. The Bulls have not fared well on the road against Pitt since joining the Big East, plus the bad games on Thursday and against a real tough home crowd, this could be a very close game for the Bulls. If they remain focused, they should come away with a close win on the road.