Kentucky Football Preview – Know Your Enemy: Pitt Panthers
By Paul Jordan
BBVA COMPASS BOWL
Saturday, January 8 – 12:00 PM
Legion Field, Birmingham, AL
PITT PANTHERS (7-5)
TV – ESPN
SERIES HISTORY
This is the first meeting
To say that this has been a tumultuous season for the Pitt Panthers would be an understatement. It finally seemed that Dave Wannstadt was putting the pieces together as his team had put together 9-4 and 10-3 seasons the past two years. Coming into this season, the Panthers were the 15th ranked team in the country and were considered by some, to be a darkhorse BCS contender. Those hopes and dreams were darkened in week one as the Panthers were upset in overtime by Utah, 27-24. Three weeks later, on another Thursday night contest, those hopes were dashed with a 31-1 homefield beatdown at the hands of the Miami Hurricanes. Two weeks later the 2-3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish dropped Pitt to a 2-3 record and the grumbling was in full effect. It became pretty evident that Wanndstadt would not be back after Pitt was embarrassed by West Virginia the day after Thanksgiving. There were off the field problems as well as six players faced criminal charges over the last two seasons. The writing was on the wall and not even a season ending win over Cincinnati and a bowl berth could save the moustached one’s job as he was forced to resign. About forty of Wannstadt’s players stood behind him in a show of unity when he stepped down.
Now this is when the drama really starts. Pitt hired former Miami of Ohio coach Mike Haywood to replace Wannestadt, but Haywood was jailed on a domestic violence charge. Haywood was promptly fired, and despite some players twitter pleas for Wannestadt to be given his job back, Dave took his name out of the running for bowl game coach. That job, for now, will go to former SMU coach and defensive coordinator Phil Bennett will coach the game, but it should be noted that this is Wannstadt’s gameplan.
OFFENSE
QB Tino Sunseri is completing his first season at the help of Pitt’s offense and he has been more than competent running the team. On the season, Sunseri has 2476 yards passing and 15 TD’s against just 7 INT’s on the season. Granted, this is more of a run based offense, so Sunseri is not counted on to win games with his arm, but he has proven he can be capable of a big game. Sunsei completes 65.4% of his passes, but seems to be on a bit of a TD drought. Sunseri has just three TD’s passing in his last five games and nine of his TD’s have occurred in just three games, which means he has nine games with 0 or 1 TD. He will run occasionally, but that is more of a survival instinct as he has been sacked 21 times on the season. He does have just one TD rushing however.
The strength of the Pitt offense comes through it’s running game as the Panthers have a pair of talented and punishing backs which can take over and dominate the game. Dion Lewis finished a stellar freshman campaign last season with 1799 yards rushing and 17 touchdowns but this season has paled in comparison to that.. Lewis has 956 yards and 12 TD’s on the season with a 4.9 yard per carry average. Granted those numbers were padded with a monster 261 yard, 4 TD performance against 4-8 Cincinnati on December 4. Lewis is a pretty good receiver with three games with 5 receptions but has no receiving TD’s this season. Ray Graham is the second half of the punishing attack as he has 832 yards on the ground and 8 TD’s and is averaging 6.4 yards a carry. . Like Lewis, Graham’s stats are inflated by one monster game: 277 yards and 3 TD’s vs Florida International on 10/2. Graham has 2 receiving TD’s on 23 receptions on the season. Both backs are fully capable on breaking the long run. Both have TD runs of more than 75 yards on the season, but Graham is a bit more of a breakaway threat.
Jon Baldwin is the top receiving threat for the Panthers, but his numbers have declined significantly from last season. On the year, Baldwin has 52 catches for 810 yards and 5 TD’s. Baldwin has great size at 6’5 and can beat you deep. even with the diminished numbers, Baldwin is still dangerous and has three 100 yard games on the season. Pitt has another big WR at the other side in 6’5 Mike Shanahan. On the year, Shanahan has 42 receptions for 577 yards and just one TD. Shanahan is not an end zone target as he has just one TD total in his two seasons. His best game of the year has been a four catch, 82 yard performance versus Florida International, but his average yards per catch average is 13.7. Freshman Devin Street is another big (6’4) target with 316 yards and two TD’s on the season. One of those TD’s was a 79 yard strike so you can see he is not much of a deep threat with a 13.2 yard per catch average. TE Mike Cruz is an occasional target, with 17 catches and 189 yards with 2 TD’s on the season.
DEFENSE
Kentucky’s offense will face one of their sternest tests on Saturday as the Pitt D is ranked 17th against the run and 11th in total defense, giving up just 19.8 points a game. The Panthers have a stingy defense, allowing just 304 yards per game and the success of the defense starts with the their two defensive ends. The Panthers will get consistent pressure on the QB and Jabaal Sheard leads the charge. Sheard has 52 tackles on the season, with 9 sacks and 4 forced fumbles. Brandon Lindsey on the other end of the line has 10 sacks. Both ends are equally good at stopping the run. Sheard has 14.5 tackles for a loss while Lindsey has 16. DL Chas Alecxig always seems to be in the backfield and has 6.5 sacks on the season. Junior LB Max Gruber is second on the team in tackles and has a great nose for the ball.
Dom DeCicco has been a four year leader in the secon
dary for the Panthers. He leads the team in tackles with 85 and also leads the team with interceptions with 5. Jarred Holley also has five interceptions for the Panthers. The battle between the Wildcat receivers and the Pitt defensive backfield will definitely be one to keep an eye on.
OUTLOOK
Both teams come into their game with their own degrees of drama and unrest. Pitt’s coaching problems have been well document, but Kentucky has their own coaching changes and they are starting a new QB in this game. The Wildcat defense will need to step up to stop the Pitt running attack and as of now, it appears that new co-defensive coordinator Rick Minter has given the Wildcat’s D an attitude adjustment.
For Kentucky, both Derrick Locke and Randall Cobb will consider this game their pro tryout. Locke definitely needs to impress and a big game by Cobb could be enough for him to test his stock in the draft. It’s also the beginning of the 2011 QB battle as a strong performance by Morgan Newton could quell any talk of a summer QB controversy. It’s obvious that Pitt had higher hopes for this season and one gets the impression that they may just be showing up. For Kentucky, there seems to be an urgency to win this game for everyone and for a January 8 bowl, the fact that Kentucky seems to want the win more may be enough to swing this game. Let’s say Kentucky wins 24-20 to end Joker’s first season n a positive note and provide some momentum going into 2011.
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