OK - it is time to
officially put the Notre Dame game in the review mirror and start passing notes
on the Connecticut Huskies. The Panthers
will travel to UConn and take on the Huskies on ESPN2 on Friday night at 8PM.
The Huskies come in sporting a 3-6 record and are on a 4 game losing
streak. They have a VERY solid defense,
but a struggling offense.
Pitt will be looking to regroup from the triple OT loss to
the Fighting Irish and a big key will be how Paul Chryst can get the Panthers
to focus on the Huskies. Considering the
series with UConn in the Big East is 4-4, Pitt should have no trouble at all
zeroing in on UConn. One new injury to
report for Pitt and that is it does not look like reserve LB Emmanuel Rackard
will be available Friday night. This is
important if Shane Gordon can still not go in the game. It would leave Pitt with just 4 linebackers
if Gordon sits out, so having him would provide the linebackers with a little
needed depth.
UConn’s defense is their strength. They are 21st in points against,
14th in passing defense and finally 21st in rushing
defense. The Huskies are led by Sophomore LB Yawin Smallwood. He has 91 tackles on the year and averages
1.63 tackles for loss per game. He is
their rock and Pitt got a good taste of what it takes to go against a good
linebacker group on Saturday, so hopefully they can take the success they had
on the ground there and continue Friday.
Ray Graham keeps getting better every week and will be looking to
complete his comeback against the team he was hurt against last year….UConn.
The offense for UConn is struggling, but they are young, as
their leaders are largely Sophomores.
The Huskies come in at 58th in passing and 120th
in rushing. They are also 120th
in points for. The offense is under the
direction of Sophomore QB Chandler Whitmer.
Whitmer has 2,115 yards on the season, but his TD to INT numbers are
7/13 and he has been sacked 26 times this season. When he puts the ball in the air, he has
three favorite targets. Sophomore Geremy
Davis and Senior Michael Smith lead the wide receivers with 36 and 26 catches
respectively. When UConn gets in the red
zone, they LOVE to go to their Senior TE, Ryan Griffin, who has 20 catches, but
4 of them are for touchdowns.
The weakness of UConn’s offense is their offensive line, so
Aaron Donald should be licking his chops.
He has played well all season and could be looking at a big game. Shayne Hale has officially been tabbed as a
starter at defensive end for Pitt and he could be looking to prove Pitt’s
coaching staff correct on that change in the depth chart. Running behind this offensive line will be
Sophomore RB Lyle McCombs. McCombs has
not had a lot of room, but he has made the most of it with 547 yards and 4 TDs.
On paper, Pitt should win this game, however right now is a
VERY familiar position for Pitt fans.
The Panthers won 2 games in a row and then went to the house of the
number 3 team in the country and went blow for blow with them. Pitt has shown some strides lately and for
Panther fans, this is when they are used to being let down. It is a short week and Saturday was
emotional. I feel like this is a new
coaching staff and they know how to get the team ready week to week. I thought weather may play a factor with the
East Coast storm coming, but it will be out of the area in a plenty of time for
the kickoff. UConn has had trouble with turnovers and Friday will be no different
as Pitt has been a good team since week 3 in that department. The Panthers will win 27-10.
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