Preview! Preview! The Pitt Panthers...Game By Game...Part I

And now, the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl.

Pizza Pizza.

We will spend the next couple of days learning about our opponent, the 6-6 Pitt Panthers, starting today with a game by game review of their season.

Pre-season, they were picked to finish 5th in the Coastal Division of the ACC....their first season in the new conference.  As it turns out, they finished 6th, with a 3-5 record inside the conference.

Game One:  Florida State 41, @Pitt 13

They had a rough introduction to the ACC, playing the team that ended up being #1 in the country.  Pitt scored the first TD and led 7-0 but then Winston and the rest of the boys outscored them 41-6 the rest of the way.  Winston was 25 of 27 (!) for 356 and 4 TDs and he ran for one too.

Their QB, Tom Savage, made his Pitt debut.  He was is a transfer from Rutgers.  Pitt managed 5.4 yards per play on offense.

Game Two:  @Pitt 49, New Mexico 27.

Pitt blasted a New Mexico team that finished the season 3-9.  Pitt scored on their first eight possessions and led 35-6 at halftime, getting a ridiculous 10.1 yards per play for the game.  The Panthers had 2 rushers over 100 yards (and 2 TDs each) and Savage was 13 of 17, but had 2 picks in those 17 attempts, which is not good.

Game is also notable as New Mexico had 11 players with a rushing attempt.

Game Three:  Pitt 58, @Duke 55

This was a wild one.  Didn't really generate any headlines at the time, since beating Duke is a traditional going back years, but looking back this was a nice win, especially on the road.

This was not an overtime game, by the way.

Savage tied an ACC record with 6 TD passes, 3 to Tyler Boyd.  James Conner had 173 yards rushing.

Pitt allowed Duke 7.7 yards per play.

Game Four: @Pitt 14, Virginia 3

The Pitt offense must have been tired after the previous week, as they only ground out a 14-3 win over Virginia, which finished 0-8 and 2-10.

Pitt scored their 14 points in the first quarter and averaged 3 yards per play for the game.  Their passing game was awful.  Savage was 13 of 31 with 2 picks and he was sack 7 times, meaning of the 38 times they dropped back, 9 times they had a negative result.  When you deduct the sacks, those 38 plays contributed only 122 yards.

The running game was not much better, as James Conner ran for 1.8 yards per carry.

Obviously, the Pitt defense rebounded, holding the Cavs to 2.7 yards per play and no TDs.

Game Five:  @Virginia Tech 19, Pitt 9

Second low scoring game in a row.  Va Tech ended up 8-4, though this program is clearly not what it once was.

The Hokies set the tone for the game with 10 first quarter points and led 16-3 entering the 4th.  Pitt scored a TD with 2 minutes left (down 19-3) and missed the 2xp to create the final score.

Another rough day for the passing game.  Savage was 13 of 28 with no INT but was sacked 8 times.  They only managed 18 non-sack rushing attempts for the game.

On the other side, you have to mention the defense.  Va Tech averaged only 4.4 yards per play and they had no turnovers, so the defense did this strictly getting stops.

Game Six:  @Pitt 35, ODU 24

ODU finished 8-4 with Idaho as their only D1 win, as they are transitioning to FBS football.  This game was uncomfortably close--UNC beat them 80-20 and they lost to Maryland 47-10.  The score in this one was 28-24 heading into the 4th.

They had the opportunity to run and did, with Jacob Bennett getting 240 yards on 30 carries.  Savage passed only 18 times with 11 completions and 104 yards.

Pitt gave up over 300 yards passing to ODU.

More to come