NCAA football preview: Connecticut and Pittsburgh's Big East showdown
Thursday 11 November features Big East teams going in different directions. The 5-3 Pittsburgh Panthers are looking to stay in first place in the Big East while the Connecticut Huskies are sitting in second last at 4-4 and can shake everything up
in the conference with a win.
Pittsburgh’s previous games
The Panthers started the season off with a tough loss to Utah in overtime, 27-24. The rebounded in week two with a 22 point victory over the University of New Hampshire, but fell the
following week to a ranked opponent in the Miami Hurricanes, their only ranked opponent so far this season. The Panthers were clearly out of step in that game against the Hurricanes as they only managed a field goal on offence while the defence gave up 31
points. They beat Florida International University by a large margin in week four, but lost again the following week to Notre Dame 23-17.
Since that loss at Notre Dame, the Panthers offence has been on a tear, scoring 106 points in the last three games, all of which were wins, against Syracuse, Rutgers and Louisville, all in-conference teams.
The defence has held their own as well over the past three games, only allowing 38 points.
Connecticut’s previous games
The Huskies started off the season on the wrong foot with a loss to the Michigan Wolverines, 30-10, but, against Texas Southern the following week, scored 62 points to Texas Southerns’
three.
They followed up their impressive offense performance with a loss to Temple and followed the loss to Temple up with two wins against Buffalo and Vanderbilt, respectively. In those two wins, the offense
had another explosion, scoring over 40 points in both, while the defence came up strong allowing a total of 42 points scored in the victories. Connecticut came up lame after their miniature winning streak, losing a heartbreaker to Rutgers 27-24, and then
being blown out the week after against Louisville 26-0.
The defence needed a huge lift, a morale boost of some kind, and received just that in their last game against West Virginia.
In overtime against the Mountaineers, the Huskies defence forced a fumble on their own two yard line, essentially winning the game. It has been a long road to 4-4 for the Huskies, trading losses for wins
throughout the season so far.
Keys to the game
Pittsburgh's strengths come on defence. Their defence is ranked 10th in the country in yards allowed per game with 299 and 20th in the country in points allowed
with 19. If they wish to stay at the top of the Big East and have a chance at the conference title game, they need to win out the rest of their schedule, which is definitely possible. These two teams match up surprisingly well, and Pittsburgh coach Dave
Wannstedt realizes the similarities between the programs.
"They are similar in a lot of ways to us: They are a physical football team, they run the football very effectively, they have the top rusher in our conference, and one of the top in the country, and that
seems to always be the case.” Wannstedt said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Connecticut must capitalize on any mistakes that the Panthers make, and play physical football for the whole game. If they can continue their performance from last week’s emotional victory over West Virginia,
it may be a long day for the Panthers. On offence, they will need to use their rushing skills to pound the front line of the Panthers, but if that fails, the Huskies 102nd ranked passing game will have to get involved.
Prediction:
Pittsburgh 28-27 Connecticut
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