Scouting Pittsburgh

[Riddickulous]

Who's up next? Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh is currently 2-2. They've lost to Utah (27-24 in OT) and Miami (31-3). They have victories over New Hampshire (38-16) and Florida International (44-17).

Pittsburgh's offense is one-dimensional, as seen against Miami last week. Before this week's game against FIU, they were 94th in the country. They rely entirely on their running game to move the football, much like Boston College. The difference is that Pittsburgh CAN run the football. Dion Lewis is injured, but fellow sophomore Ray Graham took over with a 277 yard, 3 TD performance today against FIU. First year starter Tino Sunseri has struggled, and Pitt's passing game has been fairly anemic thus far when faced with competition. They do have Jonathan Baldwin, one of the better wide receivers in the nation, who can and will cause issues.

Their defense before today (FIU shouldn't count), is 60th in the nation, allowing about 350 yards a game.

Before today (again, against FIU) Pitt had the 95th best pass defense in the country. That's 95th. They allow approximately 252 yards per game through the air.

How do we win?

Offensively: Attack through the air against that weak pass defense. Feed the ball to Floyd. Attack downfield.

Defensively: Stack the box and force Tino Sunseri to beat us through the air.

We have a great shot at winning next week. Let's go Irish.

 

[mgriff]

We need this win to keep the momentum going into what should be our run of wins. The run would set the table nicely for a win against Utah and USC to end the year on a high note. I can live with one more loss this season, not including the bowl game, which would make them 8-4. I know it doesn't matter what I think, or can live with, but I'm just throwing out my personal feeling.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

Let's make their passing game look like what it is. Total shit. Don't let them look better than they are. We can win this game.

 

[Irish Man3]

If our defense plays the way it did against Boston College, then we will win this game. Whether its Dion Lewis or Ray Graham, we have to stop the run. Pittsburgh and Tino Sunseri can not win the game without a solid running attack. Tino is not a game changer.
The fact is, Boston College played far worse than I think any of us expected. Credit our defense to some point, but they played terrible in their own right. Our defense will have to remain physical at the point of attack and really dominate the line of scrimmage.
As far as our offense, we will need to play much better against Pittsburgh. We came out in the first quarter against Boston College and I finally thought we had found our groove and things would continue to click. That obviously wasnt the case. We are going to need to be far more consistent to beat good teams.