Football: Pitt to face familiar offense against Rutgers

When the Pitt football team faces Rutgers on Saturday, the Scarlet Knight offense will look very… When the Pitt football team faces Rutgers on Saturday, the Scarlet Knight offense will look very familiar.

That’s because when head coach Dave Wannstedt resigned after the 2010 season, three of his assistant coaches ended up on Rutgers’ coaching staff — and the Panthers are familiar with what offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti, tight ends coach Brian Angelichio and safety coach Jeff Hafley bring to the field.

Pitt defensive tackle Chas Alecxih, a redshirt senior, said that on film Rutgers’ offense looks identical to Pitt’s from last year.

“Power run, stretch, screens, play action passes,” he said. “It’s what we went against in camp.”

Still, Alecxih said the Scarlet Knight attack won’t be completely recognizable.

“Frank Cignetti is obviously a very good offensive coordinator, so I know he’s going to have a few surprises in there for us,” Alecxih said.

Pitt (3-2, 1-0 Big East) is coming off an upset victory at Heinz Field over then-No. 16 South Florida. Now the Panthers are in search of their first road win of the season against Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., at 3:30 p.m.

“I thought we put together the most complete game up to this point,” Pitt head coach Todd Graham said about the win over South Florida at a press conference on Monday. “The guys have steadily improved each and every week. It was very exciting and it was exciting for them.”

While Pitt is familiar with the Scarlet Knights’ offensive attack, Rutgers’ defense will present the biggest challenge to Pitt, especially since the Panthers are likely to play without senior right guard Lucas Nix, who injured his knee against South Florida. Pitt already lost senior left guard Chris Jacobson for the season to a knee injury.

Graham said he expects Rutgers to blitz and attack a lot, which prompted him to hold a practice on Sunday, something he doesn’t normally do. He also said that he’s been impressed with redshirt sophomores Cory King and Ryan Schlieper, who stepped into starting roles following the injuries.

He added that what Rutgers does on defense is probably similar to Pitt’s philosophy.

“I really like what Rutgers does defensively,” Graham said. “They have a really good system in place. They have reconfigured their defense to create more speed. They are going to force the issue.”

Rutgers notched a win in its first Big East game last Saturday against Syracuse, and both the Panthers and the Knights will look to move to 2-0 in conference play.

“We are excited and our guys are focused on being 2-0,” Graham said. “This is a very critical game in the Big East. We have six more Big East games, but this one is the most critical. We have to go fight and scratch for 60 minutes, continue to get better and figure out how to be 2-0.”

Graham’s game plan is not a secret to Rutgers’ head coach Greg Schiano. Pitt will rely heavily on its junior running back, Ray Graham, fresh off his 226-yard rushing performance against South Florida.

“He’s elusive, he’s quick, he’s got great vision, balance, strength and he’s really good,” Schiano said in a press conference on Sunday. “This is really going to be a huge challenge for our defense.”

An Elizabeth, N.J., native, Ray Graham is averaging 146.8 yards per game on the ground for the Panthers, which ranks him third nationally. Following the performance against South Florida, he was named the Big East Offensive Player of the Week and Walter Camp Football Foundation’s National Offensive Player of the Week.

“Ray Graham was off the chart,” Coach Graham said. “One thing that impressed me is that [running backs] Coach Magee and I had worked with Ray on what he could improve on, and he actually worked on it and got better.”

The Scarlet Knights have their own standout player on offense in Mohamed Sanu. The junior wide receiver already has 43 receptions for 428 yards and five touchdowns on the 2011 season. He ran the ball 59 times in 2010 and 62 in his freshman year 2009.

In his first year stepping back from doing it all offensively for Rutgers, he has made great strides as a receiver.

“Sanu has tremendous ball skills,” Graham said. “They move him around quite a bit so you can’t isolate him. He has tremendous ability. He is able to contort his body and go get balls and make one-handed catches. He is a strong-handed guy and no question he is their go-to guy. He is the guy that you have to know where he is at all times.”

Pitt’s defense showed vast improvements despite losses in Iowa and at home against Notre Dame, but the defensive squad put everything together in the win over the Bulls.

“We imposed our will,” Alecxih said after the game. “I just felt for the first time all season we clicked as a defense. We were able to do exactly what we wanted. There was nobody doing their own thing. We just came together.”

The talented receivers from Rutgers will post a challenge for the Panthers’ defense. Led by Sanu, the Scarlet Knights are deep at the position. Eight different players made catches in their 19-16 double-overtime win against the Orange.

“We have played against a lot of great receivers. Each week you think the one you are up against is the best, but Mohamed Sanu is a special receiver,” Graham said. “The strength of Rutgers’ offense would probably be their receiving corps. They have very skilled players and big 6-foot-4 receivers who can go up and get the football.”

Although the Scarlet Knights have plenty of talented receivers, there’s currently a battle for which quarterback is going to get them the ball.

Sophomore Chas Dodd, Rutgers’ starter all season, was pulled in the third quarter against Syracuse. He was 14-31 for 166 yards and one interception when he was replaced by a player whose name that might be familiar to Pitt fans, freshman Gary Nova.

Nova, a verbal commit to Pitt before Wannstedt’s resignation, led the Rutgers’ comeback, going 14-22 for 122 yards and one touchdown.

“I haven’t made a decision about that,” Schiano said of the quarterbacks. “I’ll make a decision when I’m ready to make it. I don’t know when that’s going to be.”

Pitt’s own quarterback, junior Tino Sunseri, quieted critics against South Florida, looking comfortable in connecting on 22-of-33 passes for 216 yards and a touchdown.

Sunseri and his offense know what it takes to execute Graham’s system. The Panthers will look to build on the performance against the Bulls now that they have a well-executed game under their belts.

“We just thought that if we came in and executed our offense, we could score some points,” Sunseri said after the win. “It’s very pleasing to see it done. A lot of people have been talking about how it’s coming and how we’ve been getting closer and closer. We finally did it, and we know what it feels like now.”