Football: Pitt finds strengths, weaknesses in win

The Panthers picked up their first win on Saturday, but the team was quick to point out that it… The Panthers picked up their first win on Saturday, but the team was quick to point out that it was just one win and there is room for improvement.

“We have a lot of upside and a lot of work to do,” head coach Dave Wannstedt said. “If you watch us play, we’re still not there yet.”

That applies to both offense and defense, even though the Panthers’ game was much improved from the opening loss at Utah.

Pitt opened up its passing game as quarterback Tino Sunseri made 24 completions on 34 attempts for 275 yards and two touchdowns, the longest of which was a 56-yard pass to Jon Baldwin. It was really a 10-yard pass that Baldwin ran into the end zone, dodging tackles along the way.

But the offense still faces some questions with the line, including Dion Lewis. Lewis was unable to break free on his 10 carries, gaining only 27 yards. Sunseri was sacked twice and threw one interception.

“The thing I want to work on the most is picking up the protection,” Sunseri said. “I want to understand where the blitz is coming from. Teams are going to try and put pressure on me, and I want to clean that up so it eases things for our offensive line.”

Ray Graham used his first game back from injury as an opportunity. While Lewis struggled to get through the line, Graham racked up 116 yards on nine carries, including a touchdown where he broke free for 64 yards. This marked the first 100-yard game of his career.

“Teams are going to key in on Dion [Lewis],” Graham said. “So when I get a chance or an opportunity to play, I want to make something happen.”

New Hampshire head coach Sean McDonnell said he didn’t know much about Graham’s abilities coming into the game.

“To tell you the truth, I hadn’t seen much on [Graham],” he said. “He was illusive with his schemes, and he took off. We talked more about Lewis. And on that 56-yard play, we had our guys blitz, and I was baffled by it.”

The running back’s success is helping Sunseri find his rhythm as the starting quarterback.

“Whenever you can have two running backs with skill like Dion and Ray, it takes a lot of pressure off me,” Sunseri said.

For the defense, the line showed up in a big way. The Panthers sacked Wildcats quarterback R.J. Toman a whopping six times, with Chas Alecxih notching three of them.

The pass defense struggled again — much like it did at Utah. In Salt Lake City, the defense gave up 283 passing yards and three passing touchdowns. Saturday, Pitt allowed 225 yards and one touchdown through the air.

Wannstedt attributes some of the shortcomings to youth.

“We have so many young players with so much growth potential,” Wannstedt said. “As long as our players keep working like we have worked over the past couple of weeks, we should expect to improve week after week.”

He said the team will take a few days off before it begins preparing for a home bout against No. 17 Miami — which lost at No. 2 Ohio State last week. While Pitt’s ultimate goal is to win the Big East, Wannstedt said the team is now focused only on Miami.

“We take it one game at a time, and we want to be playing our best football in December,” he said.