Football: Panthers prepare for toughest test yet in NC State

Pitt quarterback Bill Stull led his team to three straight victories to start the season, but on… Pitt quarterback Bill Stull led his team to three straight victories to start the season, but on Saturday he faces his toughest challengethis year when Pitt travels to Raleigh to face North Carolina State.

“If you look at our schedule, we’ve taken a step up from a competition standpoint every week,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “We’ll find out this week as far as taking another step.”

Stull’s performance against Navy impressed Wannstedt, who hopes the trend continues against North Carolina State.

“The thing I like that he’s doing is making smart decisions,” Wannstedt said. “He’s making quicker decisions. He’s not holding on to the ball.”

Stull and the Panthers will have to make those decisions against a stingy North Carolina State defense. The Wolfpack ranks second in the country in total defense after holding South Carolina, Murray State and Gardner-Webb to an average of 168 yards per game.

But Stull might have an advantage against North Carolina State, because he practices against Pitt’s defense.

“Their defensive line looks very similar to ours,” Wannstedt said. “Those four guys they have up front are playmakers. They can all run and they’re athletic.”

Though Stull has been impressive, passing for six touchdowns with a 160.2 passer rating, North Carolina State quarterback Russell Wilson has been even better. Wilson has an NCAA-record 329 passes without an interception.

“He understands what wins and loses football games,” Wannstedt said. “Their tight end right now is their leading receiver. Their running back is their fourth-leading receiver. That tells you that he’ll take the shots down the field, but he will also take what the defense gives him.”

Wannstedt wants a swarming defense to defend against him.

“He’s going to get the ball out. He’s going to make his throws,” he said. “We need to tackle well in the open field.”

The status of Pitt linebacker Adam Gunn, who missed the game against Navy with a sprained left ankle, is still up in the air. Dan Mason performed beyond expectations in Gunn’s place last week, recording a team-leading 11 tackles to go with two sacks.

“I really am not prepared right now to say if Adam’s going to play and if Adam’s going to start [or] how much Dan Mason will play,” Wannstedt said.

On North Carolina State’s side, receiver Owen Spencer may miss the game because of a concussion suffered last week against Gardner-Webb. Spencer led the Wolfpack in receiving yards and touchdowns last season.

Though Pitt holds an unblemished record this season, penalties are an issue that needs to be corrected against the Wolfpack.

“On [Navy’s] two scores, we had a 15-yard penalty in each drive,” Wannstedt said. “As the competition gets tougher and the games become more important and you get into the fourth quarter and you commit a penalty, it’s a matter of winning and losing football games.”

Along with avoiding penalties, Wannstedt wants to continue to highlight wide-out Jonathan Baldwin on offense.

“We’re starting to do more things with him,” Wannstedt said. “You can see some of the different routes. Last year, it was more take-offs on the outside, the deep balls. Now we’re running him on some shallow crossing routes, on some deep things and some little screens.”

In the running game, Dion Lewis enters Raleigh with six touchdowns in three games this season. Wannstedt noticed that Navy keyed against him and suspects that other opponents will do the same.

The freshman Lewis leads all Big East running backs with 398 rushing yards.

Pitt defeated North Carolina State in its last meeting, 34-19, at the 2001 Tangerine Bowl. The Panthers handed Philip Rivers his only bowl loss as a member of the Wolfpack.

For Wannstedt, though, that game and this season’s first three games are in the past. The only thing that matters is the test of North Carolina State.

“We have a big challenge ahead of us,” Wannstedt said. “It’s the biggest one of the year so far.”