Bowl bid hinges on battle with UConn

The Pitt football team (8-3, 4-2 Big East) might feel like it’s facing itself when it travels to… The Pitt football team (8-3, 4-2 Big East) might feel like it’s facing itself when it travels to Connecticut to take on the Huskies (7-4, 3-3 Big East) this Saturday. ‘They don’t do a whole lot of things different than what we do,’ said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt. ‘They rush four [on the line] and do a nice job up front. They’ll do a little bit of pressure stuff with the linebackers, but not a ton.’ The two teams’ offensive strategies are also very similar, as they instill a run-first philosophy. The Panthers and Huskies feature two of the best running backs in college football this season in Connecticut junior running back Donald Brown and Pitt’s LeSean McCoy. Brown is second in all of Division I in rushing with 1,633 yards and second in carries with a whopping 304. McCoy is 11th in rushing with 1,308 yards and fifth in carries with 260. ‘I think there are a lot of similarities between the two,’ said Wannstedt. ‘They both have good size and strength. Both can catch the ball well. They’re both good players who play to their strengths.’ To show just how dominant Brown has been this season, he is coming off his second worst rushing output of the season last week with a 96-yard effort in a loss to South Florida. Both teams also feature quarterbacks who have had inconsistent seasons but are capable of breaking through at any time. Connecticut senior quarterback Tyler Lorenzen is back under center for the Huskies after missing four games with a broken foot. In his absence, the Huskies went 1-3 under backups Zach Frazer and Cody Endres. Frazier and Endres combined for 947 yards, two touchdowns and six interceptions with Lorenzen out of the lineup. ‘Lorenzen’s more of an athlete,’ said Wannstedt. ‘They’ll do the movement passes with him. With Frazer in there, they didn’t do nearly as much as that.’ Pitt junior quarterback Bill Stull has experienced injuries himself, and Wannstedt said Stull is looking to keep improving every week. Stull is coming off a shaky performance against West Virginia from last week. ‘He’s trying to work his way through,’ said Wannstedt. ‘He is more than capable of hitting the fullback in the flat, but we don’t hit him [against West Virginia]. He has to set his feet and get the ball up. He makes that throw 10 times a day in practice.’ ‘I think he’s just working extremely hard to get better.’ Not only is this game important for Pitt to finish the regular season on a winning note, but there are also several other implications that will come into play. A win tomorrow would give the Panthers their first nine-win regular season since 1982, which is something Wannstedt and his team are fully aware of. ‘Our guys would like to end up with nine wins,’ said Wannstedt. ‘That would be a nice thing for our football team to accomplish.’ Yet, maybe more importantly, a win gives the Panthers hope at playing in a quality bowl game, namely the Sun Bowl. It appears that the Gator Bowl on New Year’s Day is out of reach. The Gator Bowl is likely to select Nebraska from the Big 12. The Sun Bowl has expressed interest in Pitt and is a likely selection if the Panthers can top the Huskies. Otherwise, the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., is the other primary option.