Football update: McKillop earns weekly honors

The Pitt football team avoided its second-straight loss to a Mid-Atlantic Conference team last… The Pitt football team avoided its second-straight loss to a Mid-Atlantic Conference team last Saturday, with a bounce-back 27-16 victory over Buffalo. The win evened Pitt’s record to 1-1, but more importantly, it reassured many Pitt fans that the season still has a long way to go. A new week brought the Buffalo Bulls and a chance for Pitt to fix the mistakes it made against Bowling Green in week one. Running wild Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt delivered on his promise to run the football more by riding his horse, sophomore tailback Lesean McCoy, especially in the red zone. McCoy carried the ball 20 times for 93 yards and three touchdowns against Buffalo, in comparison to just one score on 71 yards against Bowling Green. The running game’s effectiveness took some pressure off of junior quarterback Bill Stull, who threw only 33 times ‘- a small amount when compared to 51 attempts against Bowling Green. An important component was Pitt’s ability to move the chains on third down. The Panthers were 8 of 13 on their third-down conversions, which helped milk the clock and continue their long touchdown drives. McKillop sets pace Pitt senior linebacker Scott McKillop was named Big East Defensive Player of the Week for his effort in the win against Buffalo. McKillop was a force throughout the game, collecting a game-high 15 tackles, along with two quarterback hurries and a broken-up pass. His pressure on Buffalo quarterback Drew Willy led to the game-sealing interception by teammate Eric Thatcher late in the fourth quarter. McKillop leads the Big East in tackles at 10.5 per game. He was named to many preseason award lists including the Bednarik Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Rotary Lombardi Award, Ronnie Lott Trophy and the Walter Camp Player of the Year award. McKillop is coming off a strong 2007 season in which he was named to four All-American teams and was a unanimous first-team All-Big East selection. Hawkeyes coming to town It was announced this week that Pitt’s showdown with Big Ten power Iowa (2-0) Sept. 20 will have a noon kickoff time. The game was previously unannounced because of television considerations. The game will be televised by either ESPN or ESPN2. The final decision on the network will be decided after this weekend’s games. The Panthers and Hawkeyes will meet for the first time since 1952 and only the fourth time ever. Pitt won the last meeting, 26-14, at Pitt Stadium. Pitt leads the series, 2-1. Additional kickoff times and television clearances will be announced at later dates. Iowa hosts Iowa State this weekend, while Pitt has the weekend off from games.