Pitt D as noteworthy as offense

Most of the attention goes to the offensive unit after a blowout win in football, and… Most of the attention goes to the offensive unit after a blowout win in football, and stellar defensive play gets lost in the shuffle.

The Pitt offensive unit was impressive in its 52-7 rout over Central Florida on Friday, so the attention is definitely deserved — 26 first downs, 470 yards of total offense (176 from LaRod Stephens-Howling alone), 10-for-12 on third downs and no punts in the entire game are all impressive numbers.

But while Pitt was showing a national panel of poll voters why it should be in the nation’s top 25 during this nationally televised thumping, the Pitt defense was making a statement of its own.

The Panther D held UCF to seven points, despite the Golden Knights’ offense running 71 plays. They only let UCF convert on six of 14 third-down plays and held them to one score in three red zone visits.

By this point in the season, it’s no surprise that as the defense’s heart and soul, middle linebacker H.B. Blades, goes, so goes the team defense.

And H.B. was going on Friday.

Blades, one of the nation’s top tacklers, once again reached double digits with 10 tackles on the game, and also forced and recovered a fumble. The win now gives Pitt its best start since Dan Marino was quarterback and the team went 7-0 in 1982.

Coming into the game, Blades ranked sixth nationally with 11.33 tackles per game and is on pace to finish in Pitt’s all-time top three in career tackles.

While Blades has been doing it for the Panthers every week, perhaps this week could be attributed to Blades’ connection to the Sunshine State.

A Plantation, Fla., native, Blades is one of 20 Panther recruits from Florida and like most of them, had some extra support in the stands on Friday.

Blades’ father, Bennie, and uncle Brian Blades, who are both former National Football League players, were both in attendance to see H.B.’s 10 tackles.

With those 10 tackles and impressive individual numbers all season long, Blades has helped Pitt’s defensive unit as a whole put up some gaudy numbers of its own — before Friday’s game the Panthers ranked fifth nationally in turnovers gained, 19th in pass efficiency defense, 20th in scoring defense and 24th in total defense and pass defense.

On Wednesday, Blades was named to the CBSSportsLine.com “Halfway All-America Team” for his performance in the first six games of the season.

Blades has also officially been named to four major award watch lists: the Butkus Award (top linebacker), Rotary Lombardi Award (top lineman/linebacker), Bronko Nagurski Trophy (top defensive player) and the Lott Trophy (top defensive player).

The timing of the nationally televised Friday night game in Orlando, Fla., couldn’t have been better for Blades, because this Thursday the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando will reduce its 66-man watch list to 10 semifinalists.

His performance Friday surely didn’t hurt his case for any of those awards.

Pretty impressive considering how much attention the offense will get from the 52-7 win.