Panthers staring at must-win game

The postseason push has now come to shove for the Pitt Panthers. Tomorrow at Heinz Field, Pitt… The postseason push has now come to shove for the Pitt Panthers. Tomorrow at Heinz Field, Pitt matches up in their final home game of the year in a must-win situation against the Connecticut Huskies.

Pitt (4-5 overall, 3-2 Big East) currently holds fourth place in the Big East standings and must win this week to keep their bowl hopes alive. UConn (4-4, 1-3) has dropped their last three decisions, and travels to Pittsburgh for the first time in school history.

This is only the second meeting for the teams. The Huskies won the inaugural game 29-17 last year at Rentschler Field in Hartford, Conn.

The Panthers, coming off a crushing 42-20 loss at Louisville last Thursday, will have to get back on the winning track on Senior Day. Last week, Pitt wilted in comparison to a far superior Cardinal team. The Panthers were out-gained 467 yards to 260.

“We did not execute and play like we had to against them and like we have in the past couple of weeks,” coach Dave Wannstedt said in his weekly press briefing. “We didn’t make enough plays really.”

One of the main reasons the Panthers failed to make those plays is the composure of wide receiver Greg Lee, who dropped numerous passes at key points in the game. However, Wannstedt stressed that Lee will not be a source of continual blame.

“I’m not worried about Greg,” Wannstedt said. “Everybody has a bad day.”

The offensive line has had more than one bad day this season. It has allowed quarterback Tyler Palko to be sacked 27 times for a total loss of 217 yards on the season. However, Wannstedt believes the line is making constant improvement, as they only allowed the tenacious Louisville pass rush to get to Palko twice.

“I thought we did a very good job of handling the blitzes,” Wannstedt said. “But we have to get our run game going a little bit more.”

The two-headed rush tandem of freshmen Rashad Jennings and LaRod Stephens-Howling has finally settled in at the tailback position, but isn’t producing substantially. The two combine for an average of just about 105 yards per game, and the Panthers as a team only tally 120.8, good for 89th in the country.

For Senior Day, senior tailback Raymond Kirkley is scheduled to be the starter. Kirkley is sandwiched between Stephens-Howling and Jennings as the team’s second leading rusher, taking 78 carries for 325 yards and only one score on the year.

Consequentially, the Panther defense will have to elevate its play to shut down the many faces of the Huskies’ offense. Connecticut has been plagued by injury at quarterback, as junior Matt Bonislawski went down at Syracuse three weeks ago with a broken clavicle.

Since then, redshirt freshman D.J. Hernandez and true freshman Dennis Brown have filled the void. Brown has only completed 28 of 54 attempts for 293 yards in two games (0-2), but he will get the start tomorrow because of an injury to Hernandez’s non-throwing hand.

Playing an inexperienced quarterback against the seventh-ranked pass defense in the country means that Connecticut will look to utilize their very own running back duo of Terry Caulley and Cornell Brockington. On the season, the two have combined for more than 700 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Pitt desperately needs this win to hold on to any hope of salvaging an already disappointing season, the source of which was speculated by Palko after the loss last Thursday. He said that if the Panthers want to be a championship-caliber team, they need to work harder.

Coming from Palko, the team leader, the criticism hit home for the Panthers, especially line-backer H.B. Blades.

“People are going to have to shape up or ship out, that’s the option. You can’t blame anybody for your mistakes,” Blades said. “I’m going to be a senior next year, my last year, and I’m not messing around.”

Neither is Wannstedt, who knows the physical play of the Connecticut defense will pose the biggest challenge for the Panthers’ offensive unit.

“I think they’re still statistically in the top of the league for scoring defense,” Wannstedt said. “They make you block. That will be the challenge for us up front.”

Tomorrow’s game will be covered regionally by ESPN and shown on WTAE-TV, cable channel 8. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m.