Questions and Answers

Pitt played its biggest game of the season last Thursday in Louisville against the… Pitt played its biggest game of the season last Thursday in Louisville against the Cardinals, and lost.

Despite the other unexpected losses earlier in the year, Pitt still controlled its postseason destiny going into that game, but now its hopes of a sixth consecutive bowl appearance hang by a thread.

The season is not over, however. Pitt will regroup for the final two games on the schedule with a lot on the line.

Waiting in those two games, though, is a Connecticut Huskies team that upset the Panthers last year, 29-17, and Pitt’s backyard foe, the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Both teams will certainly be looking to take advantage of a struggling Panther team.

We took a week off from Q ‘ A because of the Thursday game, so you had two weeks to build up questions. Let’s see what you came up with.

Q: Will Pitt make a bowl?

A: I’m sorry to say, but I don’t think so.

Since they have to win out in order to pick up the six wins needed for bowl eligibility, I just don’t think it will be done.

I believe they will win at least one of the final two games, but not both. They can easily overlook the Huskies and fall to them, or beat them and fall to the better team in West Virginia.

Usually, when it comes to Pitt and big games they aren’t expected to win, they play well. Because of that, I’d go out on a limb and say Pitt loses to Connecticut, but gets hyped up to make it two Backyard Brawl wins in a row.

But who knows? That’s why they play the games. Maybe the Panthers will surprise us all and win out.

For that to happen, though, a few guys need to step up to the plate.

Q: What happened to the offense in the second half of the Louisville game?

A: It disappeared, simple as that.

You can attribute that to the speed of the Louisville defense or just the overall inconsistent play of the Pitt offense, or both.

Whatever you decide, there’s no hiding the fact that Pitt ran 25 plays for just 109 yards of offense in the second half, and held the ball for only 9:21. That’s obviously unacceptable against the high-powered Louisville offense.

Their problems, though, they are all the same story.

A running game was still non-existent, but they continued to try and pound out some yardage that way, which led to plenty of third-and-seven-type situations.

When it got to that point, a couple plays were made, but not enough to get anything done. Either a receiver dropped a pass, a ball was thrown away or a penalty of some sort was called, stopping the drive.

These mistakes are inexcusable for any team, especially a team that returned plenty of starters from last year’s Big East championship squad. Even more especially when you’re playing a team as good as Louisville is.

Hopefully they’ll get things together in time.

Q: How good is West Virginia? Is there any chance that Pitt can win that game?

A: West Virginia is an above-average team.

They play defense very well. They run the ball extremely well. Their passing game, though, hasn’t really been tested.

Pat White and Adam Bednarik have both seen time as the starting quarterback, but neither has surpassed four touchdown passes yet. Add to that the fact that Pitt’s strongpoint on defense is the secondary and that spells problems for WVU.

That is the only reason why I give Pitt a chance to pull out a victory in the game.

The Panthers have the ability to stuff the box and limit the run without worrying much about the passing game, considering Darrelle Revis will take care of one side all by himself.

Still, stuffing the run won’t be an easy task, no matter how many guys they have in the box. Steve Slaton, White and Jason Gwaltney are all threats for a breakout run at any time.

I see this game playing out just like last year’s: a low-scoring, hard fought battle between two rivals who throw out all the records when they meet.

Should make for a great, intensity-filled game.