Nebraska looks to make Pitt a third win

As the Pitt football team prepares to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln, Neb., for… As the Pitt football team prepares to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln, Neb., for the first time in 47 years, it looks as if things couldn’t be worse for the Panthers.

They have gotten off to their first 0-2 start since 1984 and have fallen greatly from their preseason ranking of 23rd in the AP poll.

In their season opener against Notre Dame, Pitt’s defense struggled as the Irish blew out the Panthers, and last week at Ohio, the offense sputtered in a 16-10 overtime loss.

Despite their recent struggles, the Panthers are still remaining positive as they prepare for Nebraska.

With a closer look, it appears they might have good reason to be optimistic.

After two games this season, junior quarterback Tyler Palko has actually put up better numbers than he did in his first two games as a starter last year.

At this time a year ago, a BCS bowl game seemed far out of sight for Palko and the Panthers, as he was 28-of-64 for 277 yards in two games. This season, he is 33-of-60 (a 12 percent higher completion percentage) while throwing for 340 yards.

After the two opening games last season, Palko went on to rally the team around him and lead Pitt to a share of the Big East title and a BCS birth.

First-year head coach Dave Wannstedt believes that a similar turnaround can happen this year as well.

“Palko is our leader. He has won a lot of games around here and he will continue to win a lot of games,” Wannstedt said at his press conference Monday. “He’s our guy. I believe in him and he’ll bounce back this week.”

Palko has been under a lot of pressure this season for the Panthers, as the offensive line hasn’t been able to fend off opponents’ rushes. He has been sacked a Big East-high eight times for a loss of 61 yards in the Panthers’ two games.

The struggles could possibly be attributed to learning a new system under a new coaching staff, or a younger offensive line. But whatever the case may be, the pressure Palko has faced has led to costly turnovers.

Wannstedt said he understands that, and explained he and Palko have gone over the film to try and find what caused the interceptions.

“If you’re under pressure, receivers aren’t beating their defenders, then you become hesitant and it adds to the cause of an interception,” Wannstedt said. “A lot of the problems are not just on the one person making the decision. As a team, we need to run better routes and protect Palko better. We really didn’t throw, catch or protect the ball the way we needed to.”

The task doesn’t get any easier this week. Palko and the Panthers’ offense will have their hands full with the Cornhuskers pass defense. After two games, Nebraska has the best pass defense in the Big 12. They have allowed an average of 134 yards while intercepting four balls so far.

The Huskers are equally solid stopping teams on the ground. They have allowed an average of 62 yards per game, second only to Colorado in the Big 12. The defense has allowed just one touchdown and 10 total points so far this season.

The Nebraska offense is commandeered by quarterback Zac Taylor, who has thrown for 306 yards and a touchdown on 29-of-69 passing. His favorite target on the young season has been Frantz Hardy. The two have hooked up 11 times for 181 yards and a score.

On the ground, the suspect Panther defensive line has its work cut out for it. Running back Cory Ross has carried the ball 40 times for 203 yards in the Cornhuskers’ first two games.

Nebraska enters the game 2-0. Second-year coach Bill Callahan has led his team to a pair of wins to open the season. While both looked good on the scorecard, the two games were hardly against top-notch opponents. The Huskers defeated Division I-AA opponent Maine in the opening week. In game two, they defeated perennial ACC bottom-dweller Wake Forest 31-3.

The Panthers, who have one more non-conference game after Nebraska before finishing the season with seven conference games, know that a win this week would be critical to build confidence and get some momentum going into Big East play.

“We will see this week what we can correct. We are moving upward,” Wannstedt said. “We need to continue to clean up in the other areas and put it all together. We need to play all three phases at a high level to beat Nebraska.”

Kickoff is set for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ABC will televise the game nationally, with Brent Musberger and Gary Danielson making the call.