Panthers must beat Virginia to stop two-game skid

The Pitt football team jumped out to a 3-0 start by piecing together near-perfect performances that were highlighted by the national emergence of running back James Conner and a swarming defensive presence.

But the Panthers’ on-field identity has changed for the worse in recent weeks. Teams have thinned Conner’s production by loading up their defensive lines, and quarterback Chad Voytik has struggled finding comfort in the pocket. To make matters worse, Pitt’s defense was bulldozed by two second-rate running backs as Pitt dropped its week four game at home to Iowa and its week five game to Akron a week later.

“Not every game is going to be perfect,” head coach Paul Chryst said Wednesday.

The Panthers (3-2, 1-0 ACC) may not have to be perfect, but they will have to improve upon their recent performances to compete with Virginia (3-2, 1-0 ACC) at Scott Stadium Saturday evening.

A win would keep Pitt’s hopes for the Capital One Orange Bowl alive.

Standing in the way will be a vastly improved Virginia defense that is No. 1 in the nation in forced turnovers, with 18 takeaways through five games. UVA’s defenders have scored a total of 65 points off the turnovers, and seven different Cavaliers have recorded at least one interception.

“Defensively, they got after us pretty good,” Chryst said of last year’s standoff. Led by Tyler Boyd’s 111 receiving yards, Pitt squeezed out a win at Heinz Field 14-3 in the last meeting. “And I still see that on tape, I think it’s a team that’s certainly talented.”

Virginia head coach Mike London told reporters that while the defense will shadow Conner, his veteran defensive leaders remember Boyd spoiling their chance at an upset last year against the Panthers.

“Everyone on the field is going to have to know where he’s at at all times,” London, who’s in his fifth year at Virginia, said. “Particularly, the entire defense is going to have to be alert to where he is because he just doesn’t run long routes, he runs short, intermediate routes. He runs crossing routes.”

The matchup represents a test for both teams. Virginia has played a hellacious schedule to date, and is the only team in Division I to play three ranked schools in its first four games. UCLA, BYU and Louisville entered their respective matchups with the Cavaliers as ranked opponents.

A 42-yard field goal by UVA’s Ian Frye with three minutes remaining in Virginia’s week three game helped the Cavaliers seal off an upset against No. 21 Louisville. Virginia also rushed for 114 yards on Louisville, which at the time had the nation’s best run defense.

And against No. 7 UCLA, Virginia’s offense was given a golden opportunity to score a touchdown and a two-point conversion to tie the game late in the fourth quarter, but it couldn’t come through. Deep in their own territory, the Bruins were forced to punt with six minutes remaining. The Cavaliers received the ball at UCLA’s 40-yard line, and Virginia crept as far as the 17-yard line but turned the ball over on downs to end the game.

Once again, against a ranked opponent, Virginia found itself down eight points at BYU in the fourth quarter, but the Cavaliers allowed a kickoff to return for a touchdown, putting the game out of reach.

Pitt has never lost three straight games under head coach Paul Chryst, and UVA, which was picked to finish last in the ACC Coastal Division, could be the team to give Chryst a new career-worst streak.

Led by senior safety Ray Vinopal, Pitt’s defense will have to shut down four Virginia receivers that have recorded more than 175 receiving yards on the season.

Virginia’s highly-touted freshman wide receiver Jamil Kamara is not one of those receivers. Kamara, who seriously considered attending Pitt before committing to Virginia, has just one catch for six yards on the season.

“It’s pretty similar to what they did last year. It’s just they’re executing better,” Vinopal said of Virginia’s offense. “They’re just playing better team football than they were a year ago.”

Vinopal added that Pitt’s defense has identified areas of concern.

“Just little things that end up collectively being a big part of what happened defensively, the kind of breakdown, and it’s enlightening to see that it’s very correctable. But it’s also like we shouldn’t be making those mistakes this late.”