Pittsburgh completely fell apart last week.The Panthers blew a 14-3 to the Utes and lost at home 26-14, allowing 23 unanswered points to Utah. Pittsburgh has had it's share of problems on offense but there has been quarterback problems as well. They've produced just two offensive touchdowns in the last nine quarters. Junior Tino Sunseri and freshman Trey Anderson went a pitiful 9-for-29 for 40 yards and Sunseri was sacked 5 times. Pittsburgh will start Sunseri instead of shuffling Trey Anderson in and out at times. Not only does the offensive line have to step up but the recievers have to step up as well. Their best bet right now is Ray Graham. Graham has done his share on the offense closing in on 1000 yards for the season with 9 TDs carring the ball 162 times this year. Bottom line the air offense has struggled with the last 7 of 10 points scored by the Panthers have been from Graham. The defense for the Panthers have not been as dominating as they have been in the past, However, they do rank in the top 15 with tackles for loses with 8 and 3 sacks per game. Event though they fell apart on the offense with Utah the defense did get 17 tackles for loss and seven sacks in that game alone. Over the last 3 games the Panthers have held their opponenets to just a 51% on completed passes. Pitt will look for their DT Arron Donald who had 3 sacks against Utah Donald ranks as one of the leaders in the Big East and in the top 25 in the NCAA in sacks, totaling five on the year, and they run a great Bitz with their defense accounted for 10 of the Panthers’ 17 tackles for loss with OLB Greg Williams tackled the Utes in the backfield a career-high four times.
The Huskies rebounded well to defeat the Bulls, 16-10, but it was a disaster in the 2 previous against where they took back-back losses against West Virginia (16-43) and Western Michigan (31-38). The Huskies defense really stepped up in the South Florida game. Uconn forced 4 fumbles and including a Brain Jones fumble return for 6 points and the Huskies stopped the Bulls on a fourth down in Huskie Territory, but Uconn will face a new demon with Ray Graham,who is averaging 134.1 yards per game, is the second-leading rusher in the country. Offensively, UConn has been very good at getting into the red zone this season, but not so great at turning those opportunities into touchdowns. they have settled for Feild Goals far too often int heir match-ups. QB John McEntee is having an average season completing just over 52% of his passes for just over 1200 yards with 6TDs and only 4 INTs. The Huskie running game has not been that bad with RB Lyle McCombs getting 175 carries for 705 yards and 4 TDs, but McEntee is not a very experienced Quarterback so I look for the Panthers to bring blitz after blitz and put not only pressure on this young quarterback but force him out of the pocket and make mistake after mistake. Afterall, what we seen from the Panther last week was a fluke IMO and many changes and Tune-ups will be made on both sides of the ball. Yeah, Uconn has been pretty good on run defense but I think they will have trouble containing Graham on the ground today. I think coming off a big win against the Bulls took their focus off the Panthers. but I don't see Uconn staying close in this one relying on FGs. UConn has struggled scoring points, which should play into Pitt’s strength, which is its defense. The Panthers pass rush should give UConn QB Johnny McEntee, who has completed only 52 % of his passes, big problems. McEntee ranks last in passing efficiency in the Big East. Like Pitt, UConn lives off its defense. They rank second in the conference against the rush, which could mean it will be a long day for Panther RB Ray Graham if his QB Tino Sunseri can’t get a hot hand, I do think Sunseri can get it going in the air if Graham has problems on the ground. I just don't see how Uconn matches up well with this team dispite their Flaws from their last game. Should be a low scoring game but a cover for Pittsburgh 30-10.

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PITTSBURGH PANTHERS -10 1/2