PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pitt leads the conference at 45 points a game, North Carolina 38.9 points. Pitt 541.1 yards per game, North Carolina 489.9 yards. Kenny Pickett 379 yards a game, Sam Howell 345 yards.
This is the matchup for Thursday Night Football at Heinz Field. A preseason conference favorite and AP Top 10 team, North Carolina (5-4, 3-3) has won two of three after some early struggles, the loss being at Notre Dame by 10. Tar Heels scoring 147 points in those three weeks.
“Coach (Mack) Brown, great football coach,” said Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi. “Really scored a ton of points as of late. Phil Longo is their offensive coordinator, Jay Bateman, defensive coordinator. You look at Thursday night, you’ve got two explosive offenses at Heinz Field. You’ve got two top-10 offenses with two unbelievable quarterbacks.
Everybody has a slew of receivers.”
While he wishes for the days of games ending 14-3, Narduzzi, a former defensive coordinator himself, points to those jobs as key Thursday.
“I always say it's going to come down to Bateman and Bates,” Narduzzi said. “Bateman, Jay Bateman, is their defensive coordinator. Obviously Randy Bates is ours. Going to come down to who plays better defense on that day. We got to step up to that challenge. There's going to be two explosive offenses going at it.”
Panthers (7-2, 4-1) have had trouble with a couple of quarterbacks this year. Tennessee back-up Hendon Hooker used his mobility to have success. Pocket QBs like Western Michigan’s Kaleb Eleby with 337 yards and three touchdowns and Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke-426 yards and three touchdowns, also found holes in the Pitt defense.
North Carolina’s Sam Howell is a combination. Early talk of Howell as a Heisman candidate given his first two seasons of combined 7,227 yards passing with 68 touchdowns and 205 more yards rushing and receiving for eight more scores. The junior throwing for 2,408 yards and 20 touchdowns this season. He’s run for another 689 and eight scores and remember in college, sack yardage counts against your run stats.
“The thing you notice out of him, he looks like he's 235,” Narduzzi said of the 6’1”, 220 pounder. “He runs like a tailback. I mean, he is scrambling. What you didn't see the last two years is his ability not only to scramble, but now they've got designated quarterback runs.”
“We prepared real hard for all their draws. They're going to run a lot of quarterback draws against us. Not as much counter and power with him. But who knows. We've seen enough of that this year with other athletic quarterbacks.”
“I notice about him, just the way he's dropping back, then running quarterback draws, scrambling, making plays with his feet. That's something I did not see in the past that he has added to his game.”
Now the Panthers rely on what they believe is a strength of their team. The linebacking corps with Narduzzi saying he has confidence in veterans Cam Bright, John Petrishen, SirVocea Dennis, Chase Pine and others. Not that they won’t be challenged.
“It's a big deal,” Narduzzi said. “You try to cover (receiver Josh) Downs. You put too many guys, too many people in coverage, you got a problem. It's hard to rush three against this guy because he'll take off, going like Kenny did last weekend. It can be deadly. You’ve got to cover.”
Yes, you have to cover and then on the other hand, Narduzzi said you have to attack. You can’t sit back and rush three and expect to beat this offense. He said they will continue to be aggressive, it outweighs the risks.
“I think you’ve got to go get them,” Narduzzi said. “You’ve got to go get them. If you miss, then the next wave of players has got to go get 'em. You have to. If you don't go get him, he'll sit in the pocket all day and pick you apart. He can make every throw on the field.
You’ve got to go get him. There's no other choice.”
“I'm not talking about go get him with 10 guys. When you're in four-man pressure, we are not going to sit there and say contain him, keep him in the pocket, let's squeeze him, see if we can get him in there.”
The first thing Narduzzi said they have to do is stop the run. It won’t be easy with Ty Chandler rushing for 6.2 a carry and 884 yards overall with 13 touchdowns.
“We got Downs, Sam to worry about, then obviously a tailback that's really athletic. Maybe the best tailback we've seen this year.”
Downs isn’t far behind as a receiver. The sophomore has 74 catches for 1,014 yards and 8 touchdowns. North Carolina has five other receivers averaging over 19 yards a reception.
“Downs is like Jordan Addison. It is like we're defending a guy we see in practice every day. This guy is a special football player.”
“He's a young kid that's just electric. He can slow, and then all of a sudden, like he’s shot out of a cannon. He'll put you to sleep and then go.”
We’ve seen some crazy games recently at Heinz Field, remember the 76-61 matchup with Syracuse. Not saying this will be that score, but if you haven’t worked as a defensive coordinator. You will probably enjoy the game Thursday.
“Their Downs kid, our Jordan Addison, two matchups,” Narduzzi said. “I can't imagine. People will be coming from everywhere. Heard there is to be 36 scouts going to be at the game, obviously watching both ball clubs. It's going to be a battle at Heinz.”