The Pinkie Previews: Louisville vs. Pitt

Date – October 2, 2009
Time – 8:00 pm
Site – Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium
Television – ESPN2
Radio – 840 am WHAS

Papa John's Cardinal Stadium aka The Oven

There is almost never a ‘must win’ game this early in the college football season, but for the Louisville Cardinals, this upcoming contest against Pitt may very well be. The Cardinals are currently 1-2 on the year and after seemingly taking a step or two forward against Kentucky, they appeared to take at least one step back against Utah. The Fighting Kragthorpes now get their shot to start conference play off on the right foot against the Panthers.

Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe is 1-1 against Pitt during his tenure at Louisville. The Cardinals defeated the Panthers 24-17 in 2007 and then lost a nail-biter in Pittsburgh last year 41-7. This will be the 13th meeting overall between Pitt and Louisville, with the Cards holding the all-time series lead at 7-5.

The Panthers (3-1) opened the year with a 38-3 win against Youngstown State, then traveled to Buffalo and won 54-27. They returned home and fought off scrappy Navy 27-14. Pitt then made the trek to Raleigh and apparently did not take their defense with them. NC State’s offense, not exactly the 2004 Louisville offense, put up 38 points, highlighted by 28 second half points en route to handing Pitt their first loss of the season.

In their two road games, Pitt’s defense is giving up an average of 515 yards of offense. Against Buffalo, the Panthers D allowed 67 yards rushing, but an astounding 433 yards passing…TO BUFFALO!!!!! Against the Wolfpack, the Pitt defenders stiffened up and only allowed 322 yards of passing, but gave up 208 yards on the ground. Suffice to say, on the road, the Pitt D is marginal at best.

On the offensive side of the ball, Pitt no longer has star running back LeSean McCoy. However, the Panthers do boast another fine running back in freshman Dion Lewis. Lewis is 5-8 195 lbs and is very shifty. Despite being only 5-8, Lewis has a good combination of power and speed. The Louisville defense will need to wrap him up as he is more than capable of breaking arm tackles. In the 2009 season, Lewis has rushed for 493 yards on 86 attempts, with 7 touchdowns. He has also caught 10 passes for a combined 66 yards with a touchdown so he is a factor in the passing game as well.

Lewis celebrating a touchdown, that better not happen too much on Friday

In charge of the Pitt passing game is senior quarterback Bill Stull. Stull has been much maligned during his time at Pitt, but seems to have gotten things going in 2009. So far, Stullis 61-93 for 746 yards and 8 touchdowns with only a single interception. An 8 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio is fantastic, particularly when you consider entering this season Stull’s career ratio was 11 to 10. However, Pitt does not take many downfield shots with Stull as his highest passing total in terms of yardage this season is 245.

Larry Fitzgerald will not be on the field for Pitt on Friday (and thank God for that) and they do not have any households names lining up at wide receiver. However, two dangerous weapons the Panthers do have are tight end Dorin Dickerson and wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin. Dickerson is 6-2 230 lbs and has good speed. Against Buffalo earlier in the season, Dickerson had 8 catches for 71 yards and three touchdowns . Baldwin is a tantalizing target at 6-5 and 225 lbs is coming off a 2 catch, 98 yard performance against NC State in which he recorded his first touchdown of the season.

Baldwin can go up and get it

Pitt has many weapons on offense, but their biggest weapon is without question Dave Wannstedt’s mustache. The man they call Wanny rocks that ‘stache like there’s no tomorrow and I quite frankly love it. I do not think Wannstedt is a great coach, but he has a mustache, a real man’s mustache, and he forever gets a pass from me.

Uh...

In all honesty, this game to me comes down to the Louisville offense. I believe Louisville’s defense is good enough and quite frankly, they have not been the problem in 2009. The Louisville offense has shown multiple flashes of being very good. However, until they find a way to not shoot themselves in the foot in the red zone, they will not win many games, if any. In my opinion, the best way to do that is to run the ball effectively.

Against Kentucky, Louisville did and had a great chance to win the game. Last week against Utah, Louisville did not and ultimately lost without a real chance to win the game. Utah had a gameplanof stacking the box and making Justin Burke beat them with the pass. It worked and I expect Pittsburghto try the same. If they do, then Louisville needs to hit a big play early in the passing game. I like the thought of a first play, play action fake deep post route to Scott Long for a 75 yard touchdown pass. I’m all for playing with a lead for a change.

Scott Long, GET IN THE ENDZONE!!!

Miller’s prophecy- Louisville wins 31-21. Justin Burke goes 22-30 for 265 yards and 2 TDs. MARK IT DOWN!!!