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PITT – UCONN GRIDIRON PREVIEW

By Raphielle Johnson

This will be the best game on the Big East slate on Saturday with the Huskies taking on Pittsburgh at Heinz Field (3:30 PM on ABC). Of the last five meetings four have been decided by twelve points or more, but this one doesn’t set up to be a blowout at first glance. Pitt is better equipped to make big plays vertically in the passing game with receivers such as Jonathan Baldwin and Dorin Dickerson but the Huskies are among the nation’s best in pass defense. Below is the Pitt two-deep going into Saturday’s game.

Offense

QB 11 Bill Stull (Sr.)
12 Tino Sunseri (Fr.)

TB 28 Dion Lewis (Fr.)
34 Ray Graham (Fr.)

FB 27 Henry Hynoski (So.)
37 Joe Capp (Jr.)

Outside of Stull this is a young group but they’ve been very effective this season. Stull is among the nation’s leaders in pass efficiency and he’s done a better job thus far in both making plays and not turning the ball over. It helps when you’ve got a running back as capable as Lewis; Stull doesn’t have the weight of the entire offense on his shoulders. Lewis is second in the Big East in rushing, sitting behind only West Virginia’s Noel Devine.

And a positive development in the Panthers’ win at Louisville last week was the emergence of Ray Graham, who hadn’t seen as much action as anticipated due to the play of Lewis. Look for him to also get carries. And at fullback is Henry Hynoski, who had an impressive resume as a running back coming out of high school and is a player that offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti doesn’t hesitate to get involved in the offense.

TE 80 Nate Byham (Sr.)
2 Dorin Dickerson (Sr.)

SE 82 Jonathan Baldwin (So.)
87 Mike Shanahan (Fr.)

FL 88 Oderick Turner (Sr.)
1 Cedric McGee (Sr.)

This is a very good group, so much so that the highly-touted Baldwin didn’t even start last week. Look for a lot of formations in which the Panthers use two tight ends to take advantage of the skill at that position. Byham is considered to be one of the best in the Big East and Dickerson hasn’t disappointed either. On the outside Baldwin is the deep threat but Coach Cignetti has diversified the routes that the sophomore will run; Pitt will also have Baldwin work the middle of the field on slants and other routes.

Turner and McGee are the veterans with the former looking to rebound from a 2008 in which he finished a game with three or more receptions just three times. The options are varied, and while the Huskies have been solid in pass defense there have been some lapses in coverage. Pittsburgh has the personnel that can make them pay for such errors.

LT 77 Jason Pinkston (Jr.)
68 Jordan Gibbs (So.)

LG 56 Joe Thomas (Sr.)
54 Chris Jacobson (So.)

C 64 Robb Houser (Sr.)
61 Alex Karabin (Jr.)

RG 74 John Malecki (Sr.)
75 Ryan Turnley (Fr.)

RT 52 Lucas Nix (So.)
60 Greg Gaskins (So.)

This is a solid group that is tied with Cincinnati for the fewest sacks allowed per game. Their ability to keep Stull upright has allowed the quarterback to get the ball out to the weapons at the skill positions, and Dion Lewis doesn’t perform at the level that he has been without the offensive line. Four of the five starters are upperclassmen so they don’t lack for experience either. How well the Huskies perform defensively will depend upon the ability of players such as Lindsey Witten to get to Stull and hurry him into bad decisions.

Defense

LDE 97 Jabaal Sheard (Jr.)
46 Shayne Hale (Fr.)

DT 95 Mick Williams (Sr.)
98 Chas Alecxih (So.)

NT 93 Gus Mustakas (Sr.)
94 Myles Caragein (So.)

RDE 91 Greg Romeus (Jr.)
35 Brandon Lindsey (So.)

While the aforementioned Witten leads the Big East in sacks it’s the Panthers who lead the conference in sacks per game as a team. Romeus is the sack master of the group if searching for one to give that label but they all can get to the quarterback. Inside the senior Mustakas can blow up plays and make things hard for opposing rushing attacks and Williams ranks third on the team in tackles per game. They are experienced but the Panthers haven’t been the best at stopping the run, ranking seventh in the Big East in rushing defense. If the Huskies end up being one-dimensional offensively they could be in trouble.

SLB 38 Greg Williams (So.)
15 Shane Murray (Sr.)

MLB 8 Adam Gunn (Sr.)
40 Dan Mason (Fr.)

WLB 55 Max Gruder (So.)
36 Manny Williams (Fr.)

Outside of Gunn and Murray this is a young group but they are talented. Gunn is an inspirational story, suffering a broken neck in last year’s season opener only to return for a final campaign. Gruder leads the linebackers in tackles per game with an average of just over six stops per contest. This is a solid group that tends to get overlooked due to the presence of a very good line and a much-maligned secondary but they can get some things done.

CB 17 Aaron Berry (Sr.)
22 Antwuan Reed (So.)

FS 4 Elijah Fields (Jr.)
20 Irvan Brown (Sr.)

SS 31 Dom DeCicco (Jr.)
18 Jarred Holley (Fr.)

CB 7 Jovani Chappel (Sr.)
26 Ricky Gary (Jr.)

This is the one area of the defense that has given the Panthers trouble thus far, but can Cody Endres and company exploit the Pitt secondary when given the chance? Berry is one of the best corners in the Big East and DeCicco leads the team in tackles per game with 7.4 stops per contest. But Pittsburgh ranks sixth in pass efficiency defense and fifth in pass defense, and it’s been an issue in some games, most notably their loss to NC State a couple of weeks ago. Connecticut doesn’t have the best passing attack so it wouldn’t be s surprise if both teams went into the game thinking that they’ve got some things to exploit.

Special Teams

K 30 Dan Hutchins (Jr.)
39 Kevin Harper (Fr.)

P 30 Dan Hutchins (Jr.)
92 Matt Yoklic (Fr.)

KOS 24 Luke Briggs (Jr.)
39 Kevin Harper (Fr.)

KR 10 Aundre Wright (So.)
22 Antwuan Reed (So.)

PR 3 Aaron Smith (So.)
5 Cameron Saddler (Fr.)

Hutchins hasn’t missed a kick this season but it should also be noted that his season long is thirty-five yards. He also handles the punting duties, averaging forty-one yards per punt (21 punts) and dropping nine of those inside of the opponents’ 20-yard line. Briggs is the kickoff specialist (four touchbacks) but Kevin Harper has gotten a chance to kick as well. Of his seven kicks three have been for touchbacks and his average is about three yards better than Briggs’.

In the return game Saddler has been the best with his average of more than thirty yards per kick return, but he’s more likely to be a punt returner on Saturday if given the opportunity. Outside of him the Panthers have been average in the return game, ranking fifth in the Big East in both kick and punt return average.