This may come as a shock, but I really don’t have much of a sense as to how this game will go at this point. I just have not seen much, nor read enough about Utah’s actual game (as opposed to just glowing praise of the team and the coach) to form an opinion. And I have to say, most of the stories talking about the game have been less than informative. They usually just talk about the coaches going to new jobs and the game will be on the QBs. Then without much explanation they just go with something like “Utah has too much firepower for Pitt” as if nothing further is needed.
There is a more trusted source this time. I find the writers at College Football News have actually watched the teams and know a little more about what they are writing. So, they have a preview and keys to the Fiesta Bowl worth reading in full. From the Preview portion:
Pittsburgh will win if… it avoids the early Utah run. Once the Ute offense gets on a roll, it’s impossible to slow down while the defense always seems to feed off the momentum of the moment. Pittsburgh has to strike early and strike heavy slapping the Ute defense in the mouth with a couple of big plays. The Utes are second in the nation in turnover margin taking away 29 and only giving up 13, but Pittsburgh is ninth with a solid ball-hawking defense. If the Panthers can force a few mistakes and capitalize, it’ll have a shot.
That’s the encouragement. Now from the keys, and what makes me worry:
One of the underrated aspects of Walt Harris’s career at Pittsburgh was his ability to get some ball players out of the state of Florida. That is no more evident than when looking at the Pittsburgh linebackers, HB Blades and Clint Session. The two south Floridians have combined for 188 tackles on the year and have improved significantly from last year, the freshman year for both of them. However, they’ll be under the microscope in a major way in Tempe against the vaunted Utah offense. Against West Virginia, there were a number of occasions where the two linebackers were caught out of position when WVU QB Rasheed Marshall ran the QB zone read trap. Marshall picked up chunks of yardage early as Blades, in particular, was chasing the running back after a solid fake. Um, bad news for the Panthers because that’s a staple in this Utah offense. So, against this offense one of the best ways to not get caught out of position is to cross key the potential ball carriers, especially when Smith is in the backfield with only one other back. Blades and Session run exceptionally well, but that speed can get them out of position, so reading their keys is huge in this game for this duo. They’re going to need some help from their defensive front, in that they’ve got to be able to run to the ball without having a lineman come free to hit them in the face. It’s going to be hard to enough to find the ball, much less to have to get free of a guy like Ute OL Chris Kemoeatu. Don’t be surprised to see the Pittsburgh defensive staff use either one of them in blitz packages if they’re not able to slow this offense conventionally. It’s a huge role of the dice to take your linebackers and put them on blitz missions against this offense, but with a pair of Floridians like this, you can take your chances.
That’s what I mean by guys who actually watched the teams play. Pitt, even in the last game against USF, was painfully burned at times when the D bit on the obvious fake to the RB. Read both pieces. It will at least give you an idea of what Pitt will be facing.
The Pitt web site has put out some of the quotes from player interviews. The defensive players were actually interviewed yesterday, and you can see their comments sprinkled in the articles (but Pitt only put the direct quotes up today). Later they added the quotes from members of the offense. From Rob Petiti:
On keys to winning:
“We have to score more. We have to control the ball. We can’t make mistakes, especially turnovers. If we’re going to win this game, I don’t want to say we have to play perfect, because you never do, but mistake-free. We don’t want to turn over the ball. We want to make their offense work for everything.”
On the Fiesta Bowl experience:
We’ve been here only two days. The hotel is awesome. It’s something I could probably get used to, except for the spider in the bathroom.
Must have been a hell of a spider.
Tyler Palko:
On Utah’s defense:
“They can do a lot of things and play fast. They do a lot and they’re good at all the things they do. They show a lot of things and they disguise well. It’s going to be a challenge for me because you have to prepare so much mentally for this game. I’m looking forward to the challenge, it will be my hardest game, mentally, that I have to face and I’m looking forward to that. It’s going to force me to prepare like I would against a pro football team. They can do so much and I’m welcoming that challenge. I’m really looking forward to that.”
On Pitt’s Approach:
“We’re not going to go into this game any differently. The big thing we have to realize is, it’s just a football game. Just like when we went into Notre Dame, we can’t be in awe. You’ve got to control the ball and take care of the clock. We’re up to the challenge. You can’t dictate how the game is going to go when so many things can happen. Everyone is talking about how good both offenses are, I thing the defense is going to come out with a little chip on their shoulder; with something to prove.”
Harris may not necessarily inspire the troops, but you have to believe they will follow Palko through a wall.
