A bunch of nice honors thrown to Scott McKillop after this past week.
Pitt senior middle linebacker Scott McKillop has been named the Walter Camp Football Foundation National Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Panthers’ 26-21 upset of No. 10 USF this past Thursday.
McKillop (Export, Pa./Kiski Area) collected a team-high 12 tackles – all solo -and had two quarterback sacks, three total tackles for loss and snuffed out a fake field goal against the Bulls. He played a prominent role in grounding one of the country’s most powerful offenses, including its dangerously elusive quarterback Matt Grothe.
USF entered the game averaging 464 yards in total offense, but produced just 245 against Pitt. Grothe was sacked twice by McKillop for losses totaling 24 yards with both sacks coming at critical junctures.
McKillop’s first sack went for a loss of 10 yards, ending a USF threat at the Pitt 43 in the third quarter and forced a punt. The second was a 14-yard sack with under four minutes to go on 3rd-and-3. USF was forced to punt and Pitt was able to burn the clock down to 22 seconds and ultimately claim the victory.
McKillop also snuffed out a fake field goal in the second quarter, stopping Gregory Grant for a one-yard gain on 4th-and-5 at the Pitt 29.
McKillop was also named The Lott Trophy “IMPACT Player of the Week” and picked up Big East Defensive Player of the Week.
LeSean McCoy grabbed the Big East Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Facing a USF defense that had only been yielding 58 rushing yards per game, McCoy ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries (5.1 avg.). His TDs covered six and three yards, the latter providing the winning points with 4:43 left in the game.
McCoy figured prominently in the winning drive — he set up his own winning TD run with a 19-yard burst through the USF defense to put the Panthers at the Bulls 3. It was his second consecutive 100-yard effort of the season and the ninth of his brief career.
McCoy is averaging 106.60 rushing yards per game to rank 18th nationally and second in the Big East. In five games he has totaled 533 yards on 117 attempts (4.6 avg.) and seven TDs.
A couple good weeks really brought his average back closer to expectations. In the past 2 games McCoy has had 291 yards. He had 242 yards in the first 3 games.
