Pitt Preview
November 12, 2003 11:47 AM | General
November 12, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia defense is going to get a healthy dose of Rod Rutherford and Larry Fitzgerald Saturday when WVU takes on Pitt in the 96th edition of the "Backyard Brawl" at Mountaineer Field.
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| West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez is impressed with Pitt's offensive weapons.(All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Rutherford has passed for more than 300 yards five times this year including four straight games against Rutgers, Syracuse, Boston College and Virginia Tech heading into Saturday’s game. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound senior has completed 177 of 288 passes for 2,661 yards and 27 touchdowns in nine games. That’s an average of 295.7 yards per game.
Rutherford’s only sub-par performance was in a loss to Notre Dame when he was held to 12 of 30 for 167 yards. Still, the Pittsburgh native managed to throw two touchdown passes.
“(Rutherford) is playing lights out,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “He’s a tremendous player.”
Enabling Rutherford to post such gaudy passing figures is one of the country’s top offensive players in 6-foot-3, 225-pound sophomore wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. The Minneapolis native shows 68 catches for 1,282 yards and 17 touchdowns. Fitzgerald has had at least 100 yards receiving in eight of nine games this year and has caught at least one TD pass in all nine games. Fitzgerald’s lowest output this season was a five-catch, 79-yard effort against Notre Dame. Yet Fitzgerald still managed to haul in two touchdowns against Notre Dame’s tough defense.
Twice Fitzgerald has gone over 200 yards receiving against Toledo and Rutgers and has had three touchdown catches twice against Kent State and Texas A&M.
In last year’s Backyard Brawl, Fitzgerald caught 11 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns.
“There’s not question he’s the best wide receiver in the country,” said Rodriguez, who believes Fitzgerald has numbers good enough to be considered for the Heisman Trophy. “He’s everything you would like to see in a Division I-A college football player.”
Defenses have been forced to play Fitzgerald straight up because of the rapid development of tight end Kris Wilson (6-3, 250, Sr.) and second receiver Princell Brockenbrough (6-3, 205, Sr.). Wilson shows 32 catches for 457 yards and six touchdowns while Brockenbrough has 24 catches for 446 yards and three TDs. Twenty six of Pitt’s 28 touchdown receptions have gone to Fitzgerald, Wilson and Brockenbrough.
And while Pitt coach Walt Harris’ preferred method of moving the football is through the air, he does have a couple of capable running backs in Jawan Walker (5-10, 215, So.) and Brandon Miree (6-0, 230, Sr.), who both average more than four yards per carry. Miree has been limited to just three games this season due to injury. That has opened things up for Walker, a 5-foot-10, 215-pound sophomore. Walker leads the team with 388 yards rushing on 93 carries and had a career-best 87 yards rushing in a road win at Texas A&M. With Miree injured, Walker’s backup has been 5-10, 235-pound junior Tim Murphy, who has carried 27 times for 79 yards.
Fullback Lousaka Polite is both a threat running and catching the ball out of the backfield. The 6-foot, 245-pound senior has accounted for 343 all-purpose yards and scored the winning touchdown against Virginia Tech last weekend.
“They’ve got a great tight end (Wilson), Brockenbrough is another excellent receiver, and their fullbacks and tailbacks are all excellent players,” said Rodriguez.
Pitt fields one of the most experienced offensive lines in the Big East with four of its five starters being seniors. The only underclassman starting is sophomore right guard John Simonitis.
Left tackle Rob Petitti (6-6, 330, Sr.) headlines the offensive line and has started every game during his Pitt career; he comes into Saturday’s game making his 35th straight start.
Pitt’s defense this year has taken on a bend-but-do-not-break mentality. The Panthers have given up 380.7 yards and 21.3 points per game. Pitt has had some trouble stopping the run, giving 241 last week to Virginia Tech’s Kevin Jones. Pitt opponents have managed to average 170 yards per game on the ground.
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| Pitt wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald has caught 17 touchdown passes this year.(Big East photo) |
However, the Panther defense has been able to stiffen in the second half of their last three games, allowing just 4.7 second-half points in wins against Boston College, Syracuse and Virginia Tech including shutouts against both BC and Syracuse.
Pitt has also held three of its opponents under 100 yards passing this year in games against Kent State, Notre Dame and Syracuse. One more sign that Pitt is getting its defense in order is the fact that the Panthers have forced 19 turnovers in their last seven games and rank second to West Virginia among Big East teams in turnover margin at plus-.89.
Middle linebacker Lewis Moore (6-2, 245, Sr.) is Pitt’s top tackler with 86 total stops. He has also accounted for five tackles for losses, five quarterback hurries, two pass breakups and an interception. Strongside linebacker Brian Bennett (6-0, 235, So.) has also been active, making 84 stops and six tackles for losses.
Bennett also leads the Panthers with three sacks.
Pitt has two up-and-coming backup linebackers in freshmen H.B. Blades (5-11, 245, Fr.), the son of former NFL standout Bennie Blades, and Clint Session (5-11, 230, Fr.).
Malcolm Postell (6-1, 235, Sr.), Shawntae Spencer (6-2, 180, Sr.) and Corey Humphries (6-2, 210, Sr.) have two interceptions each in a secondary that has picked off 10 passes this season. Tutu Ferguson (5-10, 190, Sr.), Tyrone Gilliard (5-11, 195, Jr.) and Tez Morris (5-10, 190, Jr.) join Spencer and Postell in Pitt’s starting defensive backfield.
Up front Claude Harriott (6-4, 255, Sr.) has displayed signs of being a dominant player though nagging injuries have limited him somewhat this year.
Senior defensive tackle Dan Stephens (6-2, 295, Sr.) has had a solid year and hails from Wheeling, W.Va.
Punter Andy Lee (6-2, 205, Sr.) is one of the nation’s finest averaging a Big East-best 44.8 yards per punt. That figure also ranks him 11th nationally.
Sophomore kicker David Abdul (5-10, 185, So.) has made eight of 16 field goal attempts and 38 of 39 PATs this season. He kicked a season-long field goal of 47 yards against Kent State.
Panther returners have yet to produce a touchdown, though Tutu Ferguson returned one punt 71 yards against Notre Dame.
“You’ve got a team on both sides of the ball that is experienced and talented and that’s a pretty good combination when you add that to a coaching staff like they have,” said Rodriguez. “That’s why they’re ranked in the Top 25.”
The Panthers (7-2, 4-0) show victories over Kent State, Ball State, Texas A&M, Rutgers, Syracuse, Boston College and Virginia Tech and losses to Toledo and Notre Dame.
West Virginia (5-4, 3-1) has wins over East Carolina, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Central Florida and Boston College and losses to Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Maryland and Miami.
The Panthers have been installed as a slight favorite.
Game time is set for 7 pm and the contest will be televised nationally on ESPN2 (Dave Barnett, Bill Curry and Heather Cox).
The game was announced as a sell-out two weeks ago and no tickets remain.
