UNC Football: Early opponent preview Pittsburgh
Leading up to the first game of the season, Keeping It Heel will be doing opponent previews in reverse order.
Previous Previews:
NC State / The Citadel / Duke / Georgia Tech / Virginia / Miami/ Virginia Tech / Florida State
This Week: Pittsburgh
Last season both teams entered their Thursday night prime time game as College Football Playoff dark horses. Pitt was being credited for their only loss being to an undefeated Iowa team. UNC was being mocked for having not played anyone. The Tar Heels went into Pittsburgh and walked out with a win.
It ended up being the decider in the Coastal as the teams finished first and second. This season the game is a little earlier. Will it still be the decider in the Coastal despite being only the fourth game of the season?
Head Coach: Pat Narduzzi. Career Record 8-5. This will be his second season at Pittsburgh which is his only head coaching stop. Narduzzi was previously defensive coordinator at Michigan State, where he helped create one of the best defensives in the FBS. Narduzzi also has the rare honor of his first victory coming against his Alma Mater, Youngstown State.
Best Graduate: QB Dan Marino. Hall of Famer, nine-time Pro Bowler, and seven-time All-Pro. Marino also is a former MVP, rookie of the year, offensive player of the year, five-time passing yards champion, three-time passing touchdowns champion, and a Super Bowl participant. Career has 4967 completions for 61,361 yards and 420 touchdowns.
Marino holds 12 NFL records and is tied with other players for nine more. Additionally, after his retirement in 1999, he has seen 26 of his records broken by other players. Marino ranks third all-time in passing yards, fifth all-time in touchdowns, fourth all-time in completions, and fifth all-time in wins. If he had won a couple of Super Bowls he would be in discussion for greatest QB ever.
Second Best Graduate: WR Larry Fitzgerald. Nine Time Pro Bowler, three time All-Pro, and one time Super Bowl Participant. Career has 1018 receptions for 13,366 yards and 98 touchdowns.
Fitzgerald holds 13 NFL records and an additional six franchise records. He is also the Cardinals all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns. He ranks 11th all-time in receptions, 15th all-time in receiving yards, and 11th all-time in touchdowns. As an active player, Fitzgerald can still improve on these numbers. He also ranks top three in all three categories amongst active players.
Hall of Famers Tony Dorsett and Mike Ditka also went to Pitt, as did current New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis.
Last Season: Went 8-5 (6-2 in ACC play). Finished second in the Coastal Division. Season highlights include starting the season 6-1 and getting early hype as a playoff dark horse. They followed that up with two straight home losses to UNC and Notre Dame and never made it back into the rankings.
Pittsburgh was one of the surprise teams last season. Narduzzi brought his toughness on defense to the Steel city and it showed. The team held four teams to under 20 points, while only losing two games by more than eight points. The season before they only held three opponents under 20 points and lost two games by more than eight, including a shocker to Akron.
This Season: Nine of their opponents finished last season with a winning record and eight of them made a bowl game. Pitt is playing seven home games but does have to travel to both ACC division winners this season. Pittsburgh will once again be tough to score on so another 8-4 record and a bowl game appears to be the most likely scenario.
Best Player: RB James Conner. Last season, he rushed for 77 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught one pass for seven yards. Not exactly the best stat line, but Conner only played in half of one game last year. The former ACC player of the year suffered a knee injury in the team’s opener against Youngstown St and never returned.
The season before, Conner rushed for 1765 yards and 26 touchdowns. A healthy Conner is a scary player and next season he will be healthy. Also, he is a real trooper. Not only did he injure his knee, but he also got cancer and is still back playing. Amazing.
Matchup: Saturday, September 24th in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Time: TBD
Prediction: The 26 points Carolina scored against Pitt was their second lowest of the season, behind only the opener to South Carolina. Narduzzi believes defense wins games. Even with a high powered offense, UNC will still struggle to put up a bunch of points against such a disciplined defense.
Final score: UNC 27, Pittsburgh 21. Miami, Pittsburgh, and UNC are the three best teams in the Coastal. Just as I felt with the UNC/Miami game, home field advantage is usually the deciding factor amongst close teams. Since the game is in Chapel Hill, the Heels should be able to put up enough points to beat the Panthers for a fourth consecutive season. Bug Howard has a big game with eight catches, 140 yards, and the game winning touchdown.
UNC should be high flying at this point. This game is dangerous with the FSU game the following week, but Carolina should find a way to win and move into the top ten with another win on the season.