Pitt Kickoff: Pickett's time to put nation on notice

Pitt heads into ACC with the second-most points scored per game in the country at 52.5. Even though two of those games were against opponents the Panthers completely outmatched in UMass and New Hampshire, scoring that many points to start the season is still an impressive feat.

Leading that has been Kenny Pickett and Pitt's passing offense that leads the ACC with 16 passing touchdowns and has the second-most yards per game with 386.5 behind Virginia Tech's 430.5. Pickett's 15 passing touchdowns are the second-most in the country tied with the likes of Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, and he's only thrown one interception despite his 132 passing attempts on the season being fourth most in the ACC.

But now he faces a Georgia Tech defense that presents a different challenge compared to Pitt's first four opponents. 

• What: Pitt (3-1, 0-0 ACC) at Georgia Tech (2-2, 1-1 ACC)
• When: 12:02 p.m. Eastern
• Where: Bobby Dodd Stadium, Atlanta, Ga.
• TV: ACC Network
• Radio: 93.7 The Fan
• Satellite: Sirius 134, XM 207, SXM App Channel 967
• Boxscore: Sidearm Sports
• Media notes: Pitt | Georgia Tech

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National offensive power?: Pitt deserves credit for putting up the points it did, even if some of its first opponents were cupcakes and it lost to a MAC program in Western Michigan. But now it faces a Georgia Tech defense that sacked North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell eight times last week.

Howell was widely projected to be the top ACC quarterback this season and a lock of an early first round draft pick in the 2022 class. While he and North Carolina have underperformed after starting the season as the Associated Press' No. 10 ranked team in the country, Georgia Tech's performance was still more than noteworthy of a warning to Pitt what can happen if it's not on its best game.

"We've been talking about it each day," Pickett said about his success with Addison. "We're talking about making more moments. We keep looking at it on film and work on perfecting it each day. Whatever we miss we make note on and fix it the very next day. We're focused, living in the moment and going to get more each week."

Pitt also saw its best day running the ball against New Hampshire last week, as each of its running backs, Vincent Davis, Israel Abanikanda and Rodney Hammond Jr., all ran for averages higher than five yards per carry, and each had their most rushing yards of the season. Hammond led the team with 100 rushing yards, being the first to hit that mark on the year.

Pickett acknowledged that the passing game's success has helped the run game and that the Panthers have to keep building off each other in the coming weeks.

"This is the foundation we've built," Pickett said of Pitt's start. "We've had a chance to play with really talented guys and everyone's doing a great job right now. We just have to keep going and stacking great days."

If Pitt can post up big numbers against Georgia Tech before its bye week, it will set a very good stage for the Panthers in two weeks when they face Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., and then return home to face Clemson at Heinz Field.

Watch the right things: What's killed Pitt's defense this season has been when players broke the discipline of the defense by trying to pay too much attention to other players' assignments. While teamwork is involved in every aspect of football, Pitt's coaches have emphasized defensive players building chemistry by trusting each other to do their own specific jobs rather than trying to come and help someone they feel is outmatched.

Defensive coordinator Randy Bates harped on that after Pitt's 44-41 loss to Western Michigan, and safeties coach Corey Sanders gave more insight Tuesday about how Pitt is working to solve those issues. It's all about where the eyes of Pitt's defensive players are on every single play.

"Those stripes," Sanders said when asked how the staff coaches the players' eyes. "We always watch on film where the stripe on the helmet is pointed. It's a big thing. We mark and grade our guys on eye evaluations. For example, if they had nine opportunities on a receiver's breaks, were they 7 of 9, 8 of 9, or 9 of 9? We grade that every day to make sure it's a strong emphasis and they don't get lazy with their eye focus."

It's something that's definitely been noticed, especially by starting safety Brandon Hill.

"Coach Sanders has definitely harped on our eyes," Hill said. "Once your eyes get to the quarterback, you tend to drift off your receiver. Lock your eyes onto your man. You need to see your target so you're not running blind out there. That way you know where you're going and you're reading your keys." 

"As a defensive back, when I see a quarterback scramble you want to stay in coverage and lock on to your man," Hill continued. "Short routes can turn into long routes and long routes can comeback to be short routes when they roll out. We have to keep our eyes on our men and trust our front seven to get after the quarterback." 

Georgia Tech's offense is based in two quarterbacks Jordan Yates and Jeff Sims who are both athletic enough to make plays with their legs and then open up easy passing targets while moving out of the pocket. That's something that Pat Narduzzi has harped on for every position group.

"Linebackers have to focus their eyes too," Narduzzi said Thursday. "Each position has different keys that we're looking at. You might not see a fatal eye mistake with the guys up front, but everyone sees it when it's the secondary and that's how you get on ESPN for bad things. There's only one ball and everyone likes to stare in the backfield. We need them to have eye control on their guy to maintain proper leverage. You have to know what he's doing, have your eyes on his hips for his release. It's good Brandon's talking about it. But we have to have better eye control."

Players to watch

Kenny Pickett: Normally I make the players to watch section about guys you don't normally think about. But this is Pickett's chance to show that he's not just beating up on cupcakes and put the country on notice that he's one of the best quarterbacks in college football. His numbers support the claim, but doing it against an ACC defense that just embarrassed a Heisman hopeful like Howell would turn heads everywhere.

Part of that has been Pickett's willingness to throw riskier passes and jump balls to his receivers. Brennan Marion has pushed Addison, Taysir Mack and company to new heights after being known as a group that dropped routine passes last season. Marion charts every drop the Panthers have even in practice, and was proud of his group for not dropping any against New Hampshire.

"I trust these guys, for sure," Pickett said of Pitt's receivers. "But it does give me an extra boost of confidence to make plays when they're catching all those passes. I can throw those 50-50 balls more confidently knowing our guys will go up and get them. It works great for all of us."

Now Pickett wants to get his running backs involved, acknowledging this week that the passing game has to better complement the run game to open up opportunities.

"That's how it goes with football," Pickett said about a balanced offense. "One has to complement the other. The run game has continued to improve but now we face a new test in an odd front. We have to see how we do."

Brandon Hill: Hill's speed has made him a true asset to Pitt's defense. He's been one of the fastest players on the field for the Panthers and has quickly grown into one of the defense's most promising young players as a redshirt sophomore. 

"He's still growing and maturing," safeties coach Corey Sanders said of Hill on Tuesday. "He's still seeing a lot of things for the first time, so he's not quite a veteran yet. If you've seen Brandon last year to this year, he has gotten more comfortable in his coverage. He's also a very fast kid. He chased down that long run against Tennessee."

Hill ran down Joe Milton III on a big run against Tennessee that might've been a game-saving play. Expect him to be involved in helping stop Yates and Sims both on the ground and in the air as he leads the team in tackles, interceptions and pass breakups.

Wendell Davis: Davis has been the switching mike linebacker for the Panthers with SirVocea Dennis, both who've looked promising at times. Davis started last week against New Hampshire while Dennis was hurt, helping much better over the middle of the field than in weeks prior when Western Michigan and Tennessee were exposing the middle of the defense with run-pass-option plays and athletic quarterbacks.

Narduzzi made note of how important those players in the middle of the field, like Davis, to stopping Georgia Tech's offense with two quarterbacks they're willing to trust. If Davis starts again in the middle of the field, watch for his play, reads, and reactions to be a big determining factor in if the defense can force punts and turnovers instead of allowing touchdowns.

Behind enemy lines

Athletic quarterbacks: Yates and Sims are both athletic, but still provide different challenges. Yates is the better passer completing 52 of 80 passes for 613 passing yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. But Sims is the better runner with 162 rushing yards on 16 carries and leads the Yellow Jackets with three rushing touchdowns.

But don't let their skills fool you, Narduzzi says both will try to hurt you with the same plays if Pitt's not paying attention.

"Very similar type of things they are doing offensively with both those quarterbacks," Narduzzi said Monday. "So it's not like they are changing but one has a little bit more run to them and he has to keep it a little bit more. They will have some design quarterback draws which got us at Tennessee a couple times and so we expect to see some draws and that kind of stuff and expect to see Sims get going."

Once those quarterbacks get going, the Yellow Jackets' offense picks up, and it will be up to Pitt's defense to keep that momentum from ever building up to that point. Hill noted how their offense feeds off that success when watching Georgia Tech on tape.

"Their offense can get going fast," Hill said of Georgia Tech's offense. "They've been on the road these past games, so we have to come out like we did last week to start early and finish fast. They'll look for explosive plays on the ground and we have to stop the run. It's going to be about intensity and physicality."

Pressure from all sides: The Yellow Jackets, like Pitt, love to bring pressure. Although their eight-sack game against North Carolina might be anomaly, Pitt isn't treating it that way. Georgia Tech uses a three-man defensive front, different from the four-man fronts Pitt has faced all season. And even that detail has gotten a bunch of attention in preparation this week.

"They're a really experienced team," Pickett said of Georgia Tech. "They do a lot of different things well. It's a different style of defense that will obviously take some adjusting to in practice. But we'll be prepared for it Saturday. It's something we prepared for a bit in spring to get a little ahead of the game. They play an odd front so we're trying to get ahead of it."

Linebacker Charlie Thomas leads Georgia Tech 2.5 sacks, while freshman edge rusher Kyle Kennard has two sacks, and redshirt sophomore edge rusher Jordan Domineck has 1.5 sacks as a redshirt sophomore after leading the team with four sacks as a freshman last season. Thomas also has two interceptions on the season.

But it's Georgia Tech's safeties, Juanyeh Thomas and Tariq Carpenter, that Pickett made note of this week. Thomas has two pass breakups on the season but both are experienced players who fly around the field and cover for the rest of the defense in Georgia Tech's efforts to be aggressive.

"Two veteran guys who are smart on the back end and make a bunch of plays," Pickett said of their safeties. "No. 2 (Carpenter) does a great job in the pass and comes down on the run to make plays. I only know their numbers, but No. 1 (Thomas) also makes plays as well. This will be our toughest test of the season so far."

When Pickett was asked about watching Georgia Tech's defense, he didn't seem bothered.

"You don't tighten up because of it," Pickett said when asked about Georgia Tech's eight-sack game last week. "You take note of it. You look to see why that guy got sacked so much. Were there guys open that he wasn't seeing? Was it something wrong up front? You learn from their team's mistakes and better ourselves for Saturday. We've gone over a lot of looks they showed in that game."

For Narduzzi, it just means Pitt's offensive line has to ramp up the protection efforts this week.

"You've got to protect the quarterback," Narduzzi said when asked about Georgia Tech's pass rush. "It's critical. Our offense is used to seeing some three-down fronts and different pressures. But Owen Drexel is going to get things operating in the right way. They'll get things going for us and protecting Kenny is the priority in the game."

In saying that, Narduzzi confirmed Drexel, who missed the last game in a half at center for Pitt, will be back playing this Saturday. That could play a big role if Pitt's protection unit is at full strength and can limit Georgia Tech's pressure, allowing for Pickett to scramble and let his receivers improvise downfield.

We'll see if that leads to positive results after Jake Kradel was the team's starting center in the offense's best rushing performance last week.

Prediction: Pitt 42-24

The Panthers offense is better than people think, and this is the week they let the ACC and the NCAA know that. Pickett has played more consistently than Howell, and despite Pitt's offensive line struggles in the run game, the Panthers have a much better protection group than North Carolina.

Expect Pickett to get solid protection, and when he doesn't, have the room to create and improvise with receivers down the field. Along with Addison, he'll have Lucas Krull to hit for big plays that put the Panthers over the top.