Pitt Kickoff: Miami tests Panthers' stage presence taken on the South Side (Pitt)

PITT ATHLETICS

Damarri Mathis dunks in Pitt's turnover hoop after an interception against Clemson at Heinz Field.

Pitt's 6-1 start through seven games has been the best during Pat Narduzzi's tenure since his first season as head coach of the Panthers in 2015 also started with a 6-1 record.

But these 2021 Panthers have blazed their path differently, as 5 of Pitt's 6 wins have finished with the Panthers on top by multiple possessions and only 1 of Pitt's 6 wins in its first seven games of 2015. Plus, Pitt didn't have Kenny Pickett in the middle of the best season by a Pitt quarterback in decades, maybe ever.

As a result, Pitt was ranked after the Panthers' 27-17 win over Clemson to No. 17 in the country by the Associated Press, the highest ranking ever for the program under Pat Narduzzi. This week, Pitt has had Narduzzi, Pickett SirVocea Dennis and other team leaders featured on programs on the ACC Network and ESPN almost every day  of the week.

Now, Pitt has to deal with all that attention at home against Miami coming off one of the biggest wins in the program's recent history.

What: No. 17 Pitt (6-1, 3-0 ACC) vs. Miami (3-4, 1-2 ACC)
When: 12:02 p.m. Eastern
Where: Heinz FIeld
TV: ACC Network
Radio: 93.7 The Fan
Satellite: Sirius 133, XM 193, SXM App Channel 955
Boxscore: Sidearm Sports
Media notes: Pitt | Miami

Top storylines

Live up to the hype: Pickett's excelled to the point that he's gotten national recognition as one of college football's best quarterbacks. Even Mel Kiper Jr.'s now ranked Pickett as the top quarterback on his NFL Draft big board for 2022. I did a large breakdown on what's made Pickett's rise come to fruition as the nation's best decision maker at quarterback. Read that to get a sense as to why he's been so special.

And with all that attention, Pitt has finally gotten the respect and recognition as favorites to win not only the ACC Coastal Division, but the entire conference. But now, the Panthers can't afford to slip on their path to a signature season.

Pitt was that team for Miami back when Pickett made his first start of his collegiate career in 2017. Then, Miami was undefeated and on its way to being the ACC Coastal Division winner on a collision course with Clemson in the ACC Championship Game. Pickett led Pitt to a 24-14 win that collapsed Miami's season.

But since then, Miami has beaten Pitt three consecutive years, including the last two with head coach Manny Diaz who took over in 2019. Last year the Panthers lost 31-19 in their first game without Pickett last year due to his injuries. Now, the Panthers have to prove that all their hype, all the excitement, all the calls for respect were warranted by beating a Miami team that's been on the rebound.

That rebound included upsetting N.C. State last week, who was ranked No. 18 in the country before the loss dropped the Wolfpack to being unranked. If Pitt wants to avoid the same fate, its players need to have maintained focus all week in preparation. 

When Narduzzi was asked if he thought his players were ready for that challenge in his Monday press conference, he gave a simple, hopeful answer:

“If we haven’t learned that lesson by now we’re a bunch of knuckleheads.”

We'll get to see if the Panthers aren't knuckleheads.

Back to lighting it up: Pitt's offense has maintained a pace that's made it one of the highest scoring in the country. After seven games the Panthers average 45.3 points per game, the fourth-most in the country behind Ohio State, Alabama and Coastal Carolina. That rate actually took a dip after scoring 28 points against Virginia Tech and 27 points against Clemson. 

But Clemson gave up an average of 12.5 points before facing Pitt, and that included holding Georgia, the No. 1 team in the country, to just ten points. The Bulldogs average 38.3 points per game that's the 13th-highest rate in the country.

Now, Pitt faces a Miami defense that gives up an average of 30 points per game, the second-worst in the ACC. As the nation has now turned its eyes on the Panthers, this would be a great time for the offense to turn its massive scoring potential back up to where it was scoring an average 52.4 points through five games.

Miami's defense has fast, athletic athletes, but so does Pitt. Even if Jordan Addison and Israel Abanikanda, who both have been in the concussion protocol this week and are game-time decisions, Pitt has plenty of weapons to rely upon for Pickett to team up with to light up the scoreboard.

Players to watch

Rodney Hammond Jr.: He's been a major boost to Pitt's run game even with Abanikanda becoming the Panthers' top back. Hammond is a true freshman who runs with an attitude. He's run for 251 yards on 43 carries for three touchdowns and his 5.8 yards per carry is the highest among any Pitt running back on the roster. 

When Abanikanda went down, Hammond was called in to get tough yards so Pitt could grind out the final 7:56 of the fourth quarter against Clemson and seal a win. He did so by rushing ten times for 66 yards, going head to head with one of the country's best defenses and even running through one of the bigger names at inside linebacker in James Skalksi.

And for the 18-year old freshman from Norfolk, Va., it was nothing more than him showing the world who he believes he knows he can be at running back. Just listen to his postgame press conference last week:

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Far be it from me to tell that guy who he should intimidated by in the ACC.

If Abanikanda is indeed out of this game, expect Vincent Davis to be the starting running back for Pitt. But don't be surprised to see Hammond get his fair share of carries to assert himself against the Hurricanes' defense.

Damarri Mathis: Mathis is one of the leaders in the secondary as a senior who's already recorded two interceptions, including a crucial one in the red zone last week against Clemson. Miami's passing attack hasn't been stellar this season, but it's coming off a strong week with four touchdown passes against N.C. State.

It takes five minutes of watching Pitt's tape to see how Narduzzi and defensive coordinator Randy Bates prefer to leave their cornerbacks on islands throughout games. That will be the case again Saturday, and Pitt's secondary will have to stand tall to not only limit the big plays, but also make some of their own.

Mathis has returned an interception for a touchdown and caught another last week. Pitt might need him to be that defensive playmaker again in this game to give Pitt's offense the ball back so that the Panthers can turn up the scoring.

Lucas Krull: Normally I would highlight another receiver to step up for Pitt in the potential absence of Addison. But this week, I see Krull as a potential answer of a bounce back week.

The super-senior who transferred from Florida to Pitt in 2020 started this season off red hot by scoring five touchdowns in the Panthers' first five games. But since the Panthers' bye week, he's only caught four passes for 47 yards and zero touchdowns while also losing a fumble to Clemson last week.

Pickett has liked Krull as a red zone target and a playmaker over the middle. Krull has described Pickett as his best friend on the team and a big selling point of him transferring into the program. After costing his team last week, look for Krull to be determined to prove himself and show why be part of the mix that gets Pitt's offense back up to scoring at a record pace.

Behind enemy lines

The new quarterback's good: Miami lost its franchise quarterback D'Eriq King for the season, but in return have gotten a redshirt freshman in Tyler Van Dyke who's flashed true potential. 

King was more a run-first quarterback who could hurt you with his legs even if you worked to contain his athleticism. He could make plays with his arm, but most of the time that came when players were wide open due to well-schemed plays or his receivers getting wide open.

But now, make way for the four-star recruit Van Dyke. 

Since taking over for Miami in late September, he's thrown nine touchdowns and three interceptions. Four of those touchdowns came against N.C. State last week when he completed 25 of 33 passes for 325 yards. That's impressive, especially considering the Wolfpack are currently the ACC's second-best defense allowing 16.7 points per game. 

That's a rate that's less than a field goal behind Clemson's 14.6 points allowed per game, and slightly above Pitt's third-best in the ACC 19.6 points per game.

Maybe it was just one game, but Pitt isn't treating it like that.

"He's getting better every week," Narduzzi said of Van Dyke. "He doesn't make many mistakes. He hasn't turned the ball over much in the games he's played this year and that's helped them stay in games. He's made good decisions. One of his picks against North Carolina was just a slant that got tipped and it was just an ugly one you wouldn't put on the quarterback. He's very composed. We have to contain and mix the coverages up with him."

Pitt got to beat up on Clemson's D.J. Uiagalelei last week and take an interception back for a touchdown on a play that broke the game open. The Panthers' defense has to ready to pounce on any mistake Van Dyke might make to get the freshman to see ghosts.

Watch the shoots: The problem that Pitt couldn't stop last year against Miami were seam passes from King to wide open tight ends that Pitt kept leaving open. It looked like a run-pass-option on tape, but Narduzzi had his own description of those plays when I asked him about it in his Thursday press conference.

"I wouldn't call it an RPO," Narduzzi said thinking back to last year's loss to Miami. "It is kind of an RPO, but it's more of an F-shoot. Part of the problem was different guys playing different positions. SirVocea was a baby at linebacker playing to the field for the first time and he got hit on what I would call T-shoots or F-shoots."

"This week we've practiced about 25-30 different T-shoots and F-shoots," Narduzzi continued. "That's when they send a tight end up the middle like they did last year against us. They'll fake it to the tailback and our linebacker go after him but forget to hit the tight end coming off the line. We just have to hit the guy. There shouldn't be a tight end coming off the line clean this week. We didn't see that coming last time but we've worked every possible formation on that this week to be ready."

Here's one of those touchdowns were you can see the fake to the run that froze Pitt's linebackers and let Miami's tight end walk down the middle of the field to be wide open for an easy score:

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The Hurricanes hit on that twice last season in a game they beat Pitt by twelve.

Pitt has shown it's capable to recover and adjust from previous exposures on game tape after how it's adjusted to RPO plays since its loss to Western Michigan. Showing that it's grown from giving up those plays and not falling for any other schemes that might get Pitt's linebackers and safeties to hesitate would show how far this defense has come.

Prediction: Pitt 56-24

The Panthers' offense is poised to put up big point this week even if Abanikanda and Addison are out. Pickett has been locked in and doesn't show any signs of slowing down. Now, Pitt faces a defense that's been porous all season, even in Miami's upset over N.C. State last week.

Expect Pickett to put up early points and for the Panthers' run game to keep those points coming and give the defense a breather if the Panthers do let up some big scores to the redshirt freshman quarterback Van Dyke. This one should be the win that further cements Pitt as a real ACC threat and not a team that overlooks opponents like it has in years past.

If Pitt comes out flat and loses to Miami, Narduzzi and the Panthers will earn the title "knuckleheads" he used earlier this week. But don't expect that to happen, as this Panthers roster has the talent to make big plays on both sides of the ball and control this game and win comfortably for a fourth consecutive ACC win by multiple possessions.

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