NCAAF Preview: South Florida vs. Pittsburgh
South Florida @ Pittsburgh
9/29/2011 8:00pm EST
Line: USF -2.5
Total: 52
The 4-0 South Florida Bulls are traveling to the 2-2 Pittsburgh Panthers tonight in a Big East battle. The Bulls’ most impressive win was opening night in South Bend when they beat Notre Dame 23-20 and turned the Irish over 5 times. Pitt also just played the Irish, last week and they turned ND over 2 times but in a losing effort, 15-12. I know it goes a lot more than that but I think this shows that against a similar opponent that these teams are pretty equal and both defenses should be able to succeed tonight.
USF quarterback, BJ Daniels, is off to a hell of a start for the Bulls with a 4-0 record and averaging close to 300 yards through the air. Just as impressive is the Bulls running game which is averaging almost 200 yards a game. That is all good on paper, but other than Notre Dame, USF hasn’t played competition and against the Irish they only had 126 yards rushing and 128 passing. I compare Pitt’s defense a lot more to ND than any other defense that South Florida has played, so I think you can expect more numbers like that tonight. Some analysts argue that the best part of the USF team is in fact their defense. I think that they will get after Pitt’s QB Sunseri tonight and make Pitt play a 1 dimensional game.
If Pitt can run the football successfully then it might be a long night for the Bulls at Heinz Field. Graham is a very good running back for the Panthers and he already has over 500 yards in just 4 games and if he gets going that will only make it easier for Sunseri to play action and get out of the pocket. Sunseri can make some great plays, especially on the run. However, if USF stops the run and puts him in 2nd and 3rd and longs all night, it will be a very long night in Pitt.
This is going to be a very tough fought defensive battle with good hitting and just great football game tonight in Pitt. I am going to crack a beer right now and get ready for it!
