Pitt-’Cats set to ‘Play Ball!’
HAVING beaten No. 2 Clemson and No. 5 Penn State in the regular season, Pitt would appear to have collected enough quality pelts to play in a more prestigious game than the 7th annual Pinstripe Bowl. Allow Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi to explain.
“Everybody talks about what we did against Clemson and Penn State, but we were a 5-4 football team after nine games,” he said. “Our kids had to fight and scratch to get to where they are.”
Now 8-4 and ranked No. 23 in the nation, Pitt will square off with Northwestern (6-6) inside Yankee Stadium at 2 p.m. today.
Led by tailback James Conner, a 1,000-yard rusher who went through 12 chemotherapy sessions to beat back Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the offseason, the Panthers recognize a physical counterpart in purple from the Big Ten. Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald watched his defense yield 136.7 rushing yards per game. He knows the mettle test ahead.
“Theyre a few plays away from not only being conference champions but also probably playing in the College Football Playoff,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s how tough they are.”
Northwestern negotiated the ebbs and flows of the Big Ten schedule, as well. The Wildcats commenced the campaign with a 1-3 record, but rallied well enough to send a charge through Ohio State before falling, 24-20, in Columbus on October 29. The Wildcats had an opportunity to tie that game in the final minutes, but failed to get more than a field goal before the Buckeyes converted to run out the clock. That result is in the rearview mirror as Northwestern lost three of its last five contests.
If Pitt is to gain a ninth victory, its defense will have to track and tackle Northwestern wideout Austin Carr, a receiver who hauled in 84 receptions on the season and gained 1,196 yards to go with 12 touchdowns.
Northwestern boasts a bit of a homefield advantage. Back in 1955, before he became owner of the Yankees, George Steinbrenner paced the sidelines as an assistant coach in Evanston, Ill. That team went 0-8-1. Fitzgerald has heard the stories during his tenure as a player and coach for the Wildcats. He broached the link of the Wildcats, who also count current manager Joe Girardi as an alumnus, on a recent day. He stopped short of making public tales of Steinbrenner as a football man.
“There are some great ones that, quite frankly, I am not going to share,” he said.