Panthers searching for positives
In its season-opening loss to Youngstown State, Pitt gave up 204 yards to the Division I-AA outfit. Of all the negative statistics from the game, that was perhaps the most concerning for the Panthers.
Their performance Thursday night against Cincinnati did little to alleviate those worries.
The Panthers allowed the Bearcats to rush for 259 yards, including a 58-yard scoring burst from running back George Winn on Cincinnati’s first offensive play of the game.
“First play, they came out, punched us right in the mouth,” safety Jarred Holley said.
From there, the hits just kept coming from the Bearcats, who averaged 8.4 yards per carry.
When it wasn’t Winn, who finished with 101 yards on just 11 carries, Bearcats quarterback Munchie Legaux tormented the Panthers with his scrambling ability. In the second quarter, Legaux broke loose for rushes of 26 and 22 yards on a drive that ended in a field goal. Midway through the third, Legaux faked a handoff and faked around defensive end Bryan Murphy. From there, he went untouched for 77 yards before cornerback
Lafayette Pitts forced him out of bounds.
“Sometimes, you’re just so focused on stopping the run, the quarterback keeps it, it just catches you by surprise sometimes,” linebacker Shane Gordon said.
Legaux finished with 117 yards rushing on just six carries. He was sacked just once.
“It’s tough,” Holley said. “The kid can throw, he can run, he can do everything. In that situation, you’ve got to be able to contain him. In some instances, we covered well, but he got out of the pocket and scrambled and that hurt us.”
It didn’t help that the Panthers had only five days to prepare for the Bearcats after the Youngstown State game. Gordon, though, said the game plans for stopping the two spread-oriented offenses were largely the same.
“There [weren’t any] plays where they straight ran us over or anything like that,” Gordon said. “It was big gaps, you could tell someone wasn’t where they were supposed to be.”
Now, Pitt has nine days to prepare for its next game, a home contest against Virginia Tech. The Hokies struggled running the ball in their opener against Georgia Tech, with just 96 yards on the ground.
Gordon, Holley and coach Paul Chryst agreed that they saw the defense improve in the second half Thursday. If Legaux’s 77-yard run is removed, the Bearcats rushed for just 69 yards after halftime.
“I thought the second half, the big thing is, we gave up some big runs,” Chryst said. “I thought the defense played better overall the second half, still thought guys were fighting to the end.”
As tough as it may be sitting at 0-2, Holley said he’s looking at the glass as half-full heading into the long week of preparation for the Hokies.
“I think a lot of guys take it real personal,” Holley said. “You don’t want to come out here and lose in the first Big East game. Obviously we didn’t come out and come ready to play again.
“It’s frustrating, but we’re making strides and that’s a positive thing. You’ve got to take a positive out of it.”