Pitt aims to silence crowd first
Terrordome” will be more of a bear than it was in 2015, when the Panthers emerged with a soggy, 17-13 win. It won’t be as charged up as it would’ve been had the Hokies (7-3, 3-3 ACC) won or at least split their past two games, but it will be senior day for a star-studded graduating class pushing toward a second consecutive 10-win season.
Sure, the Lane Stadium mystique that was so prevalent during the Frank Beamer days might be gone to an extent, but it figures to be the least-friendly confines for the Panthers (4-6, 2-4) since their Week 2 trip to Penn State’s Beaver Stadium, where they dug themselves an early 14-0 hole.
Pat Narduzzi noted that it was Max Browne who got Pitt off to a slow start in that game, so the coach is curious to see how DiNucci responds this week.
“Let’s hope it’s not his first time on the road in a nasty environment,” Narduzzi said of his former PineRichland High School star.
It says here the crowds weren’t so raucous at Shaler and North Allegheny. Nor is Georgia Tech or Duke a particular house of horrors for opposing teams.
So Narduzzi, DiNucci and the rest of the offense — the defense, too, actually — have emphasized practicing with noise all week. Narduzzi believes it was louder at Pitt’s indoor facility than it will be Saturday, and Henderson likened it to the preparation for the game at Clemson last year.
“We put the speakers right behind the goal line and just blast it,” Henderson said.
For his part, DiNucci is ready to use a silent snap count, as he did at Penn State and occasionally at Georgia Tech.
“Any time Virginia Tech’s in a prime-time game at home — or just a home game that has nice weather, I guess — that place is rocking,” DiNucci said.
It will be up to his offense and Pitt’s defense to quiet things down. While the Hokies aren’t humming like they were just a few weeks ago, they still have a tier-one ACC bowl game in their sights.
Even if Pitt could find a way to run the table, it would have to settle for a nondescript postseason matchup. With the originally stated goals of this season — double-digit wins, ACC Coastal title, things of that nature — long out of reach, there’s still one role Pitt can fulfill both this week and next, against second-ranked, unbeaten Miami: Spoiler.
“I guess going into these last two games, we’re gonna be viewed as the underdog,” said DiNucci, whose team is exactly that by about two touchdowns.
“But we’ll go into the game expecting to win. … We’ve got a tall task at hand, we know we’ve got to execute, and we know we’ve got to come out these next two weeks, give it our all and play our best.”
No, you won’t find any brash guarantees here, but you will find confidence. Henderson made the intentions of Pitt’s road trip crystal clear.
“We definitely wanna ruin their senior day,” he said.
But beyond outside expectations and hand-wringing about whether Pitt actually has a puncher’s chance of pulling off the upset, this daunting two-game finish entails something much more fundamental than any of that.
The player who has as much stress on him as anyone offered a matter-of-fact reminder.
“It’s fun,” DiNucci said. “We get to go out and play a top-25 [caliber] opponent this week, and then whatever happens to Miami, have them come to our place next week.
“I think it’s fun. We’re gonna be able to play relaxed, play loose. We’ve got nothing to lose. We can let it all hang out there.”