Preview: UC, Pitt Clash In River City Rivalry

Cincinnati trails the all-time series 8-4.

CINCINNATI — UC football renews the River City Rivalry this weekend in a road matchup against the Pittsburgh Panthers. The former Big East rivals are both 1-0 after FCS matchups and could make cases for top-25 status with a victory.

Pitt toppled Wofford 45-7 this past week while UC smashed Eastern Kentucky 66-13 setting up a matchup where Pitt is favored by 7.5 points. ESPN's Matchup Predictor has Pitt winning 59% of the time and moving to 9-5 in the all-time series.

When Pitt Has The Ball

Pittsburgh enters this game with a balanced roster, ranking 35th in defensive SP+ and 33rd on offense. The balance carries over on offense where the team threw for 274 yards against Wofford and ran for 217 more.

Quarterback Phil Jurkovec had a big impact on both fronts as he captains this offense in his first season since transferring from Boston College. The 6-foot-5, 235-pound passer was non-existent on the ground last season (-43 rush yards) but averaged 6.4 yards per carry in 2021. Pat Narduzzi is having his quarterback tap back into that (seven carries for 41 yards Week 1). 

Keeping Jurkovec contained will make things much harder on an offense that doesn't boast nasty playmakers.

Senior running back Daniel Carter (11 carries, 65 yards, one TD) played the best of any Panther to open the season, but he's been buried on the depth chart for years and shouldn't be much harder to solve than your average Power Five running back.

Transfer wide receiver Bub Means (two catches, 39 yards) led the Panthers wide receivers in snaps to start the season, but only earned a 58.8 PFF grade. Shutting down Jurkovec, Carter, and the Pitt rushing attack should cause major problems for this offense.

When UC Has The Ball

UC's dominant week 1 offensive outing didn't move things much on SP+ given the weak opponent. Cincinnati enters this game ranked 62nd in offensive SP+ and 23rd on defense.

Defense should be the storyline in this game as Pitt returns one of the better units in 2022. The UC rushing attack (229 yards) did a lot to open up shot plays in last week's drubbing and a win should hinge on that happening again in Pittsburgh. Can UC's new offensive line win enough rushing battles against Pitt's front? It won't be easy.

Seven different defensive linemen earned 66 grades or better for Pitt last week as they gave up -1 rushing yards on 19 carries. Multiple linebackers also played well as LB Bangally Kamara (91.5 PFF grade) led all players with his mark. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound senior can fly around with the speed of a safety, tallying four tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, and one pass breakup.

Cincinnati will have to be aware of his field position at all times. Oh, and the secondary is laden with veteran talent as well. Cornerbacks M.J. Devonshire, A.J. Woods, and Marquis Williams all graded at 69 or better last season with completion rates in coverage at 60% or lower. 

There is not a glaring weakness at any level of this defense.

Prediction: 24-21 Panthers

Emory Jones comes back to earth in this one with a decent performance but it's not enough to get the first road win of the Scott Satterfield era. Pitt wins the game on a late field goal as both sides work through a physical 60 minutes with plenty of defensive highlights.

Carter and Means each find paydirt and drive things for both phases of the Pitt offense to get the narrow victory over Cincinnati.

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