Scott Satterfield, Emory Jones Discuss Jump in Competition Against Pitt: 'Anticipate it Being More Physical'

Pitt received multiple votes in the national polls this week.

CINCINNATI — UC football goes from FCS Eastern Kentucky to a top-30 FBS program this week in Pittsburgh. Head coach Scott Satterfield and quarterback Emory Jones discussed that jump in competition level as a key theme of their weekly press conference.

Pitt is ranked 28th in ESPN's Football Power Index and received seven votes across the AP and Coach's Polls this week. UC is 30th in FPI.

"You got to anticipate it being more physical," Satterfield said. "We practice physical, in August we tackled a lot. We tried to be intentional in the way our approach was knowing we want to be a physical team, like we want to play that way as well. It’s something that we pride ourselves in, so we better be able to bring it every play we are out there. We are playing a team that is obviously a lot better than EKU.

"Pittsburgh is used to winning each year and I mean, they won the ACC two years ago and play a very aggressive style. Last year, I think they were number two in sacks last year behind Louisville. They have been the top three or four in sacks every year I feel like. That is just what they are going to do. Offensively, they are going to try to play bully ball, be big, and push you off the line of scrimmage. We got to be strong. We got to be aware of that and ready for that.”

The biggest difference in talent probably comes in the secondary where UC faces a highly experienced cornerback duo in MJ Devonshire (75.3 2022 PFF Grade) and Marquis Williams (84.2 Grade).

“The thing that stands out the most is their corners," Satterfield said. "They've played a lot of ball. We’ve charted these guys and I think three guys have over 2,000 snaps. That's a lot of ball. They ask their corners to play man all day. You can turn on the film from three years ago and #14 (Williams) is out there playing man."

"Matter of fact, he picked us off in 2020. He's been playing this whole time, so they have some guys out there in that secondary that are very confident players. They're going get up in your face and they're going to harass you all day long. That's what they do. That's how they teach it. I don't think that they have any regard for pass interference. They don't care. They just play their ball, and they make it very difficult for receivers to try to get open."

Jones is trying to keep the most fun he's had on a football field in the past year rolling into this road trip.

"They have some very fast guys out there," Jones said about the secondary. "A lot of them are from Florida actually but there is some fast guys. You got some really good corners and two new safeties. They played a lot last year. Up front, they have a solid front seven. So we're gonna have to make sure we come prepared."

Cincinnati can really start to turn heads if it goes into Acrisure Stadium and pulls an upset as it faces the program's largest betting spread since the College Football Playoff loss.

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