Scouting Report: Pitt’s Defensive Expectations for WMU

The Pitt Panthers understand college football is always similar.

PITTSBURGH -- The sting of an early season loss to Western Michigan still lingers with the Pitt Panthers, but that game also taught them a lot about themselves and will inform how they defend the Broncos this coming weekend in a rematch. The Panthers think they know what awaits them when they make the trip out to Kalamazoo, Michigan.

“A little [has changed] but I also feel like they’re the kind of team where they do what they do and if it works, it works," Pitt safety Erick Hallett said. 

And what works for the Broncos is misdirection - run-pass option plays are a staple of their offense and they gave the Panthers fits last year when they had to defend Western Michigan man-to-man. But this is nothing new, according to Hallett. A lot of teams like to attack Pitt in a similar way, which makes preparation for this game a little easier. 

"I think it’s always the same Xs and Os that you see with anybody else," Hallett said. "I think a lot of teams attack us in similar ways and they try to find the weaknesses in our coverage so I think the things we see from week to week don’t change a whole lot. It’s just the personnel, how they run it, how they get to it [that changes]."

Defensive lineman David Green agreed with Hallett, adding that the front seven had a difficult time handling all their responsibilities against the Broncos last season.

"We were just getting a bunch of run looks, but it was RPOs," Green said. "So we were having trouble trying to split double teams and they were moving anywhere. So it was difficult but to know we have another opportunity now is good.”

This shot at the Broncos, while it does come on the road, will be against a decidedly less established and talented team. Western Michigan is breaking in a new quarterback and new offensive coordinator while star wideout Sky Moore is just starting his first year in the NFL. But Moore's running mate Corey Cooms, who led the Broncos in yards against Pitt last year is back and he'll keep the Panthers' hands full. 

“Very skilled player," Hallett said. "Fast, quick, good at getting in and out of his breaks. He has pretty good hands as well. We’ll really have to be on our Ps and Qs and watch him wherever he goes.”

Green added that the new quarterback, Jack Spolek - a fellow western Pennsylvania native he's played against - is a good dual threat out of the backfield, meaning it's largely on the defensive line to keep him contained. 

"He’s athletic," Green said. "He’s a real nice mobile quarterback. It’s going to be tough always trying to contain him and make sure he doesn’t get out of the pocket. He can throw the ball really well too so we’ll try to make him one-dimensional.”

Hallett and Green both said that the Broncos caught them "off guard" when they came to Heinz Field last season and knocked off then-undefeated Pitt. But time, experience and a new gameplan will help them make the necessary adjustments. 

Hallett and the rest of the secondary took a lot of heat for surrendering 337 passing yards to Eleby, who connected with Crooms and Moore on 19 of his 23 completions, but Green thinks the Panthers have a new scheme to account for what hurt them last September. 

"They found spots in our defense that we knew we had and they hit those spots," Green said. "So now we have stuff to prepare for that. … It was just because they run a lot of slashes. Now we have a defense to keep our secondary in position so we’ll be able to play that route and stop the run at the same time.”

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