What to Make of Pitt After Unimpressive Blowout Win

The Pitt Panthers have played the first half of their schedule with mixed results, which makes figuring them out difficult.

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers beat Virginia Tech to earn their first ACC win of the season but it was a struggle to get there. For most of the game, the now 2-4 Hokies were within arm's length of a team that, at least on paper, was more talented than them in a healthier spot as a program. 

Pitt was able to pull away late but, midway through the 2022 season, what this team is or could be is foggy. A close loss to a top-10 Tennessee team is juxtaposed by the maddening loss to Georgia Tech. We're learning more and more about who the Panthers really are week by week and following the bye week, six more ACC games will give a full picture. 

Is Pitt Bad or Just Playing Badly?

The Panthers won but did not do it in particularly elegant fashion. After suffering an ugly defeat to the Yellow Jackets last week, the Panthers appeared well on their way to suffering another. A timely turnover and Abanikanda's record-setting rushing performance covered for what was as unimpressive a blowout as you'll find in any sport anywhere. 

A blocked - or "dropped" as head coach Pat Narduzzi put it - punt became a touchdown. The Panthers were flagged nine times for 76 yards. They surrendered four plays of 20 or more yards to a passing offense that entered the game as the 13th most productive unit in a 14-team league. The passing offense, while not needed, was not particularly sharp. 

Every week, it seems like Pitt comes up with some way to make life harder on themselves. Most of the time, when something bad happens it is because the Panthers incurred a self-inflicted wound. Whether that is the sign of a bad team just keeping their head above water or a good team waiting to reach their full potential is unclear. 

Offense Finds an Identity

To date, the Pitt offense had been surprisingly ordinary and their performance in the Georgia Tech loss made them look outright bad. Players and coaches preached balance all offseason and through to training camp, but that had more often resulted in drives that look disjointed and run without a clear plan of how the team wanted to attack their opponents.

But against Virginia Tech, the Panthers leaned on their best player early and often. After losing yardage with his first three carries, Abanikanda rushed for 320 yards and six touchdowns with most of his runs coming right through the teeth of the Hokie defense.

Pitt has found it's bell cow, it's big-play threat and, quite frankly, what amounts to most of its offense. Pitt's scored 27 touchdowns this year and Abanikanda has 13 of them. It's no coincidence that, with him out for most of their last game against Georgia Tech, the offense put on their most ineffectual performance of the year. Credit must be given to the offensive line and skill positions that blocked for him, but Abanikanda's speed was game-changing - he didn't need much room to make those explosive plays work.

The offense runs through Abanikanda as long as he can keep running through defenses. 

Pitt DBs Come Up Small Against Poor Passing Unit

This veteran defensive backfield has taken a nose dive from their strong play to open the year against good passing offenses in Tennessee and West Virginia and that trend continued this week when they faced a Virginia Tech team that has struggled to create offense through the air. 

The Panther defensive backs were poor against the Hokies. They gave up far too many explosive plays through the air, drew flags far too often and could not get off of enough blocks to help the front seven out in defending the run. The road only gets rockier with Malik Cunningham, Drake Maye and Josh Downs awaiting them in the two weeks after the bye so Pitt better be able to tighten during their week off.  

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