Each week, we've got five questions: one on Pitt's offense, one on Pitt's defense, one on Pitt's opponent, one on the ACC and one on recruiting. Here's this week's Five Questions.
Offense - Will the Eli show go on the road?
Eli Holstein is officially Pitt’s starting quarterback, and in the most oft-repeated sentiment this week, we’ll get to find out how he does against a higher level of competition.
Cincinnati may or may not be good this season (the Bearcats’ win over Towson offered as little insight as Pitt’s win over Kent State), but there’s no question that Cincinnati will be a step up from Kent State. And Holstein will have to face the Bearcats’ defense, with its 3-4 defensive front, while surrounded by a hostile crowd, which creates a whole new challenge.
Look, Nippert Stadium is not exactly the Horseshoe; the venue holds less than 40,000 (amazingly, Cincinnati “officially” sold out the 38,193 tickets every single game, even in the midst of a seven-game losing streak). But however many fans are there will be rooting against Holstein and Pitt’s offense, and that’s not a non-factor.
The Panthers’ new offense ran very smoothly in the opener on Saturday - everybody was lined up right, they didn’t take any procedure penalties and they were able to control the tempo. Going in front of an enemy crowd is a different story, so in addition to the challenge of facing what should be a better defense, Holstein and company will have to contend with a road environment as well.
Defense - What gets cleaned up in Week Two?
Pitt’s defense presented an interesting case study from Week One. The Panthers allowed 212 yards of total offense, recorded five sacks, grabbed two turnovers, gave up three third-down conversions on 16 attempts and held Kent State to 3.3 yards per play. And yet, the defense seemed to leave something to be desired.
Despite getting five sacks and 10 hits on Kent State quarterback Devin Kargman, who only completed 50% of his passes, it felt like Pitt’s defense was on its heels more than the numbers would indicate. The Panthers only gave up three drives of more than 50 yards - two 75-yard touchdown drives and one 57-yard field goal drive - but on those drives, they showed gaps in coverage, a lack of pressure and poor tackling.
So there’s plenty for the defense to improve on that side of the ball.
Cincinnati - How will Pitt do against a productive QB?
Kent State quarterback Devin Kargman deserves a lot of credit for the beating he took on Saturday - he got hit a lot - but Cincinnati will present a much bigger challenge with Brendan Sorsby. The Indiana transfer made his Bearcat debut against Towson, completing 22-of-31 passes for 383 yards and accounting for four of Cincinnati’s five touchdowns - two passing and two rushing.
Towson is not a high level of competition, so Sorsby will have something to prove this weekend against a Power Four defense. But Pitt’s defense, which had a good day statistically but showed a few holes in the pass rush and tackling fundamentals, will have a challenge of its own in defending Sorsby.
The biggest thing to watch with Sorsby could be the deep passes. Cincinnati scored on passing plays of 42 and 61 yards; if Pitt can’t get pressure on Sorsby in the backfield, it will be a test for Pitt’s coverage to hold up downfield.
ACC - Why is Florida State 0-2?
Clemson at least has a good excuse for being winless; the Tigers faced Georgia in Week One. FSU, on the other hand, took on Georgia Tech and Boston College. Maybe those teams will be better than we expected, and certainly both games were played under unique circumstances (one was in Ireland, the other was on Labor Day night). But there are bigger issues at FSU, and the biggest one is the quarterback.
How, after seeing him in person as a conference foe a few years ago, did Florida State think that DJ Uiagalelei was the answer? Mike Norvell faced Uiagalelei in 2021 and 2022, and while Clemson won both games, Uiagalelei was just okay. Ditto for last season, when he left Clemson and spent a year at Oregon State.
But even if Uiagalelei was just fine as a transfer quarterback option, was he really the best FSU could land this offseason? Just looking around the ACC shows plenty of better options among quarterbacks who transferred this offseason, whether it’s Cam Ward (Miami), Tyler Shough (Louisville), Grayson McCall (N.C. State), Maalik Murphy (Duke), Kyle McCord (Syracuse) or even Eli Holstein.
FSU looked at all of those guys - and that’s just the ACC; never mind the rest of the country - and said, “Yep, DJU is the one we want.”
What was Mike Norvell thinking?
Recruiting - Is that 50-touchdown goal realistic?
One week after putting up 293 passing yards, 119 rushing yards and four passing touchdowns, Pitt quarterback commit Mason Heintschel kept it rolling on Friday by throwing six touchdown passes in a 49-0 win.
Last week, I asked if Heintschel might score 50 touchdowns this season; his team has 10 games on the regular-season schedule and he’s already at 10 passing scores. That puts him right on target for 50 in the regular season alone, and while keeping up the five-touchdown-per-game pace might be a tall task, keep in mind that Heintschel has yet to score a rushing touchdown this season.
So yeah, that 50-touchdown mark really might be in reach, and Heintschel looks really good so far this season.
Offense - Will the Eli show go on the road?
Eli Holstein is officially Pitt’s starting quarterback, and in the most oft-repeated sentiment this week, we’ll get to find out how he does against a higher level of competition.
Cincinnati may or may not be good this season (the Bearcats’ win over Towson offered as little insight as Pitt’s win over Kent State), but there’s no question that Cincinnati will be a step up from Kent State. And Holstein will have to face the Bearcats’ defense, with its 3-4 defensive front, while surrounded by a hostile crowd, which creates a whole new challenge.
Look, Nippert Stadium is not exactly the Horseshoe; the venue holds less than 40,000 (amazingly, Cincinnati “officially” sold out the 38,193 tickets every single game, even in the midst of a seven-game losing streak). But however many fans are there will be rooting against Holstein and Pitt’s offense, and that’s not a non-factor.
The Panthers’ new offense ran very smoothly in the opener on Saturday - everybody was lined up right, they didn’t take any procedure penalties and they were able to control the tempo. Going in front of an enemy crowd is a different story, so in addition to the challenge of facing what should be a better defense, Holstein and company will have to contend with a road environment as well.
Defense - What gets cleaned up in Week Two?
Pitt’s defense presented an interesting case study from Week One. The Panthers allowed 212 yards of total offense, recorded five sacks, grabbed two turnovers, gave up three third-down conversions on 16 attempts and held Kent State to 3.3 yards per play. And yet, the defense seemed to leave something to be desired.
Despite getting five sacks and 10 hits on Kent State quarterback Devin Kargman, who only completed 50% of his passes, it felt like Pitt’s defense was on its heels more than the numbers would indicate. The Panthers only gave up three drives of more than 50 yards - two 75-yard touchdown drives and one 57-yard field goal drive - but on those drives, they showed gaps in coverage, a lack of pressure and poor tackling.
So there’s plenty for the defense to improve on that side of the ball.
Cincinnati - How will Pitt do against a productive QB?
Kent State quarterback Devin Kargman deserves a lot of credit for the beating he took on Saturday - he got hit a lot - but Cincinnati will present a much bigger challenge with Brendan Sorsby. The Indiana transfer made his Bearcat debut against Towson, completing 22-of-31 passes for 383 yards and accounting for four of Cincinnati’s five touchdowns - two passing and two rushing.
Towson is not a high level of competition, so Sorsby will have something to prove this weekend against a Power Four defense. But Pitt’s defense, which had a good day statistically but showed a few holes in the pass rush and tackling fundamentals, will have a challenge of its own in defending Sorsby.
The biggest thing to watch with Sorsby could be the deep passes. Cincinnati scored on passing plays of 42 and 61 yards; if Pitt can’t get pressure on Sorsby in the backfield, it will be a test for Pitt’s coverage to hold up downfield.
ACC - Why is Florida State 0-2?
Clemson at least has a good excuse for being winless; the Tigers faced Georgia in Week One. FSU, on the other hand, took on Georgia Tech and Boston College. Maybe those teams will be better than we expected, and certainly both games were played under unique circumstances (one was in Ireland, the other was on Labor Day night). But there are bigger issues at FSU, and the biggest one is the quarterback.
How, after seeing him in person as a conference foe a few years ago, did Florida State think that DJ Uiagalelei was the answer? Mike Norvell faced Uiagalelei in 2021 and 2022, and while Clemson won both games, Uiagalelei was just okay. Ditto for last season, when he left Clemson and spent a year at Oregon State.
But even if Uiagalelei was just fine as a transfer quarterback option, was he really the best FSU could land this offseason? Just looking around the ACC shows plenty of better options among quarterbacks who transferred this offseason, whether it’s Cam Ward (Miami), Tyler Shough (Louisville), Grayson McCall (N.C. State), Maalik Murphy (Duke), Kyle McCord (Syracuse) or even Eli Holstein.
FSU looked at all of those guys - and that’s just the ACC; never mind the rest of the country - and said, “Yep, DJU is the one we want.”
What was Mike Norvell thinking?
Recruiting - Is that 50-touchdown goal realistic?
One week after putting up 293 passing yards, 119 rushing yards and four passing touchdowns, Pitt quarterback commit Mason Heintschel kept it rolling on Friday by throwing six touchdown passes in a 49-0 win.
Last week, I asked if Heintschel might score 50 touchdowns this season; his team has 10 games on the regular-season schedule and he’s already at 10 passing scores. That puts him right on target for 50 in the regular season alone, and while keeping up the five-touchdown-per-game pace might be a tall task, keep in mind that Heintschel has yet to score a rushing touchdown this season.
So yeah, that 50-touchdown mark really might be in reach, and Heintschel looks really good so far this season.
