While Syracuse endured a penalty- and mistake-filled showing last weekend, Pittsburgh is coming off a dominant defensive performance.
The Orange hope to rebound from their miscues when they visit the stingy Panthers in Atlantic Coast Conference action on Thursday night.
Many things went wrong for Syracuse (1-1, 0-1 ACC) in its 21-18 home loss to Cal. The Orange were assessed 15 penalties for 132 yards, missed two field goals and saw Steve Angeli throw three interceptions while under constant pressure.
“We got to play better,” Syracuse coach Fran Brown said Monday. “Can’t let our quarterback (get) hit as much as he was hit. We just gotta continue to get better and play better.”
Angeli will face a Pitt defense that allowed a total of 21 points in two non-conference wins against Miami (Ohio) and UCF.
“They run around,” Brown said of the Panthers’ aggressive defense. “They fly to the football. They create turnovers. They make it hard for offenses.”
Pittsburgh (2-0, 0-0) has six sacks through two games and allowed just 20 rushing yards and 206 total yards in its 12-7 win over UCF.
The Panthers’ run defense has allowed just 23.5 yards per game and hopes to deliver another stout performance in a milestone game for coach Pat Narduzzi, who is hoping to see his team start 3-0 for the third time in his tenure.
“That’s kind of what we do, and so that doesn’t surprise me at all, especially with the linebacker corps,” Narduzzi said of his defense Monday. “I told you we had that D-line up front. If you look historically, we’re going to stop the run.”
Narduzzi is coaching his 144th game and will pass Jock Sutherland (1924-38) for the most in school history.
Narduzzi hopes to see another solid showing from Mason Heintschel, who has thrown for 665 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions.
Pitt held out running back Ja’Kyrian Turner (undisclosed) last week and he is listed as questionable for Thursday. The Panthers may also be without wide receiver Malik Knight (shoulder), who caught a touchdown pass in the season opener.
