The Pittsburgh Panthers are 1-4 against the Miami (FL) Hurricanes since November of 2015, but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The Panthers are on the road again on Saturday and play against Miami (FL) at noon ET Oct. 17 at Hard Rock Stadium. Pitt will be hoping to continue their now three-game streak of scoring more points each game than the last.
Pitt missed a PAT kick in overtime against the Boston College Eagles last week, and it came back to haunt them. Pitt lost to BC in overtime 31-30. Despite the defeat, Pitt got a solid performance out of QB Kenny Pickett, who passed for two TDs and 266 yards on 48 attempts in addition to rushing for one TD and 36 yards.
It wasn't all bad for the Panthers, as the Pitt defensive unit accumulated five sacks for a loss of 15 yards. Leading the way was DL Patrick Jones II and his three sacks. Jones II now has 6.5 sacks this season.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes might not have won anyway, but with 115 yards lost due to penalties, they really shot themselves in the foot last week. They found themselves the reluctant recipients of an unfortunate 42-17 punch to the gut against the Clemson Tigers. Miami (FL) was down 35-10 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from. Their only touchdown came on a rush from QB D'Eriq King. King's longest run was for 56 yards in the second quarter.
Two numbers to keep in mind before kickoff: The Panthers enter the matchup having picked the ball off six times, good for fourth in the nation. But Miami (FL) hasn't thrown an interception yet this season. We'll see which of these strengths -- offense or defense -- will win out.