So with Louisville, they like to run. They have an excellent young back in Victor Anderson. Of course, that would be good for Pitt and the run defense. Where Pitt has struggled has been with teams that go vertical. Especially with big WRs against PItt’s undersized corners.

Their best WR — in terms of experience and ability — Scott Long is out for the season. The most worrisome WR is Freshman Josh Chichester. A 6-8 receiver, but not exactly of blazing speed. Pitt’s best chance, as in the ND game, is getting the pressure up front on QB Hunter Cantwell. Cantwell hasn’t been bad, but definitely hasn’t matched the hype expected. He’s thrown 10 interceptions in 8 games. He has thrown an INT in 5 straight games and 6 of the 8 this season.

Cantwell is worried about the turf at Heinz Field because he remembers 2006.

“It was like playing on a sandlot field,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a great venue. The Steelers play there, their locker rooms are nice, the sidelines are nice. … The only thing that really sticks out was in between the hashes it was dirt all the way down.

“Hopefully it will be a nice grass field to play on, it will be a fast field and we can go and put some points on the board.”

Rutgers was a little worried the previous game. I don’t think the WPIAL games are taking place there at this point. Really, it seems that the turf should be fine. It will have been about 2 weeks since the RU-Pitt and NYG-Pgh games. This year, that hasn’t been much of a problem for Pitt.

On Pitt’s side of thing, Bill Stull should be back starting at QB. He talked a little about his concussion.

“I thought the worst,” Stull said. “I thought that was it, that I broke my neck or something. I couldn’t move. I don’t know if I was scared stiff. … I really couldn’t open my eyes, couldn’t speak, I couldn’t move at all.”

Stull spoke publicly Tuesday for the first time since suffering a concussion and stinger, which caused him to spend a night at UPMC Presbyterian and sit out Pitt’s 36-33 quadruple-overtime victory at Notre Dame last Saturday. He intended to play against the Fighting Irish, but the combination of headaches, dizziness and nausea prevented him from practicing last week.

…

Stull wasn’t so convinced about that two weeks ago, while lying on the turf. He didn’t realize the severity of the situation until he saw his father, Bill Sr., on the field and heard team doctors and trainers call to “board him” – place him on a stretcher – as a precaution.

“That was when I realized I’m not playing the rest of this game,” said Stull, whose only other concussion came as a junior at Seton-La Salle High School. “I’m stubborn when it comes to injuries. I want to play no matter what. When I saw (Stull Sr.) coming on there, I kind of lost it.”

No doubt, Pitt will be running the ball plenty. The passing game, should have opportunities, though. Louisville is not exactly strong against the pass.

Louisville is 80th in the nation against the pass, allowing 224.9 yards per game, but is ninth in the country against the run, yielding just 91.6 yards a contest.

The Cards have 7 interceptions and 14 sacks on the year. CB Woodny Turenne leads the Big East with 4 interceptions.

A bit of praise for Pitt’s defensive tackles.

One of the reasons McKillop has been able to average more than 10 tackles per game is the underappreciated work of Pitt’s two tackles — senior Rashaad Duncan and junior Mick Williams.

“I think any great middle linebacker will tell the guys in front of them are very important to their success,” said assistant head coach Greg Gattuso, who oversees the defensive line.

“Our tackles played their best game together [Notre Dame], but they had been playing very well all year. Rashaad Duncan has been very steady, eating up blockers and doing a great job for him. Obviously, Scott is a great player, but part of his ability to make some plays is those tackles creating a lot of problems inside and occupying three people on many plays.”

Gattuso praised Duncan’s attention to detail and his ability to think about the game.

When the coaches in the booth could not figure out a Notre Dame blocking scheme early in the game, Duncan explained the situation to Gattuso when he came off the field, and the problem was rectified. He has been the steadiest player for Gattuso on the front line.

Hopefully the defense will keep playing like they want to show everyone that Rutgers was just a glitch.