Not looking forward to seeing wide stadium shots of the attendance for this game.
An oddly big game for Pitt with a small opponent. The Panthers have to show that they are a lot more like the team that came out swinging against VT and not the floundering mess of the first couple games.
If Pitt wants to show that it was just learning the new system in game situations and everybody adjusting then they need to overwhelm the Bulldogs. Tough break for Ron Dickerson and his Western PA (and Pitt) ties, but his 0-3 team needs to be beaten thoroughly.
Gardner-Webb. One of the many schools that used a bulldog for a mascot. Not sure why so many schools have a bulldog. Were they cheap and plentiful back when the schools started playing sports? Convenience? Of course if that were the case, you would think that many of the land-grant and former agricultural schools would have simply gone with chickens, turkeys or some other poultry. I probably need some more coffee.
Well, let’s simplify what you need to know about Gardner-Webb from an on-the-field perspective. They are 0-3. They have been blown out by Wofford, Richmond and Samford by a combined score of 139-38. Here’s a capsule look at the star players.
GWU personnel: Sophomore Linebacker Tanner Burch leads the Big South in tackles per game and is No. 3 nationally with an average of 13.6 stops … Wideout Carlton Heard caught a career-high seven passes for 107 yards against Samford with five of the seven receptions securing first-down yardage for the ’Dogs…Sophomore QB Lucas Beatty has already surpassed his season totals from all of last year in completions and yardage. He’s thrown for 666 yards by hitting 65 of 105 attempts with three interceptions and one touchdown…Senior punter Bo Lindsay and Burch were named Big South Conference Players of the Week for their performances versus Samford.
And that’s about it. Love that even their semi-local paper — actually from the neighboring city of Shelby — has to provide a little capsule infodump on the key Gardner-Webb players.
