Pittsburgh Defense
The Panthers defense has been stellar throughout recent years and have been known to disrupt quarterbacks in the backfield. However, for the Panthers, they will not have 2022 ACC Defensive Player of the Year Calijah Kancey after being selected 18th overall in April’s NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, with that being said, Pittsburgh finished 2nd in the country a season ago in sacks as they love to bring pressure and play aggressive.
“Pittsburgh is used to winning, heck they won the ACC two years ago. Pittsburgh plays very aggressive, heck they’ve been top 3-4 in sacks every year I feel like, that is just something they’re going to do,” Scott Satterfield said. “You have to have a really good plan, you just can’t sit back and drop back, thinking you’re going to have all day to throw the football, that just isn’t going to happen. You turn on any game from the last 3-4 seasons, and you will see they will find ways to get to the quarterback.”
Pittsburgh secondary is what stands out the most when you watch them on tape. They return both starters at the defensive back position in MJ Devonshire and Marquis Williams. Devonshire started his career at Kentucky before transferring to Pittsburgh following his freshman season and has been an immediate impact player since. Pittsburgh secondary is very experienced and will give the Bearcats revamped wide receiver rooms some difficult matchups compared to Week 1 vs Eastern Kentucky.
“I think the thing that stands out to me the most about Pittsburgh defense is their cornerbacks. They have played a lot of ball, we’ve charted them, I believe three guys have played 2000+ snaps at the cornerback position. That’s a lot of ball,” said Satterfield. “They ask their corners to play man all day long, you can turn on the tape from three years ago and see Marquis Williams in man coverage, matter of fact he picked us off back in 2020 at Louisville. They are going to get in your face, harass you all day long, they have no regards for pass interference, they’re just playing their ball. They make it very difficult for receivers to try and get open. Their safeties may not be as experienced as their corner backs, but they’re still very good at what they do.”
This is a Pittsburgh defense that only features on underclass man per the Pittsburgh probably two-deep and that is sophomore safety Javon McIntyre. However, for the Bearcats, anytime you play an experienced veteran defense you have to be smart with the ball at all times and really limit the turnovers. However, for the Bearcats, Pittsburgh’s defense will make it a hard-fought battle come Saturday on all aspects of this one and should be a fun matchup between the Bearcats wide receivers and an experienced Pittsburgh secondary.
Up Next
The Bearcats will travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to take on the Panthers this Saturday, with kickoff slated for 6:30 pm. Reminder to Bearcats fans who aren’t making the trip to Pittsburgh, this game will be streamed live on the CW channel.
