Insight Bowl
Pitt meets Oregon State tonight PHOENIX (AP) – The Pittsburgh Panthers are in the Insight Bowl for the second time in three years after a season that came tantalizingly close to being spectacular.
They will face Oregon State tonight in a rare Big East-Pac-10 matchup that features two teams with 8-4 records and two of the country’s toughest defenses.
“It looks like a defensive struggle on paper,” Oregon State coach Dennis Erickson said, “but you never know.”
The 24th-ranked Panthers lost to Iowa State in the then-Insight.com Bowl 37-29 in the first football game played in Bank One Ballpark, the baseball home of the Arizona Diamondbacks in downtown Phoenix.
The ballpark will be the scene of this year’s game, too, in a new Insight arrangement that replaces the Big 12 with a Pac-10 school. Oregon State enters the game with the No. 10 defense in the country, allowing 293.0 yards per game. Pittsburgh is No. 11 at 293.4 per contest.
“When I see Pitt’s defense, I really see our defense,” Beavers tailback Steven Jackson said. “They’re both athletic. It’s not just one guy tackling the ball carrier, they really swarm to the ball. They remind me of my team a lot.”
Pittsburgh coach Walt Harris said it could be “one of the best matchups of all the bowls.”
“The two teams are very similar, and the game means a lot to both programs,” Panthers linebacker Brian Bieneke said. “We sure don’t want to end the season with three straight losses, and a win will give Pittsburgh its first season with nine wins in 20 years.”
The Panthers lost four games by a combined 24 points, including a 28-21 loss on the road to No. 1 Miami on Nov. 21. Pittsburgh drove to the Hurricanes’ 20 in the final minute, but Rod Rutherford’s fourth-down pass into the end zone was just out of Yogi Roth’s reach.
“We’ve had some heartbreaks, but you know it was us. We’ve got to do a better job and finish those games better,” Harris said. “It’s a credit to our football players and our preparation to be close in those games. … We’re a good 8-4 football team. How good? I think this matchup will tell us a lot about that.”
Pittsburgh’s biggest concern will be stopping sophomore tailback Steven Jackson, the Pac-10’s leading rusher by nearly 600 yards and No. 4 nationally with a school record 1,656 yards, an average of 5.5 yards per carry.
“I’ve seen a lot of guys play in my career,” Erickson said. “He might be as good as anybody I’ve ever coached. He’s only a sophomore. He’s got speed and size. You’ll see an interesting guy on Thursday. It will fun to watch for all of you who haven’t seen him play.”
Pittsburgh’s major weapon is wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, the Big East freshman of the year and the first freshman ever to be a unanimous first-team selection on the all-conference team. He caught 64 passes for 917 yards and 11 touchdowns, all school records.
Fitzgerald will go against a pair of senior cornerbacks – Dennis Weathersby and Terrell Roberts. Roberts was named to the second team all-Pac-10. Weathersby is a four-year starter and first team all-conference selection.
“You can’t make mental errors you might be able to get away with against other teams,” Fitzgerald said. “They can really run well, not just their secondary but their linebackers as well. We’re definitely going to have our hands full with these guys.”
Oregon State returns to a bowl game after a disappointing 5-6 season a year ago. Two years ago, Erickson and the Beavers were in Arizona this time of year, too, when they routed Notre Dame 41-9 in the Fiesta Bowl. With an extremely young offense and Oregon State’s image of a college football doormat fading into history, Erickson expects many more postseason appearances.
“Oregon State’s going to be somebody to deal with, I really believe, for a long, long time,” he said.