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Panthers take on much bigger Iowa team today

4 min read

No matter what team the Panthers (1-1) play in what is becoming an annual nonconference game against the Big Ten, the opponent seems to be much larger. No change there Saturday as Pitt takes on Iowa (3-0), which started the season by winning three in a row on its home field. Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt prefers faster, mobile linemen on both sides of the ball during a time when many teams are loading up with players who weigh 300 pounds or more. Iowa’s defensive line, for example, outweighs Pitt’s by an average of 20 pounds per man, although the offensive lines are similarly sized.

Iowa’s linebackers also are bigger than Pitt’s, but Wannstedt doesn’t believe the Hawkeyes’ size advantage will make a difference in the first game between the schools in 56 years.

“I think our conditioning is better and I think we’re stronger. We’re not going to be physically pound-for-pound as big as these (Big Ten) teams, but I think our quickness and the strength of our players will show up,” Wannstedt said. “They’re physical, strong and tough, but I don’t see it as a mismatch like I would have maybe two years ago.”

This is a homecoming of sorts for the Hawkeyes, despite the long interruption in the series – and not because coach Kirk Ferentz grew up in Pittsburgh and once was a graduate assistant at Pitt.

The Hawkeyes’ uniforms are nearly exact duplicates of those worn by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

That’s by design – when former coach Hayden Fry took over in 1979, he wanted the Hawkeyes acting like champions. So what better team to model themselves after than the Steelers, who won their fourth Super Bowl in six years that season?

Fry copied Pittsburgh’s uniforms so closely, he made certain the black stripe on the Hawkeyes’ gold pants was exactly the same width as the one on the Steelers’ pants. Dress for success was the theme back then.

These days, the Hawkeyes are patterning themselves after the Steelers in a different way.

Just as the Steelers have one of the NFL’s top defenses statistically, Iowa’s defense hasn’t allowed a touchdown in three games and is first nationally in fewest points allowed at 2.7 per game.

That defense will be tested by Pitt sophomore running back LeSean McCoy. McCoy doesn’t have a 100-yard game this season after rushing for nearly 1,330 yards last season, but he did score three touchdowns against Buffalo two weeks ago.

“From here on out we’re going to see a good tailback every week, and he’s starting it off for us,” Iowa linebacker A.J. Edds said. “They have the guys to block for him and, if he gets a crease, he can take it the distance every time.”

Going the distance is something an Iowa quarterback hasn’t done yet this season.

Ferentz can’t decide between junior Jake Christensen and sophomore Ricky Stanzi, so he is playing both. Stanzi is the better prospect and better passer, but Christensen had the better game as Iowa beat rival Iowa State 17-5 last week.

Two quarterbacks rarely are better than one and, just as this game could set the course for the rest of Pitt’s season, this Big Ten vs. Big East game could help shake out the Hawkeyes’ QB situation.

“I kind of went out there and let the atmosphere sink me into the ground,” Stanzi said after his two interceptions forced a switch to Christensen in the third quarter against Iowa State. “I really wasn’t the same player I usually am physically, and I could sense that. The only thing I can do now is bounce back.”

A bigger worry for Pitt may be running back Shonn Greene, who is averaging 119 yards per game and 6.5 yards per carry.

Copyright Associated Press 2008

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