BIG EAST FOOTBALL PREVIEW: GAME #4 PITTSBURGH

September 19, 2008


High noon at Heinz Field on Saturday, Pittsburgh fans will see their beloved colors of black and gold on their Heinz Field grass. No, there is no need to quickly check your NFL Lines the Steelers are not playing, instead, the Iowa Hawkeyes are coming to town to do battle against Dave Wannstedt and his Pittsburgh Panthers.

We have been watching the NCAA Football Odds this week and the pointspread has completely flip-flopped, from an opening as Pitt being a slight favorite and now Iowa has become the favorite as the week moves.

It was surprising to us that Pitt opened as the favorite. The Panthers opened their season with a home loss to Bowling Green and followed it up with a win over Buffalo. Now, following a bye week, the Panthers face a step-up in competition with the Big 10's Iowa squad coming to town.

The Hawkeyes are off to a 3-0 start with their last outing resulting in a 17-5 win over Iowa State. We are always a little leery of a team playing their first road game and the competition to date has not been overly difficult for Iowa. Will that come back to haunt them on Saturday.

Pittsburgh, under Dave Wannstedt, seems to follow the NFL mentality of playing not to loose. In the college game, that mentality is outdated. Until they prove to me they have the imagination to use the weapons they have recruited the last few years, I will withhold jumping on their bandwagon. I definitely see them with a chance to improve, especially coming off a bye week and the chance to implement some of this imagination, but I will tread cautiously. They hardly let Bill Stull throw down the field, even with the defense keying so much on star running back Lesean McCoy. Will Pitt open it up this weekend? Their fans will be looking for that...I am just not sure we will see it...

Prediction:

Iowa 24
Pittsburgh 20