Before every football game this year, The Blue Zone is going to sit down with a football writer from the opposing school’s student newspaper to get the scoop on their team and season.
This week, The Chronicle’s Daniel Carp spoke to The Pitt News' Sports Editor Nate Barnes about this Saturday's matchup between Duke and Pittsburgh.
The Chronicle: This weekend marks Pittsburgh's first trip to Duke as an ACC member. Did you sense any excitement from the team this week about playing another new conference opponent?
Nate Barnes: The thing with Paul Chryst is that every week he'll tell you that it's a new week. I'm sure the team is excited, and I think there is a level of excitement around the program for the players to go and prove themselves—something along the lines of going out there and showing the ACC that they can play.
TC: Pittsburgh got trounced in its season-opener against Florida State but came out after their bye week with a big win against New Mexico. Can you assess the team's level of confidence heading into this week's game?
NB: I think they're pretty confident. I hope that the team is not overly-confident, because you look at Florida State and that's a team that is so much more talented than Pitt is right now. It's just a fact—it's not a knock on the Panthers or anything like that. Then you go and play New Mexico and it's like the roles are reversed. Pitt is now the Florida State in this game and New Mexico is now the Pitt.
Playing Duke, this is going to be the first real test of where this team actually is. I think Duke is one of the teams that—at least by the standards of the ACC's preseason poll—is supposed to be close to Pitt in terms of where they rank or play out in the conference this year.
TC: The Panthers have one of the top wide receiver tandems in the ACC in Devin Street and Tyler Boyd Duke's secondary has been much improved this year but struggled at times. How do you potentially see that matchup potentially playing out?
NB: With Tyler Boyd, you're going to have to pick your poison if you want to pick three guys or take awayhalf of your secondary against Devin Street, Tyler Boyd is going to burn you like he did this past week. He caught six passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns. Regardless of what the team is able to do against Devin Street, I think Tyler Boyd is going to be able to have some success.
TC: Tom Savage is a first-year starter at Pittsburgh. What have you seen from him in terms of his improvement from his first game to last week against New Mexico?
NB: I think he has a good handle on what's going on here because he was here last year as well under the transfer rules. So he was playing last year with the team and I think he has a good feel running this offense. Tino Sunseri was the starter here for the last three years, and I think Paul Chryst is able to open up the playbook a lot more with Savage in the backfield because Savage's arm is stronger now than Tino's ever was. So the deep passes is something I think is starting to play out well for him.
TC: Duke went through a quarterback changed and the offense looked a bit anemic against Georgia Tech. How is Pittsburgh preparing to stop the Blue Devil offense?
NB: There's a lot of athleticism in the linebacking corps that allows Pitt to do a lot of things. It starts on the line of scrimmage—that's something Paul Chryst will always identify as a key to the game. If Aaron Donald, Tyronne Ezell, Bryan Murphy and David Durham are able to get pressure on their own and allow the linebackers to do a little more behind them, that will go a long way in helping PItt limit the effectiveness of Duke's offense.
TC: Looking forward, is there a possible matchup that could be an X factor in this weekend's game?
NB: The line of scrimmage is generally where it starts for Pitt on both sides of the ball. If they're able to establish the running game and take a little pressure off Tom Savage, and on the defensive side of the ball they can win the battle on the line of scrimmage then that will go a long way toward Pitt's success.
TC: And to wrap up, what is your score prediction for Saturday?
NB: It's going to be close, but I'll say Pitt takes this one 24-17.
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