N&O:
Kushner, who's from Bethlehem, Pa., said N.C. State's players will have a chance to prove how physical they are this week.
"One thing Pitt likes to do is hit you in the face," Kushner said. "That's the way football is played up in Pennsylvania."
Lots of talk this week about Pittsburgh's apparent old school smash mouth brand of football. When I picture the game in my head all I see is an old NFL Films reel about the delights of a graceful counter play.
"It's going to be a hard-fought, slug-them-in-the-mouth football game. I love it. They will line it up and run it and throw some play-action passes. Their defense tries to knock you back and create a new line of scrimmage. It won't be spread-the-field-and-play-touch-football stuff."
Seriously, if your team's running the spread, you might as well stamp VAGINA on your forehead. What a load of fun-to-watch crap. Makes me sick.
Committed to the run though Pittsburgh may be, quarterback Bill Stull's arm still has to be a significant concern for the Wolfpack. His track record isn't the best, but as we saw during last year's Boston College Incident, an offensive line that affords its QB lots of time in the pocket can make picking apart a defense easy for anybody. Pitt appears to have that sort of line; they've got four experienced guys back and TOB has spoken glowingly of them (by his standards) all week. Staying at home when they go play-action and mounting a steady pass rush are going to be as important for the defense as anything else.