Pitt Kickoff: Taming Tennessee's fast offense, aggressive defense

After opening the season with a 51-7 blowout of UMass, Pitt gets its first power five conference opponent along with its first road game Saturday against Tennessee. It's the first time Pitt has played an SEC opponent under Pat Narduzzi, with the most recent matchup being a 38-7 loss to Ole Miss in the 2013 BBVA Compass Bowl.

It's also a rematch of head coaches between Narduzzi and new Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, who coached against Pitt in 2018 and 2019 as the head coach of UCF when the teams split the series with the Knights winning in 2018 and Pitt winning in 2019 on a late trick play pass to Kenny Pickett for a touchdown dubbed, "the Pitt Special."

While Narduzzi has an idea of what to anticipate from Heupel, he knows that the same will be the case for Tennessee's coach.

"They saw the ‘Pitt Special’ (in 2019)," Narduzzi said in his Monday press conference. "They'll be ready for the Pitt Special. We've got a Tennessee team that we haven't played the personnel there.  But Josh Heupel coming from UCF, having two games with them, gives us a little bit of an advantage. It gives them an advantage as well because they know who we are both sides of the ball."

Tennessee is also coming off a blowout win over a non-power five conference team in a 38-7 win over Bowling Green. So this serves as a serious proving ground for both programs.

• What: Pitt (1-0, 0-0 ACC) at Tennessee (1-0, 0-0 SEC)
• When: Noon
• Where: Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, Tenn.
• TV: ESPN
• Radio: 93.7 The Fan
• Satellite: Sirius XM 384, SXM App Channel 974
• Boxscore: Sidearm Sports
• Media notes: Pitt | Tennessee

Top storylines:

Who's the bell cow running back?: When Pitt ran its offense in the season opener, super senior A.J. Davis got the start while true freshman Rodney Hammond Jr. got the most carries, but all signs throughout camp had pointed to either Vincent Davis or Israel "Izzy" Abanikanda being the top two backs. Narduzzi still won't tip his hand to show which back he's favored, but that may change now that he's facing an SEC opponent. Look for Pitt's run game to commit to a couple running backs this week instead of the five different running backs who got carries and four who scored touchdowns against UMass.

Defense must be ready for Tennessee's up-tempo offense: Pitt's defense places a lot of emphasis on having fresh legs and being able to make substitutions so that the Panthers can flex their depth and keep aggressive players on the field who aren't playing tired. But that'll get tested by how Heupel's offense runs with Tennessee, who likes to go no-huddle a lot and keep defenses from making substitutions.

 "We'll be ready for the tempo," Narduzzi said when asked about Tennessee's fast-paced offense. "I think it's going to be a heck of a game. (Tennessee's offense) looks very similar (to UCF's offense). I'm sure they'll have some tweaks for us maybe that they didn't show in the first game. But very similar. I think they're snapping the ball faster. Probably an average of 11 seconds they're snapping the ball on offense."

During Tennessee's win over Bowling Green, the Volunteers' fast-paced offense led to them snapping the ball for 88 plays, which was the most of any SEC team to start the season and the fourth-most among all of FBS football.

Pitt has placed an emphasis this week in practice in making sure the defense can get ready for this challenge, but a lot of it will come down to the linebackers and secondary continuing to communicate adjustments quickly and not playing gassed. But Narduzzi also said that he's confident in Pitt's conditioning and noted Monday that Tennessee also can get tired and need its own substitutions on offense.

"It makes a difference," defensive coordinator Randy Bates said Tuesday about Tennessee's fast-paced offense. "They're a very fast tempo offense and you don't know how fast they are until you're in the game. It's funny, I was talking to DaMarri (Mathis) about that earlier and we said the biggest challenge would be the young guys who just can't visualize what they're getting into. We do our best to explain it and they have to go out and live it."

Players to watch:

Calijah Kancey: After being named player of the game for his performance against UMass with five tackles and a sack, Kancey looks to build his 2021 resume with another solid performance against an SEC opponent. Narduzzi noted in 2020 how Kancey's quick start as a redshirt freshman lacked fundamentals and needed to polish his game.

That's not the case anymore.

"He's there," Narduzzi said when asked if Kancey's preparation has increased to the level he wants as a coach. "He is there. He played really well up front. He was our player of the week on defense. You watch him play with good feet, lock out, shed blocks. He looked like an All-ACC performer on Saturday night. Have to do it again against an SEC opponent this week."

Kancey faces a more experienced line in Tennessee after UMass started a two freshmen at center and guard in the season opener. Tennessee has senior left guard Jerome Carvin, sophomore center Cooper Mays, and sophomore right guard Javontez Spraggins. Carvin alone boasts 17 starts in his career, so Kancey will have to truly show how far he's come along against more veteran competition this week.

For my film analysis on Kancey's performance during the season opener, click here.

Jaylon Barden: Everybody knows about Pitt's star receiver Jordan Addison after making the ACC's all-freshman team in 2020. But Pickett needs other targets to emerge, and sophomore receiver Barden could be the Panthers' best emerging deep threat.

He started to catch on late in his freshman 2020 season when Pickett connected with him five times for 65 yards and a touchdown against Virginia Tech. Pickett completed his longest pass of the game against UMass to Barden on a 47-yard bomb that, had he put even further down the field, might've resulted in a touchdown. 

"Jaylon's strength is his speed and getting behind guys," Pickett said of Barden after Pitt's win over UMass. "He'll continue to get better. He's a great kid who works really hard and wants it bad. He'll be in the film room tomorrow studying and be ready to go next week. That's another guy I'm hoping will get funneled in there more as the season goes along."

Look out for Pitt to dial up some shot plays to Barden to break the game open if Tennessee's defense proves too stout for the Panthers' run game to break open.

Brandon Hill: After emerging as the Panthers' starting strong safety late in 2020 after Paris Ford opted-out in the middle of the season, Hill has become one of the players the Panthers' coaches are most excited to see grow. He didn't get that much of a chance to be a playmaker with only a single tackle as his stat line against UMass as the defensive front kept the Minutemen shut down for most of the game.

That's not the pace he wants to see out of himself, as he talked about when I asked him about being a turnover creator for the Panthers during training camp.

"You only get about five opportunities to change a game," Hill said. "Making the best out of every opportunity this time around is what I've focused on the most. I'm an aggressive safety and I picked Pitt because we let our safeties be aggressive. This is a place I can thrive, be hard-nosed and get after the ball. I'll give you about five or six turnovers, and it will be a different dunk every time."

The Panthers led the ACC with 14 interceptions last season, but failed to register a single one against UMass. Pitt's lone forced turnover came from safety Erick Hallett II forcing and recovering a fumble in the second half that put Pitt in good field position to set up a touchdown that put the game out of reach. Hill and the Panthers changing that with more turnovers this week would go a long way to making sure the Panthers reach 2-0.

Beyond being a playmaker, Hill, along with Hallett and Pitt's mike linebackers with both have larger roles as communicators across the field to keep Pitt's defense coordinated as Tennessee runs its no-huddle offense. That's a challenge Bates addressed this week.

"The safeties and the mike linebacker will make the call," Bates said of the challenge. "But at this point everybody must know what's going on, get lined up and play ball. Sometimes you just have to line up and play fast. They're playing as fast as you are and sometimes you make mistakes offensively and defensively because things go too fast and you miss something. So hopefully that happens more on their side than on our side."

Behind enemy lines

Watch out for Joe Milton III: Pitt had the benefit of playing UMass' quarterback Tyler Lyttle in was a graduate transfer playing his first ever collegiate start. While Tennessee's starting quarterback, Joe Milton III, is a 6-foot-5, 244 lbs. redshirt junior transfer from Michigan, he's going to be a real challenge for the defense. He had five starts under his belt at Michigan and started against Bowling Green for Tennessee.

In 2020, Milton threw for completed 86 of 152 passes for 1,194 yards with five touchdowns and six interceptions for a 57.0 completion percentage. He also rushed for 156 yards on 50 attempts with three rushing touchdowns. Against Bowling Green, he completed 11 of 23 passes for 139 yards and a 40-yard touchdown pass to go along with 14 carries for 44 yards and two rushing touchdowns.

Pitt's very aware of the threat he presents.

"He's a big athlete that we're going to have to get down," Narduzzi said of Milton. "One guy might not get him down. We're going to have to get two, three, four guys there. We are going to have to run to the ball, then we are going to have to get home quickly because they will snap it between 7-10 seconds."

"He can throw the ball 70 yards while flatfooted," Bates said of Milton. "He's got a tremendous arm and he's going to be a challenge. He's got great size, he's a great athlete and a really good player."

Aggressive defense: As much as Pitt's defense gets talked about for being aggressive, Tennessee looks to set a similar tone with its new look under Heupel and new defensive coordinator Tim Banks. Banks served as a co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Penn State the past five seasons.

During Banks' 2016-2020 tenure at Penn State, the Nittany Lions recorded 221 sacks, which was the fifth-most in the country during that span. The Volunteers recorded two sacks split between sophomore defensive end Tyler Bardon and redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Da'Jon Terry to go along with eleven tackles for loss against Bowling Green. 

When asked about players on the defensive front who stand out, Pitt offensive line coach Dave Borbely didn't skimp on players he mentioned.

"There's eleven of them that really stand out," Borbely said of Tennessee's defense. "(Baron) is an outstanding pass rusher. (Matthew Butler) can wreck the game very quickly by himself, he's an excellent player. (Elijah Simmons) is 350 lbs. and a great looking guy, big strong and athletic. (Ja'Quain Blakely), who plays the end to the field is the bigger of the two defensive ends and is an excellent pass rusher."

And that didn't even include redshirt senior star linebacker Theo Jackson, who at 6-foot-2, 203 lbs., led Tennessee with 2.5 tackles for loss against Bowling Green.

Get prepared to see a physical matchup when Pitt's offense meets Tennessee's defense.

Prediction: Pitt 27-21

Like Pitt, Tennessee is a power five conference program that has routinely stumbled when its gotten on a roll. Over the last four years, both programs each only have one eight-win season on their records. 

But where Pitt might claim an advantage this time around is how this is Narduzzi's seventh season coaching the Panthers and has an established culture with 27 seniors, set expectations and looking to build off a winning 2020 season, Tennessee is rebuilding with a new head coach after going 3-7 last season and needed to grab ten transfers from other power five conference teams during the offseason.

Expect mistakes from both teams and big plays from both defenses. But this game could come down to how the quarterbacks deal with each team's aggressive defenses. While Pitt and Tennessee have defenses that love to fly around the box, attack the run and blitz the quarterback, that could lead to this being a game that comes down to the passing game.

Milton's athleticism makes him a threat the Panthers must keep an eye on to take off and run, as well as target guys down the field. But Pickett has also shown he's not afraid of keeping the ball and making plays with his legs, and he's the most experienced quarterback starting in the ACC.

Pitt should be able lean on his leadership and headiness in pressured situations to avoid the big mistakes and put his team in the best position to win, while Milton may provide more opportunities for the Panthers' defense to record turnovers when the score is tight late in the game and Tennessee dials up plays that will require him to take riskier throws down the field.

Expect this game to be tight going into the fourth quarter, but Pickett to make some solid plays that give Pitt an advantage and put Tennessee's offense in a position where it needs to comeback. That'll let Pitt's pass rush pin its ears back, and with the expected return of a healthier Deslin Alexandre, that would play to the Panthers' strength in the most important part of the game.