Dave Wannstedt has yet to beat Rutgers in his five years as Pittsburgh’s coach. What better way to end the drought tonight than by thoroughly ticking off his players?
This week, he had all the seniors stand up during a meeting and asked all those who had beaten Rutgers to sit down. No one did. Each day this week he has showed a continuous video loop of the Scarlet Knights’ last four wins over the Panthers. One day he had a team manager show up at practice wearing a knight’s outfit.
The game is at Rutgers (4-1), on ESPN, at 6 p.m. MDT, and the Panthers (5-1) well remember last year’s 54-34 trampling at home.
“I don’t want to say we need extra focus or say we weren’t putting focus in the last (few) games because that’s not true, but we just have to find a way to get down and dirty this week,” senior quarterback Bill Stull told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “This is personal.”
Tonight could be the night. Pitt is a three-point favorite over a Rutgers team that has victories over Howard, FIU, Maryland and Texas Southern.
John Henderson, The Denver Post
