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In a few days, Matt Canada will finally trade blue and gold for purple and yellow, but before he hops a plane for Baton Rouge, he’ll call one last game for Pitt.

“That’s all the focus is right now: for our players to finish in the bowl game,” Canada said last week in a teleconference previewing Pitt’s Pinstripe Bowl matchup with Northwestern. “Obviously the opportunity presented itself and I’ll move on to that after this bowl game is over. But all our focus is on winning this game and the players have been awesome.”

Canada was hired by Ed Orgeron to be the offensive coordinator at LSU two weeks ago, a move that ended his stint at Pitt less than a year after it started. But that was an eventual 11-month run, as Canada transformed an offense that bordered on moribund in 2015 into one of the nation’s best.

The Panthers ranked No. 41 in total offense in 2016, but they were No. 26 in rushing offense and, most importantly, No. 11 in scoring offense, averaging 42.3 points per game and scoring more points than any team in Pitt history. The Panthers were also the best team in the nation in the red zone, turning drives inside the 20 into touchdowns better than anyone.

Canada took an offense that lost a wide receiver to the NFL and produced a unit that was more explosive, drawing on option schemes, jet sweeps, remarkably efficient quarterback play and an offensive line that dictated the terms of play more often than not.

But all of that success drew attention. Canada was the only offensive coordinator to be named a finalist for the Broyles Award this year, and a few Power Five programs made a run at getting him out of Pittsburgh.

LSU won that derby with the appeal of a big paycheck and a bigger stage. In 2017, Canada will have a chance to show what he can do in the big, bad SEC, and success at that level could bring head-coaching opportunities.

Before all of that, though, Canada wants to finish what he started with the 2016 Pitt team.

“I’ve enjoyed being there and I’m certainly excited to get on the plane with the team and go play,” he said. “The players have been great and I’m fortunate that I was allowed the opportunity to finish it out. It’s important to me and I’m excited about being able to do that.”

Canada and his group will have the bigger challenge against Northwestern on Wednesday. The Wildcats were 6-6 this season and had an offense that ranked No. 91 in scoring, but they were much stronger on defense. Northwestern allowed opponents to average 22.1 points per game this season, good for No. 24 nationally; the Wildcats held 10 of their 12 opponents to fewer than 30 points and seven opponents scored 22 or less.

Nine Northwestern opponents scored below their season averages against the Wildcats, including Western Michigan, who averaged 43.5 points per game, scoring 22 and Ohio State, who averaged 42.7 points per game, to 24.

Conversely, Pitt scored at least 28 points in every game this season, topped 30 in 10 games and scored more than 40 six times, including the last three games - all of which sets up the Pinstripe Bowl to be a strength vs. strength matchup.

“They do a great job schematically and they are very, very sound,” Canada said. “They know what they do, they know who they are, there’s no confusion, they’re where they’re supposed to be. There’s no trickery going to get them; there’s nothing like that.

“The yards are what they are; they don’t give up points. They’re a very talented defense and somebody we’re going to have a hard time scoring points on, for sure.”