The new challenge for Pitt's linebackers

The linebackers’ reward for that good job? An opportunity to do an even better job, as the Panthers’ defense figures to be tested when the team travels to Dallas for a primetime showdown with SMU on Saturday night.

“They’re a very athletic crew,” super-senior linebacker Brandon George said of this week’s opponent. “Obviously, I believe they're the number one rushing offense in the ACC. They're very effective at what they do. They're very effective getting up-tempo and trying to get you on your heels a little bit as they try and move the ball down the field.

“We just have to prepare diligently for that and understand that we need to get home, get the call, and execute the call at a very quick tempo and in a very effective manner consistently. That's what will help us get off the field and get our offense back on the field.”

In a funny sort of way, Pitt’s defense didn’t do a great job of getting off the field against Syracuse last Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium. The Panthers intercepted five of Kyle McCord’s passes, despite the Orange quarterback having thrown just six picks all season prior to that game. But Pitt’s linebackers returned three of those interceptions for touchdowns, so their time to celebrate on the sideline was short.

Two days later, SMU won at Duke despite committing six turnovers - three interceptions and three fumbles - and while turnovers are always the goal, they’re hardly reliable.

Chances are, if Pitt’s defense finds success against SMU’s offense, it will be a result of doing what George said:

Making stops and getting off the field.

That won’t be easy, as SMU is No. 23 nationally and No. 4 in the ACC in third-down conversion percentage. It’s worth noting that Syracuse is No. 6 in the country and No. 2 in the conference and Pitt held the Orange to 6-of-20 on third downs, but the challenge with the Mustangs extends beyond their success on third down.

SMU is in the top 30 nationally in total offense and rushing offense and ranks No. 15 in scoring offense. The Mustangs are achieving at that level due to the athleticism and explosiveness of quarterback Kevin Jennings and running back Brashard Smith and a system that utilizes something Pitt has seen quite a bit over the years:

Run-pass options, or RPO’s.

A few years ago, those plays seemed to have little issue finding weaknesses in Pitt’s defensive structure, with the most notable example being the Panthers’ loss to Western Michigan in 2021. But in the three years since that fateful day, Pitt’s defense has made steady progress in how it handles RPO’s.

“I think we're all learning as we go through the process, and, you know, that has become just norm anymore,” defensive coordinator Randy Bates said this week. “So, you know, you have to evolve and you have to change some things, and we've done that, and I think our players are used to it more because they see it more.”

“I think it's a testament to our coaching staff,” George said, “and how they teach us to play ball and how they teach us an understanding of these are the holes in the defense that someone might exploit and these are the calls that we're going to make to change it up and move that weak point around throughout our secondary.

“So that definitely has a lot to do with it. And then the presence of mind that we have as different rooms, obviously, to understand this is our responsibility. This is what we have to take care of.

“So obviously, a couple years ago, everybody will remember Western Michigan. That was a big wake-up call as far as how we need to defend the RPO, what we need to do, and how we need to execute in order to defend it effectively. So we've taken that to heart. We've taken all that teaching to heart and really put it forth in the past couple years to really perfect what we're doing and how we defend the RPO.”

In what figures to be a classic matchup of “good-on-good,” SMU is also likely to test Pitt’s perimeter defense. Jennings, Smith and LJ Johnson - the Mustangs’ top three rushers this season - have combined to average 6.56 yards per carry on runs outside the tackles. And in the passing game, Jennings has completed 22-of-26 (84.6%) on passes outside the numbers less than 10 yards downfield, with an average gain per pass of 6.2 yards.

“That's what their offense is,” Bates said. “I mean, they've got great skill and great speed. And the way you make it hard on the defense is to spread everybody out and make it be one-on-ones and, you know, outrun them, make them miss, those kind of things. So, yeah, I would expect them to run the offense. They've been doing it for, you know, I don't know how many weeks. So, they've had a lot of success, and I'm sure they will continue.”

Picking up six yards every time SMU works outside the tackles is an effective approach, and it’s one that will force the Panthers’ outside linebackers to make plays.

So far this season, Pitt’s linebackers have been up to the task, and they are looking like the best group of linebackers the Panthers have had since Pat Narduzzi became head coach in 2015.

“I think over the years, we've had just different styles of play,” said George, who has been at Pitt since 2019. “This is definitely one of the more aggressive linebacker groups that you've probably seen in the past. We definitely fire off the ball. We're coming downhill with the intent to wreak some havoc. That's something that's obviously very, very fun to see. It's very, very fun to be a part of.”