Football: Grading the Panther defense at the midway point

Halfway through the season, the Pitt football team is 5-1 and 2-0 in the Big East — good enough for first place. Jay gave out grades to the offense yesterday, so today it’s my turn to rate the defense.

Coming into the year, the defense was expected to carry the Panthers. That hasn’t really happened, as Pitt’s offense is playing well and getting unexpected stellar play at quarterback from Bill Stull and running back from Dion Lewis and Ray Graham.

So while the defense hasn’t carried the team, it certainly hasn’t been its downfall, either.

Defensive Line
A

Before the season, the defensive line was expected to be the best aspect of Pitt’s highly touted defense, and so far, its met those expectations. The Panthers are third in the country, averaging 4.17 sacks a game. Their 25 sacks are the most in the nation.

Junior defensive end Greg Romeus leads the team with seven sacks, placing him third in the Big East. Defensive tackle Mick Williams leads the entire conference with 10.5 tackles for loss. He also has three sacks on the season.

When playing at its best, the line is able to get pressure on the opposing quarterback on every play and can contain the running game, like it did against Navy and Louisville.

Linebackers
B+

It now seems like tradition that every few years, the Panthers lose an all-Big East middle linebacker and everyone will wonder how he can be replaced — only for someone to step in and hold down the middle of the field.

A few years back, H.B. Blades, the 2006 Big East defensive player of the year, graduated and left for the NFL, but Scott McKillop took over the starting job. McKillop lead the nation in tackles in 2007 and won the Big East defensive player of the year award in both 2007 and 2008 before graduating and going to the NFL.

This year, it looked like Adam Gunn — a sixth-year senior who missed all of last year after breaking his neck in the season opener — would keep up tradition.

After two games, Gunn led the team with 19 tackles and five sacks, but then missed the next two games ankle injury. In that time, Pitt saw a very abbreviated version of the recent trend, as freshman Dan Mason stepped in and recorded 17 tackles and two sacks in those two games.

Gunn is back and had 10 tackles in Pitt’s win last week over Connecticut. His importance to the team isn’t just his stats, but his experience. The other linebackers are sophomores Greg Williams and Max Gruder. Gunn and Gruder are tied for second most tackles on the team with 24.

Secondary
C

The secondary has a few issues, mainly tackling and health. Countless times this season, receivers got into the secondary and ran through, around and over — and any way you can think — against Pitt. This was clearest in Pitt’s 54-27 win at Buffalo when receivers Naaman Roosevelt and Brett Hamlin both hauled in more than 100 receiving yards, most of which came after the catch. Buffalo quarterback Zach Maynards threw for 400 yards in just his second start ever.

The Panthers rank lastly in the Big East with three interceptions and sixth in the eight-team conference in pass defense, giving up 226.3 passing yards a game.

Part of that can be attributed to injuries. Starting safety Andrew Taglianetti, who tore his ACL against Buffalo, is out for the entire year. Senior cornerback Aaron Berry, Pitt’s top corner, was hurt on the first drive of last week’s game and didn’t return, and it doesn’t look like he’ll play Friday at Rutgers. Elijah Fields, who took over Taglianetti’s starting job, missed last week with an ankle injury. He should return this week.

If the Panthers don’t improve their play, Pitt’s chances of remaining atop the Big East are very slim.
The favorite right now, Cincinnati, has one of the best quarterback/wide receiver combos in the country with Tony Pike and Mardy Gilyard. Both are Heisman possibilities if Cincinnati goes undefeated. They could connect for three touchdowns by the half if Pitt’s secondary plays like it did against Buffalo.

So that’s the defense. It averages out to a high B or B+. Check back tomorrow for special teams grades.