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Q&A: Utah's hidden 'strength'?
Pitt football Q&A with Paul Zeise
Thursday, September 02, 2010

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Q: The O-line seems to have a lot of question marks ... how much will Dion Lewis's (and other backs) production be affected by this? Can he overcome a spotty offensive line? Is this really dependent on a good passing game coming together as well?

Thomas Sutton, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

ZEISE: Dion Lewis is good enough that he is going to make some positive yards and as we saw last year, he can outrun defenses once he gets through the line. But I don't care who you are, if you don't have blocking in front of you it is going to be tough sledding. And if Lewis can't get going, the offense is in trouble.

The passing game works hand in hand with the running game in this offense. I think the one thing that could help is the use of fullback Henry Hynoski and even a guy like tight end Mike Cruz. One reason the Panthers are able to run despite some questions along the line the last few years is the run blocking schemes are very good and designed extremely well. So Pitt will have some success running, it is just a matter of how much and until the games start, we won't know.




Q: What? Utah's tight end played against Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl? Either this guy has blown out about every ligament in his leg to get medical redshirts or this guy loves the college life. I hope he at least got his bachelor's degree.

James Eagler, Greencastle, Pa.

ZEISE: Actually the tight end -- Brad Clifford -- falls into the category of what I would consider to be the Utes hidden strength.

Clifford went on a Mormon mission for two years, as do many players from that program (Utah has a very large Mormon popultion), and thus he is two years older than most of the kids across the country who are in his class.

There are (by my count looking at the roster) 28 players who have returned from their mission (and 18 junior college guys), which means the Utes are in many cases men playing against boys. That is an advantage that is often not talked about when people discuss the Utes success story.

Check out Ray Fittipaldo's Pitt B-Ball blog and Paul Zeise's Pitt Stop videos about football exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.

First published on September 2, 2010 at 12:00 am