The Pinstripe Bowl is one of the more exciting games of the bowl season due largely to venue alone. Yankee Stadium provides the college football world quite the atmosphere in this annual late-December tilt featuring an ACC member and a member of the Big Ten Conference.
This year’s tilt between the 23rd-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers (8-4) and the Northwestern Wildcats (6-6) should provide offensive fireworks to the Big Apple, featuring two teams who can put up a bevy of points. Pittsburgh enters play fresh off of a 76-61 victory in their season finale over the Syracuse Orange, displaying that playing good defense is solely a dream for this Panthers bunch.
Offensively though, Pittsburgh has one of the best all-around attacks in college football. The Panthers possess one of the nation’s very best running backs and very best stories in James Conner, who will be playing in his final college game before declaring for the NFL Draft. Conner has rushed for 1,060 yards in his junior season and 16 touchdowns.
When it’s not James Conner carrying the football, keep an eye out for Pittsburgh’s best all-around player in wide receiver Quadree Henderson. Henderson has been a nightmare for opponents on special teams, but has done a majority of his offensive damage on the ground, finishing the regular season at the Panthers’ second-best rusher with 555 yards and five scores. While the duo has been fantastic, the onus will be on the offensive line to open up holes for Conner and Henderson against Northwestern’s 31st-ranked rushing defense. The Wildcats have been very solid against the run this season, allowing only 136.7 yards per game.
If the Panthers running game has issues getting untracked, Nate Peterman will be called upon again to win the game through the air. He has been one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the FBS this season, proving potent with 2,602 yards passing and 26 touchdowns to only six interceptions.
Junior wide receiver Jester Weah has been Peterman’s top target, as he leads the team in receiving with 34 catches for 795 yards and nine touchdowns. Tight end Scott Orndoff is just behind Weah with 33 receptions on the season for 558 yards and five touchdowns. The passing offense could prove to be pivotal for Pittsburgh in this game, as the Panthers have a chance to expose Northwestern’s 108th-ranked passing defense that yields nearly 265 yards per game.
On the flip side of the coin, Northwestern should be able to use its credible passing attack led by sophomore Clayton Thorson against Pittsburgh’s putrid, 110th-ranked passing efficiency defense. Thorson has completed 58% of his passes on the season for 2,968 yards and 21 touchdowns to only eight interceptions. Pittsburgh’s secondary is likely having nightmares about Wildcats’ receiver Austin Carr, who has 1,196 yards receiving on 84 receptions, scoring 12 touchdowns in the process.
Pittsburgh’s rushing defense is much better than the passing defense that they possess, which is good news when they take the field on Wednesday afternoon. The Panthers will need to contend with a stout rusher in junior Justin Jackson, who rushed for 1,300 yards and 12 scores on the season for Northwestern.
This is a game that is very difficult to pick because of the similarity in offensive styles for both teams. Pittsburgh’s offense is more explosive than Northwestern’s, but the Wildcats defense is in many ways playing much better than the Panthers’ defense at this point.
Ultimately, the Panthers have found a way to win big games this season, most notably capturing a victory in Death Valley against #2 Clemson in November, while also beating the now fifth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. Northwestern has no such wins on their schedule, and have a 9-7 loss on the docket against FCS-foe Illinois State. Because of this, I’ll take Pitt by 10.
Pittsburgh 34 Northwestern 24
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