Rice came to town. Then they went home. What happened in between seems rather questionable in the grander scheme of things for the Pitt Panthers. What we know is Pitt defeated a far inferior Conference USA opponent. What we don’t know is whether that is any kind of indication of things to come as Pitt takes on the balance of its 2017 ACC conference schedule.

The fact is this 2017 Pitt football team is still quite an enigma. Despite beating Rice 42-10 this past Saturday at Heinz Field, question marks still loom large with the Panthers. Questions that will start to be answered in upstate Western NY this upcoming Saturday against long-time foe and ACC rival Syracuse.

For starters, can Pitt run block? Seems like there are serious doubts. Can Pitt muster any sort of pass rush? Doesn’t seem like it. Is the Pitt secondary healthy? Not sure. Is senior graduate transfer QB Max Browne for real? Who the heck knows.

...