Go Pitt! Beat the Hokies…

PITT (4-6, 2-4 ACC) vs. VIRGINIA TECH (7-3, 3-3 ACC)

November 18, 2017 • 12:20 p.m., ET

Lane Stadium (65,632/Natural Grass) • Blacksburg, Va.

ACC Network (WTAE-TV Pittsburgh) • Pitt IMG Sports Radio Network

PittsburghPanthers.com • @Pitt_FB • #PITTvsVT

LINK (PDF): Pitt Game Notes (vs. Virginia Tech)

GAME STORYLINES

Pitt plays its final regular-season road game when it visits Coastal Division foe Virginia Tech on Saturday. The Panthers are coming off a 34-31 setback to North Carolina, while the Hokies fell at Georgia Tech, 28-22.

Pitt has won six of the past eight meetings with Virginia Tech. However, the Hokies prevailed in last season’s high-scoring encounter at Heinz Field, 39-36.

Historically, the Panthers have not fared well on the road in this series. The Panthers are just 2-5 all-time in games played in Blacksburg. That mark includes a 17-13 Pitt victory in Lane Stadium in 2015, Pat Narduzzi’s initial season as the Panthers’ head coach.

The last three games in the series have been decided by a combined 12 points, an average margin of 4.0 points per game. The largest victory margin in that span is five points, achieved by Pitt in a 21-16 victory in 2014.

Junior tailback Darrin Hall has rushed for more than 100 yards in each of Pitt’s past three contests. Hall is averaging 162 yards over this span, totaling 486 yards and eight touchdowns on 72 carries (6.75 avg.).

Darrin Hall is coming off a 121-yard, four-touchdown effort against North Carolina. Hall previously had 254 yards at Duke and 111 against Virginia. He will be challenged by a Hokies defense that ranks second in the ACC and 15th nationally, yielding just 310.6 total yards per game (136.6 on the ground).

This week’s game features two of the ACC’s most dangerous punt returners in Pitt’s Quadree Henderson and Virginia Tech’s Greg Stroman. The players are tied for the ACC lead and rank second nationally with two punt return touchdowns each.

The Panthers have six players on their 2017 roster who hail from the state of Virginia.

SERIES NOTES

This marks the 17th meeting between Pitt and Virginia Tech in a series that dates back to 1993…Virginia Tech leads the overall series, 9-7, but the Panthers have won six of the past eight meetings…Pitt is 5-4 at home and 2-5 on the road against Virginia Tech…the Panthers are 4-1 all-time against the Hokies at Heinz Field, the lone loss a 39-36 decision in 2016…in its last trip to Blacksburg during the 2015 season, Pitt triumphed, 17-13…Pitt and Virginia Tech meet annually as Coastal Division members and the ACC series is tied, 2-2…the initial 11 games of the series were played when both schools were members of the Big East…the Panthers lost the initial four meetings before earning their first victory in 1997, a 30-23 decision at Pitt Stadium…five of Pitt’s wins have come against nationally ranked Virginia Tech squads (No. 13 in 2012, No. 5 in 2003, No. 3 in 2002, No. 12/13 in 2001 and No. 19/20 in 1997)…one of the most memorable games occurred in 2003 when a late touchdown by fullback Lousaka Polite lifted Pitt past the Hokies, 31-28, in an ESPN primetime battle of Top 25 teams at Heinz.

BROADCAST INFORMATION  

Television • ACC Network (WTAE-TV, Ch. 4, in Pittsburgh)

Brock Bowling, play-by-play

Renaldo Wynn, analyst

Pitt Radio • 93.7 The Fan & the Pitt IMG Sports Network

Bill Hillgrove, play-by-play

Pat Bostick, analyst

Larry Richert, reporter

I received a very nice gift in the mail yesterday – a full sized Pitt flag with autographs from the POVers who attended Fran’s tailgate before the North Carolina game.  I hope you all know that I appreciate it very much and will fly it when I watch Pitt games down here in Maryland.

That said, and I do thank you, this article will be it for me for some time.

This blog is supposed to be fun and informative and has drifted away from that. That is my fault for not administering it more closely I suppose.  But the give and take between posters on here is getting to be barely civil in some spots.

I will not waste my time, energy and money for something that is being treated with disrespect on some’s part and growing apathy on mine.  I’ll continue to put up BB game threads when I remember to and I have already drafted the VT and Miami FB game threads to be posted on gamedays – so you all will have something to talk about if you wish.  But I’ll not babysit any longer.

I applied this week to sit on our County’s Veterans Outreach Committee and will start that soon- drawing on my work with the homeless – and I feel that that real-life need is bigger than Pitt football is for me at this time.

In the past I’ve asked others to contribute articles if they like.  I’ll extend that offer again.  Send me what you write and I’ll proof it and post it if appropriate – I do ask that you write it in Microsoft Word and send it to me as an email attachment.

I’ll make a decision on of the course of the POV after the season ends.  This isn’t an abrupt move although a singular last straw was reached this morning.  I’ve talked to other posters about my thoughts on this earlier this season and feel it is time that I direct my energies elsewhere.

One last note – everything I have written on The POV I believe to be true 100% and have work hard to verify what was told to me from another source if possible… most info on tender topics have come to me first hand. I have never fabricated issues on here and should you choose to go back over all the articles written since June of 2016 you’ll see that as fact.

Thanks again – crappy season but still mostly fun.