Paul Chryst is a Wisconsin Badger at heart. He was born and raised in Madison, played college football for the Badgers, and then ended up being the offensive coordinator for them from 2005-2011, but he left that job and went to another hardworking city to become the head coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers. He has been 13-13 since his arrival, with a one game improvement last season. However, it is intriguing that the Badgers didn't hire Chryst back after Bielema bolted for Arkansas last offseason, but instead went after a more experienced head coach in Gary Andersen of Utah State, who just came off of an 11 win season in his fourth year. Paul Chryst is looking for long term success in Pittsburgh and it will be interesting to see if they can continue to climb in the ACC.
2013 Pittsburgh Panthers Season
It is always exciting for Panthers fans to see a big win over a ranked prestigious team like Notre Dame on the books. In addition, it is always good to get a bowl win after having a bowl loss in the previous season. Technically, it's still tough to call the season a successful season after finishing in sixth place out of seven teams in the ACC Coastal, despite beating the winner of that division, the Duke Blue Devils.
Offense
The new quarterback to take the helm after the departure of Tom Savage to the Houston Texans is a redshirt Sophomore named Chad Voytik. It's tough to really say that he has done anything because last year he was the top backup to Savage and threw 11 passes, completing 6, and getting 116 yards. Pittsburgh was tied for 81st in scoring last year with 26.3 points per game. Their passing offense was middle of the road at 236.5 yards per game and ranked 62 overall. Voytik is young and would have been recruited by Chryst to come to Pittsburgh after the transition and is the man that Chryst wants at the quarterback position.
One of the main contributors last year was Isaac Bennett and he ran for 797 yards and 7 touchdowns. James Conner ran for 2 more yards than Bennett last year, but has now graduated and is no longer on the team. It will be interesting to see if any other running backs step forward to make this a two man show at running back again this year. The Panthers running game definitely left a lot to be desired last year after getting only 125.7 yards per game and was tied at 104th. Being 20 away from last place just isn't very good and considering the Badgers ties with Chryst, he should be looking for some big maulers to block and get the ground game up and running stronger than ever.
The other aspect of the passing game is the receivers. Two of the top receivers are returning, Tyler Boyd and Manasseh Garner. Boyd is a 6' 2" 190 lb Sophomore, who as a Freshman had 85 catches for 1,174 yards and 7 touchdowns. Boyd is going to continue to be a great Pitt Panther for at least two more seasons. Garner had 33 catches for 391 yards and 3 touchdowns. Voytik to Boyd is going to become a common phrase if the Panthers are going to have offensive success this upcoming football season.
Defense
Nicholas Grigsby is the top returning sack leader for the Pittsburgh Panthers. He was good up front and was able to get a total of 3 sacks last year. Aaron Donald will be sorely missed on the defensive line. He was arguably the best defensive lineman in the NFL draft because he was a fantastic lineman who got 11 sacks and 28.5 tackles for loss. Production like that just can't be replaced overnight. The Panthers are sorely having some issues.
Ray Vinopal is a defensive back from Youngstown, Ohio and he will be a redshirt Senior. Last year he had 3 interceptions and 85 total tackles. He is the leading returning tackler on the Pitt Panthers. He is joined by top returning linebacker Anthony Gonzalez, who is also a redshirt Senior. He was the starting Sam linebacker for the Panthers. Gonzalez made several clutch plays during last season which made quite a difference for the Panthers. He had a 37 yard interception return for a touchdown against Duke to score to put them up 58-41. Also, against Notre Dame he broke up a pass on 4th down to let the Panthers run out the clock to win that game as well.
Matt House is in his second season leading the Panthers as their defensive coordinator. The first season was clearly difficult, giving up over 40 points as a defense in three games. They had given up significantly less points a year before, but this time they were in the ACC, with Florida State, Miami, and Duke were all the teams that scored the highest against them. Maybe now that the Panthers have faced some of these teams, they will be more familiar with how to stop them during their second season in the ACC.
Special Teams
The special teams brings a mix of experience and youth at the two key positions. Sophomore place kicker Chris Blewitt went 14-18 for field goals last year, with a long of 47. He also was nearly automatic on extra points, going 40-41. One exciting thing about Blewitt is that he kicked a game winner in the Little Caesar Pizza Bowl against Bowling Green with under 2 minutes remaining to give them the win.
The youth comes as they are going to use their only punter on the roster, a redshirt Freshman named Ryan Winslow. He was rated as one of the top 4 punters while being recruited and has NFL level punting in his bloodlines. His Father, George, punted for the Cleveland Browns and the New Orleans Saints after punting at a local Pennsylvania school, the Villanova Wildcats. Obviously, here's hoping that Ryan can continue in his father's footsteps and have a major impact with coffin corner kicks and changing field position for the Panthers this season.
2014 Season Outlook
Will the Panthers be able to rise up in the ACC to compete for the Coastal division title? It still seems it will be at least a season before that happens. Duke has to be considered a favorite after winning last year, and Miami and Virginia Tech are traditionally very strong as well. Here is a look at the schedule for the Pittsburgh Panthers in 2014:
The good news is that Florida State isn't on their schedule this year and Notre Dame also rotates off in their ACC portion of the schedule. Playing Boston College and Syracuse from the other division looks like there is more potential for victories than on last year's schedule. However, their non-conference schedule is tough as well, getting Iowa at home this year, but the trip to Miami to play the FIU Panthers should be a solid victory as should playing FCS Delaware at home in the opener. Yours truly is projecting another win in their book for this season and putting the Panthers at 8-5 on the season. It will be interesting if they can succeed this year, because the schedule is in their favor.