2008 Pittsburgh Panthers College Football Predictions Courtesy of Alex Smart, An Expert College Football Handicapper featured on Touthouse.com. If you are betting football games this season, Buy Alex’s Expert Football Picks.

Pittsburgh Panthers (5-7, 3-4 in 2007, 7th place in Big East)
It’s likely bowl game or bust for HC Dave Wannstedt and the Pitt Panthers in 2008. Fifteen starters return from last year’s squad, and expectations are understandably high for the former Miami Dolphins head coach to bring Pitt to an upper tier bowl game. The BCS is probably out of reach this year, but if the Panthers aren’t playing a game on December 31st or January 1st this season, expect Wannstedt to be out of a job.

2007 Highlight: The 28.5-point underdog Panthers marched into Morgantown attempting to derail the national championship hopes of their rivals, the #2 West Virginia Mountaineers, in the 2008 edition of the “Backyard Brawl”. Though WVU had already wrapped up the Big East crown and a BCS birth, all they had to do was knock off Pitt to lock up their spot in the BCS title game. The stingy Panthers wouldn’t go down without a fight, holding the Mountaineers explosive offense to just one touchdown for the game. The Pitt offense was horrendous, only notching 225 yards, but the 13 points they put on the board was enough to spring the massive upset. WVU’s national title hopes were dashed in HC Rich Rodriguez’s last game by the count of 13-9.

2007 Lowlight: The worst performance of the 2007 season came when Pitt made a trip to Charlottesville to take on the Virginia Cavaliers. RB LeSean McCoy had a respectable game, rushing for 86 yards on 19 carries, but the team found themselves in a 30-0 hole in the 2nd quarter that was simply too deep to dig out of. Pitt trimmed the lead to 30-14 in the 4th quarter, but 14 unanswered points by the Cavs put the game away and made the final score 44-14.

Offensive Outlook: All eyes will be on McCoy after putting up 1,328 yards and 14 TDs on the ground in his freshman season. If he stays healthy, there is no doubt that McCoy will be an All-Big East performer, but he has the potential to put up numbers worthy of the Heisman Trophy if Pitt plays well. Three quarterbacks return with experience, but none of them lit the scoreboard up for the Panthers in ’07. Expect a young offensive line to get a boost blocking for the elusive McCoy all season.

Defensive Outlook: Sophomore DE Greg Romeus had a solid freshman season, recording four sacks and seven and a half tackles for loss in ’07. He’ll anchor a line with two other returning starters. With their linebacking corps intact from a year ago; the biggest question will be the secondary where both safety spots must be replaced.

2008 Preview: There’s no excuse for the Panthers to start anything but 3-0 with home games against Bowling Green, Buffalo, and Iowa, but the schedule gets much more difficult after that. They play six of their final nine games on the road, and close the season with games at Cincy and Connecticut, with the “Backyard Brawl” sandwiched in between. You’d like to think that the Panthers can pull off at least two road wins on this schedule somewhere to find themselves in a desirable bowl game, but the schedule is brutal.

2008 will be a success if… McCoy thrusts himself into the Heisman discussion early in the season. There’s almost no way that the sophomore will pull off the same feat that Tim Tebow accomplished a year ago, but McCoy really could see the ball enough to pull off a 1,700 yard season with 20 touchdowns.

Though McCoy is an invaluable asset for Coach Wannstedt that will single-handedly win some games, the Panthers should do no better than a distant third in a difficult Big East. The biggest question will be whether it’s enough for Wannstedt to return to the team in ‘09.

Prediction: 8-4, 4th place in Big East