Pitt Football: 3 takeaways from Week 3 victory over Syracuse

1. Pitt’s defense is legit

After a Week 2 blowout of Austin Peay in which Pitt allowed no points and just 137 total yards, it was tough to really gauge how good this defense was.

The Panthers got a decent test against a Syracuse team with an experience quarterback and talented receiver in Taj Harris and they aced it. It helped that Tommy DeVito wasn’t at full-strength for the entire game as he went down with an injury in the first half and Rex Culpepper threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Harris right after.

That was all Syracuse was able to do all afternoon as DeVito finished with just 32 passing yards on 15 attempts and the run game totaled 51 yards on 34 carries. The Orange accounted for just 171 total yards and looked helpless against this Panther defense.

For years, fans were waiting for Pat Narduzzi’s teams to have elite defenses like he had at Michigan State and for the past year, we have seen everything come together.

Pittsburgh’s defense is legit and that might just carry it to an ACC title.