“At the beginning of last week, we just said, ‘This is a repeat of last year with Boston College,’” Scott said. “You know they had Andre Williams, and he was just the back that we knew he was gonna get the ball every play.”
Pitt does the same thing with 6-foot-2, 250-pound Conner, who brings a frame and ground attack very similar to what the 6-foot, 227-pound Williams brought to Kenan Memorial Stadium in 2013.
Last season, Williams — who was drafted by the New York Giants in the 4th round of the 2014 NFL Draft — came in to Chapel Hill as the leading rusher in the conference. He ran for 172 yards against the Tar Heels, which included a 56-yard score. Still, UNC came away with a 34-10 victory.
This year, Conner comes into the game against UNC as the leading rusher in the conference as well, and the team is hoping they will get a result similar to Williams and Boston College. But they realize that stopping Conner completely could be impossible.
“You watch it on film and it’s scary because he’s done it against everybody they’ve played,” said Coach Larry Fedora. “They pride themselves on what they’re doing, so that’s what they’re going to hang their hat on, and we’ve got to do everything we can to slow ’em down.”
Defensive coordinator Vic Koenning said the team did make adjustments for Pitt’s offense but couldn’t mix the system up so much as to confuse his young defense.
“We’re trying to kind of stay within the framework of our stuff,” Koenning said. “But you know, in all honesty, we had lengthy talks that first Sunday after Miami ... I mean there wasn’t an answer. There were some ideas and suggestions, but there wasn’t an answer.
“So we’ve tried to match what we do as best we can to what they’re going to do.”
