Pittsburgh Panthers Vs Boston College Eagles Game Time, TV, And Preview

The University of Pittsburgh Panthers are on the road Friday night for their 2014 Atlantic Coast Conference opener as they visit the Boston College Eagles.

This will be the first meeting between the two programs in 10 years. The schools played annually from 1993 to 2004 when both were members of the Big East. The series began in 1959 and Pitt has a 16-13 overall series lead.

The Panthers are coming off a 62-0 season-opening shutout of the Delaware Blue Hens at Heinz Field, while the Eagles took care of business in their debut 30-7 over the Massachusetts Minutemen at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.

When: Friday, Sept 5

Kickoff: 7 p.m.

Site: Alumni Stadium, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Playing Surface: Field Turf

Television: ESPN

Announcers: Dave Flemming and Danny Kanell with Allison Williams reporting from the sidelines

Radio Coverage: 93.7 FM – The Fan and the Pitt IMG Sports Network

Announcers: Bill Hillgrove and Pat Bostick with Larry Richert reporting from the sidelines

Sirius XM Satellite Radio: Sirius Channel 93, XM Channel 193

Internet Audio – Panthers All-Access: www.PittsburghPanthers.com

Odds: The Bovada Sports Book in Vegas has the Pitt Panthers listed as a four-point favorite over the Boston College Eagles as of noon Thursday.

Last week, Pitt posted their first shutout in nine years with the 62-0 victory over Delaware. The 409 yards rushing was the Panthers highest single game rushing total since the Tony Dorsett era of the mid-1970s.

Among the stars of the ground game was sophomore running back James Conner, who put up 153 yards on 14 carries and four first-half touchdowns. Fellow sophomore running back Rachid Ibrahim had 91 yards on 14 carries while freshman running back Chris James ran 14 times for 77 yards and two touchdowns.

Conner and senior right guard Matt Rotheram were both honored by the ACC for their performances against the Blue Hens. Conner was the ACC Offensive Back of the Week while Rotheram was selected as the league’s Offensive Lineman of the Week.

In his first start, sophomore quarterback Chad Voytik went 10 of 13 for 84 yards, no interceptions, and two touchdowns. One of the two touchdowns was a 12-yard strike to sophomore wide receiver Tyler Boyd that gave the Panthers a 14-0 first quarter lead.

However, Boyd, who set school freshman records for receptions and receiving yards last season, banged his left hand on a tackler’s helmet on a punt return and left in the second quarter with a dislocated finger. According to Jim Hammett of the Cardiac Hill page on SB Nation, the 6-foot-2, 190-pounder from Clairton, Pa., is reported good to go against the Eagles.

It was junior wide receiver Ronald Jones, who led the way through the air with with three receptions for 33 yards against Delaware.

For the Panthers defense, a pair of redshirt sophomores led the way as defensive back Ryan Lewis had five solo tackles while linebacker Mike Caprara contributed four solo tackles.

Redshirt senior linebacker Todd Thomas, sophomore linebacker Matt Galampos, and sophomore defensive back Terrish Webb each had an interception in the contest.

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The Eagles’ head coach Steve Addazio is in his second season at the helm of Boston College and went 4-4 in ACC play last season, finishing fourth in the Atlantic Division. Their regular-season record of 7-5 earned them a spot in the AdvoCare V100 Bowl on Dec 31st, where they lost 42-19 to the Arizona Wildcats, giving them an overall record of 7-6..

Boston College amassed 511 total yards of offense last week against the Minutemen with 338 of those yards coming on the ground. They collected 27 first downs against their in-state rival. The last time the Eagles had over 500 yards in total offense and over 300 rushing was back on Nov 9, 2013 against New Mexico State.

The Panthers defense will need to keep Eagles’ senior quarterback Tyler Murphy under control as he completed 17 of 24 passes last week for 173 yards and one touchdown. The 6-foot-2, 213-pound signal caller also ran the ball 13 times against Massachusetts for 118 yards and one touchdown.

Two sophomore running backs contributed to the ground game as Tyler Rouse had 87 yards on 19 carries for a 4.6 yards per carry average while Myles Willis chipped in 65 yards on 16 carries and one touchdown.

The air attack was led by junior wide receiver Dan Crimmins as he hauled in seven passes for 52 yards while senior wide receiver Josh Bordner had four catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.

The Eagles defense rose to the occasion and allowed a total of 202 total yards of offense in their season opener with just 55 surrendered on the ground. The Minutemen could muster just nine first downs for the entire contest.

It was junior linebacker Josh Keyes who led the way with four solo tackles and one sack while junior defensive back Justin Simmons contributed two solo tackles and one interception.

The national spotlight will be on both schools to see who can claim their first conference win of the season and keep the momentum going this fall.