SMU vs. Pittsburgh Line: Compass Bowl Betting Preview
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Sportsbook.com Line: Pittsburgh -3.5 & 47
Opening Line & Total: Panthers -4.5 & 49
Struggling SMU tries to take down a Pittsburgh team without its head coach and top running back in Saturday’s BBVA Compass Bowl.
Pittsburgh will finish its season in Birmingham for the second straight year, hoping for a repeat of last year’s 27-10 win. But the Panthers will do so without their two Grahams -- RB Ray Graham (knee injury) and departed head coach Todd Graham, who took the head coaching job with Arizona State and broke the news to his team with a text message. The Mustangs have a great chance to control the line of scrimmage on defense and get constant penetration on the Panthers horrendous offensive line allowing 57 sacks -- 10 more than any other team in the nation.
Defensive coordinator Keith Patterson was named as Pittsburgh’s interim coach for this game, marking the fifth full-time/interim coach in the program in the past 13 months. Pittsburgh is on a five-game ATS win streak, winning three of those games outright and falling by three points to Cincinnati and one point at West Virginia. Senior RB Zach Brown has done a nice job filling in for Graham with 4.5 YPC in the past four games. He should be ready to return after missing the last game (Dec. 3) with a bruised sternum. Freshman RB Isaac Bennett has also helped fill Graham’s void with 276 total yards (189 rushing, 87 receiving) and 3 TD in the past three weeks. But SMU’s run defense is pretty sound (127 YPG, 28th in FBS), holding half of its opponents to 110 rushing yards or less.
QB Tino Sunseri has had a down year as a junior (2,433 passing yards, 6.82 YPA, 10 TD, 10 INT), and he didn’t do much with his arm in last year’s Compass Bowl win over Kentucky (9-of-19, 96 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT). Sophomore WR Devin Street leads the team with 692 receiving yards, including 409 in his past five games.
The Mustangs are 2-4 in their past six contests, failing to cover the spread in all six games. They are also last in the country in turnover margin (-1.4 per game). With the absence of leading rusher Zach Line (toe injury), SMU has been using mostly freshmen Rishaad Wimbley and Jared Williams to carry the football. Both had big performances in the season finale win over Rice, as Wimbley ran for 116 yards on 20 carries (5.8 YPC) and Williams added 81 yards on 11 carries (7.3 YPC).
But any June Jones-coached team is going to throw the football. Senior QB J.J. McDermott has held off Kyle Padron for the starting job since Week 1, as McDermott has thrown for 265 YPG (7.40 YPA), 16 TD and 16 INT. He has two talented receivers to throw to in Darius Johnson (998 rec yds, 7 TD) and Cole Beasley (954 rec yds, 2 TD). But turnovers have killed SMU all season, and the Panthers defense is extremely opportunistic, forcing 13 turnovers in the past four weeks. Pittsburgh also has two great pass rushers hurry to McDermott in DL Aaron Donald (10 sacks) and LB Brandon Lindsey, who has 8½ of the team’s 39 sacks this season.
