The Buccaneer football team will be in hostile territory for its season opener against the University of Pittsburgh at the brand-new Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The Bucs will not only be facing a Division-I powerhouse, that according to ETSU head coach Paul Hamilton could be ranked in the top 25 in the nation, but will also have to deal with a crowd that will be very fired up over the opening of the new stadium.
“I think there is no question that they’ll be ready to play,” Hamilton said. “They probably want to come out and beat us to our knees.
“They are a quality defensive football team and I’m sure they’ll want to come out and dominate us.”
Even though the Bucs come into the game as the underdogs according to most observers, they will not be lacking confidence, which is a quality Hamilton believes will help his team.
“I know our team feels we can win,” he said. “Certainly playing a team like Pittsburgh we have to play harder than they do and we have to play smart in a game like this, we can’t make mental errors.”
Some of the Buccaneer players look at the season opener as just another game, and believe they will play equally hard this weekend, as they will throughout the rest of the schedule.
“We don’t think of the game any different,” said defensive lineman Travis Williams. “We are going to play equally hard in each game and go out there and try to play every game hard.”
Williams looks forward to the meeting with Pittsburgh and the atmosphere the opening of Heinz Field will bring.
“I expect it to be crazy,” he said. “It’ll be fun (though).”
Starting tight end Nick Hendrickson knows Pittsburgh will be a tough team to beat and believes the Bucs will have to take advantage of any mistakes that the Panthers make.
“They have 10-11 starters back … we’ll have to do our best to try to exploit their weaknesses,” said three-year starter Hendrickson.
Hamilton also believes the Bucs may be able to get some things going their way and surprise Pittsburgh in the process.
“We might be able to do some different things that they haven’t seen,” he said. “Our receivers are good players and they can make some (big) plays.”
Williams, who started all 11 games last year at left tackle, thinks that the Bucs will have to find some way to get the game to swing in their favor.
“We hope to mess up their quarterback’s reads and get the momentum going our way,” he said.
The Bucs will also need a big game from their secondary in cornerbacks Tony Tiller and Allen Davis, who will have to contend with Pittsburgh’s star wide receiver Antonio Bryant.
“They’re excited to play against such a great player,” Hamilton said. “He’s such a homerun threat every time on the field.
“I’ve had a lot of Division-I coaches tell me he’s (Bryant) the best in America. It’s going to be a heck of a challenge to keep him in front of them.”
Williams has plenty of confidence that Tiller and Davis can keep up with Bryant and doesn’t think it will cause the defense any pressure to get to the quarterback sooner.
“They’re (Tiller and Davis) big and fast athletes,” Williams said. “We’ll just try to get 11 heads to the football and play hard … we trust them to do their jobs.”
From an offensive standpoint the Bucs will have to figure out some way to get some yards from their running game so the pressure does not fall solely on starting quarterback Matt Wilhjelm.
The Panthers’ defense only gave up 2.6 yards per rush last season.
“We have to not put him in the position where he (Wilhjelm) feels he’ll have to score on the first three possessions,” Hamilton said.
The Bucs have not had too much luck in the past against Division I opponents as they are 21-53-1 all-time, with an 0-3 record against the Big East Conference, including a 66-17 loss to the University of Miami back in 1998.
“We’re playing a team that is very comparable to the Miami, Mississippi State and Colorado State teams we’ve played,” Hamilton said. “They (Pittsburgh) have very good football players now, they are well coached and their defense is one of the best in America.”
Hamilton, though, has a different feel about this game compared to the ’98 meeting with the Bucs last Big East opponent, Miami.
“We’re (a) different (team),” he said. “We just have to line up and do the things we need to (in order to) have a chance to win.”
The game will bring $175,000 to the ETSU athletic department.
“It’s a privilege to play the first official game in the stadium,” he said.
“Our team looks at it as a chance to see how good we can be and go out and see if we can be competitive.”
The kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

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