Duke is on an offensive roll right now, having scored over 40 points in three straight games, including last weekend’s 45-10 beat down of Virginia Tech.
Quarterback Quentin Harris put on a show, with 2 passing touchdowns to go along with 100 yards rushing. He leads the team in both passing and rushing this season, with a combined 12 TD’s.
Meanwhile Pitt barely escaped last weekend against Delaware, 17-14, although they had their back up QB Nick Patti in for injured starter Kenny Pickett. Early reports are saying Pickett has practiced this week, but his status is still up in the air.
Pitt had their biggest win of the year two weeks ago in their last second win over #15 UCF. They almost lost that momentum last week before Nick Patti connected with Taysir Mack on a 12 yard pass in the endzone in the 4th quarter to regain the lead.
Pitt has had a very up and down season so far, heavily relying on Quarterback Kenny Pickett this season as their running game is young and inexperienced. Pickett has been efficient, but with only 3 touchdowns as the offense is only averaging 19 points per game.
Pitt will need playmakers like wide receiver Taysir Mack, who has 32 catches for 426 yards, but only 1 score, and running back AJ Davis to step up and get in the end zone to keep up with the high scoring Duke offense, who is scoring over 33 points per game thus far.
Both teams are now entering the heart of their ACC schedule and need to put together a stretch of wins to keep up with Virginia in the Coastal division. Duke enters as a 5 point home favorite with an over/under at 48.5.
If this week is anything like last year’s 54-45 final score we are in for a real treat. Pitt has actually won 5 of the last 6 matchups, scoring 48 points or more in 4 of those games.
Duke’s defense looked strong last week against VT, but for some reason when these two teams meet points just appear in bunches. Pitt is 3-2 against the spread this season, while Duke is 3-1 ATS, only failing to cover against Alabama week 1.
Our Pick – Duke -5