PICK: Pittsburgh Your pick will be graded at: -5.5 SportsbetTING EXPERT: Nick Parsons TITLE: *9* FRIDAY NIGHT NCAAF "PUNI$HER"! REASON FOR PICK: For a number of different reasons I feel the value in this game is on the visiting side: “This will be our biggest challenge,” Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt said when referring to his teams road game vs. Rutgers this week. RB Dion Lewis, who is sixth in the nation in rushing with 738 rushing yards and averages 5.6 yards a carry, anchors a steadily improving offense; QB Bill Stull has 13 TD passes and only three picks; WR Jonathan Baldwin is just two yards shy of having four consecutive 100-yard receiving games. On what is expected to be a rainy/cold night, Lewis will be leaned upon even more than normal, and he'll also have to face the conference's top run defense to boot. Pitt's defense is one of the nations best though; the Panthers average more than four sacks per game and are ranked third in the country in that category. Despite having struggled vs. Rutgers in recent play, Pitt is 5-1 SU its last six overall, 9-4 ATS its last 13 on the road, 8-3 SU its last 11 on the road and 4-2 SU its last six on the road vs. the Scarlet Knights.

On the other side of the field: Rutgers' true freshman QB, Tom Savage, will be entering his second straight game after suffering a concussion against Florida International; the Rutgers offensive line has allowed 14 sacks through five games, the most in the Big East. The Scarlet Knights pass defense is its achilles heel and it will struggle again this week against Stull and his speedy receivers. Rutgers is just 1-3 ATS in its last four overall and a horrible 0-3 ATS this season in front of the hometown crowd.

Bottom line: Having lost the last four times they've played the Scarlet Knights, I expect the Panthers to play with "revenge" on their minds. Stull will be the difference in this one as he'll look to exploit the Scarlet Knights suspect secondary; look for PITTSBURGH to move to 3-1 ATS on the road this year and for Rutgers to fall to 0-3 ATS against conference opponents! *9*