T he Cyclones’ opponent for their first bowl game since 1978 does not exactly send chills up spines, but if the Cyclones are looking ahead to a happy New Year, they could be in for one nasty Christmas vacation.

The Pittsburgh Panthers are mostly known for being the “PITT Stop” for Dan Marino on his way to NFL stardom, and for the whole Johnny Majors thing, but this team can seriously ball.

When I hear the name Pitt, I immediately think of a ballclub that pounds its way inch by inch through the mud on its way to low-scoring victories. I couldn’t be more wrong. This year’s Pitt team is capable of putting a lot of points on the board and doing it quickly.

Going over the Panthers’ completed schedule gives ISU fans reason to worry. They played a season much like the Cyclones. They beat the teams they should have beaten, and lost the games that were never really in their favor. A 7-4 record for Pitt stacks up very well against Iowa State’s 8-3.

The Panthers beat Kent State and Bowling Green, shut out Penn State 12-0 and beat Rutgers, Boston College, Temple, and West Virginia. Their losses came at the hands of Syracuse by seven, Michael Vick’s Virginia Tech by three, North Carolina by three, and arguably the best team in the country by 28, when they fell to the Miami Hurricanes.

This game will not be a pushover.

Iowa State has offensive stars, and so do the Panthers. Their high-powered offense is led by senior quarterback John Turman. Turman stands 6 foot 4 inches and weighs 220. He and Sage match very well.

Turman’s substantial quarterback size is ideal for looking over the line to spot his amazing receiving duo of Antonio Bryant and Latef Grim. These two are capable of scoring from anywhere at anytime. The Cyclone secondary will have its work cut out.

Pitt has more to offer than just the passing game. The Panthers had a total of five players on the all-Big East Team. Joining Bryant on the first team was junior defensive end Bryan Knight and senior center Jeff McCurley. Second team honors went to sophomore linebacker Gerald Hayes and junior free safety Ramon Walker

The Pitt football team is lead by head coach Walt Harris. Harris has been called a “brilliant offensive mind” by ESPN’s Mike Tirico and Boomer Esiason called him “the best coach I’ve ever had.”

Harris has had coaching stops all over the map from Michigan State and Ohio State to the NFL. The bottom line is that this guy has good chemistry with his players, and he knows the game of football.

The point of all this information on our opponent is to get ISU fans excited. Iowa State is going to have to work its butt off to earn a victory in Phoenix, which will make for a very exciting Insight.Com bowl.

Iowa State can win this game. I fear that I have made Pitt sound too good, but this is simply not the case. Iowa State is going to Phoenix for a reason, and that is because it is a good football team. The Cyclones are simply going to have to shore all their weaknesses to stop the dam from breaking. That main weakness is their secondary.

For most of the season the secondary play would be considered solid. However, in its three losses people began to wonder if Iowa State even had a secondary coach.

It seemed the members in that secondary unit spent practice time picking dandelions instead of passes. Whatever the cause was of those miscues in those games will have to be corrected in order to stop Pitt’s main threat against us, the Pittsburgh passing game.

Iowa State can win this game, and I think it will, if our offense plays like it is capable of.

Iowa State’s keys to victory are simple. Give the ball to Ennis Haywood and Michael Wagner, and throw the ball to J.J. Moses — a lot. He is the team’s sparkplug, and everybody knows you can’t start a fire without a spark.

This year’s football team did a great job. It has been fun to watch and even more fun to write about. I thank all graduating seniors who read my stuff on a weekly basis. I know there were a few of you.

As football winds down, here is your reminder to get behind the basketball team. It is up to the students of this university to create the magic at Hilton.