Tino Sunseri embracing villain role at Carrier Dome despite tough career road record

Lots of athletes embrace playing on the road (Eric Gordon playing at Illinois, though, not so much), so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri likes to do so. He talked about it when discussing playing at the Carrier Dome against Syracuse next week:

Both players and coaches this week have shyed away from too much Syracuse talk. However, in asking a general question about the tough environment of the Carrier Dome, Tino Sunseri--despite only playing there once--related it to playing in any other tough raid venue.

Sunseri related it to his high school career at nearby Central Catholic, where all of his games were played on the road.

"My whole high school career, I played away," Sunseri said. "I always like when the fans boo you. I like being the underdog in the building. I like everyone wanting you to fail. I really think that brings out the best in your competitiveness."

Go ahead, make the joke. It could be said that Sunseri should embrace playing at home then, too, right?

In all seriousness, Sunseri has had a bit of trouble in road games in the past. He's 4-7 in his career and only one of those wins is from the beginning of the 2011 season (the other three wins). The encouraging thing, though, is that he's (so far, anyway) probably having the best year of his career to date.

The negative, of course, is that he had a pretty rough go of things in his last road contest at Cincinnati earlier this season.

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill's Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt athletics.