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Pitt heads into the Iowa game slightly banged up. Things aren't at a panic level, but there are some injuries of note.
As mentioned earlier, Pitt will be without starting center Artie Rowell, who is out for the season. Thus far, Gabe Roberts and Alex Officer have been filling his role decently, but there have been a couple of botched snaps since he went down. Head coach Paul Chryst hasn't even settled on a starter yet and we've seen the team point to each of them as 'the guy' at some point over the last two weeks.
When Rowell went down against Boston College, Roberts filled in for him off the bench. Last week, however, Officer got the start. In the press conference, Chryst's biggest concern seemed to be each of them getting too complacent if a starter was named immediately. But now, by the end of this week we'll be two weeks removed from Rowell's injury - it's time to name someone at that point.
Earlier, I wrote that you can easily replace the starter, but at center, that's not really what you want. Guys need to develop a rhythm and playing center is a lot different than other positions. Every role on a team is unique, but messing around with the guys that snap the ball isn't something that's ideal. So, I get Chryst's decision to not name a guy yet and taking his time here.
Looking back at last week, offensive lineman T.J. Clemmings was looking a little iffy early on after he exited the Boston College game with what was reported as a stinger. But he was there against FIU last week, so he comes off the list as a question mark.
The other big question right now is defensive lineman David Durham. Durham didn't play against FIU with a shoulder injury and didn't even make the trip. Chryst hopes he can play, but I'm not feeling all that optimistic about it. Last week, Luke Maclean got the start in his place and could do so again if Durham is out.
As I've said before, Durham isn't counted among the team's stars, but he's a starting defensive end with experience on a thin unit. If he's not out there, the team just takes another hit in terms of depth.
Hopefully Pitt can get through the rest of this week healthy.
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