When the Pinstripe Bowl matchup was announced, Pitt was an early favorite against Northwestern. Since then, the line has grown a bit making the Panthers bigger favorites.
The line opened at three points in Pitt's favor initially. As I wrote at the time, I expected Pitt to be favored by more than that. Well, since then, the line has grown to 4 1/2 to 5 points.
Part of the reason the line has to stay down a bit is that bowl games are just so fluky and you never know what you'll get. Still, I could see Pitt has solid six or seven-point favorites here. Against the only same opponent the two teams, Pitt fared much better, clobbering Duke by 42 points as opposed to Northwestern's 13-point win. The Wildcats, as I covered in the preview, have been much better since that game. But that much better?
Pitt is also just on a roll right now. They beat Clemson on the road, pummeled Duke, and hung 76 on Syracuse. Allowing 61 in that game against the Orange, it's clear that the Panthers have work to defensively. But the Pitt offense has just been clicking so well lately that a game that isn't all that close shouldn't surprise anyone.
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