Pitt Defense Challenged With Top Florida State Run Game

PITTSBURGH — Another week, another talented run offense for the Pitt Panthers to defend.

After already facing a run-heavy Central Michigan offense and a dynamic running game that Louisville had with Isaac Brown, Pitt will now face the No. 2 rushing offense in the country against the No. 25-ranked Florida State Seminoles.

Florida State has six rushers over 100 yards this season, including the quarterback Tommy Castellanos, who is the team's second-leading rusher.

"They get the 11th guy, the quarterback, involved, so it's gonna be 11 on 11," Pat Narduzzi said. "We're facing the most athletic quarterback we've faced this year."

The Seminoles average a whopping 295.4 yards per game on the ground and trail only Navy in that statistic. Gavin Sawchuk is the leading rusher with 281 yards, 5.3 yards per carry and six scores.

"They're big up front," Narduzzi said. "They've got big 220-pound backs, so we're gonna have to get them on the ground. They don't go down easy. So, it's a gigantic challenge for us."

However, the Seminoles will be facing the best run defense to date. Pitt is the No. 2 team in the nation at stopping the run and is averaging 64.6 yards per game.

Pitt's run defense has already been tested against the Chippewas and the Cardinals, but the only time Florida State's rushing offense has been tested was last week against Miami's 16th-best run defense, and the Seminoles faltered.

Florida State had a season low of 132 rushing yards, Sawchuck had just 47 yards, Casterllanos had 50 yards and the offense averaged 3.5 yards per carry without scoring a touchdown.

However, Pitt's defense has struggled at times this year, too. The last away game the Panthers played was at West Virginia, where they allowed Tye Edwards, who didn't even record a carry prior to that game, to rush 25 times for 141 yards and three touchdowns.

Sep 13, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers wide receiver Rodney Gallagher III (24) and Pittsburgh Panthers linebacker Rasheem Biles (3) exchange words during the first quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

"I thought we played our worst game tackling-wise, and that was probably the worst defense performance of the year," Narduzzi admitted. "But other than that game, I think we've tackled pretty well."

And Pitt has tackled well as the No. 6 team in tackles for loss and tackles for loss yards, and No. 3 in tackles for loss per game. They are also the No. 16 team in sacks and No. 6 in sack yards. Rasheem Biles currently leads the ACC in tackles, tackles for loss, sacks and interceptions, and is second in forced fumbles, while Kyle Louis leads the conference in fumble recoveries.

Another advantage for the Panthers is that they have faced Castellanos before and have been successful. Castellanos faced Pitt when he was the quarterback at Boston College in 2023, and in that game, he had 17 carries for just 21yards.

"We faced him before we know he can make a lot of plays with his feet," Narduzzi said. "We're going to have to keep him contained, and we've got to be careful with what we do."

The obvious key for Pitt defensively is stopping the run, but there is an interesting by-product when that actually happens. The real key to the game is getting Castellanos into passing situations and making him win the game with his arm.

Since 2023, Castellanos' record as a quarterback is 14-12. But, of those games where he has had to throw for over 200 yards, his record is 5-7 overall and 1-7 against Power Four opponents. And in those seven losses, Castellanos' teams averaged 136.1 rushing yards — that total would rank 98th out of all rushing offenses this season.

Florida State is currently 2-2 when Castellanos passes for over 200 yards this season, with wins over East Texas A&M and Kent State, and losses to Virginia and No. 3 Miami.

Stop the run, sack Castellanos and make him throw on obvious passing situations. That is how Pitt stops Florida State's offense.

The only problem remaining is that four of the Panthers' defensive ends in the two-deep have been ruled out.

"We've got to go out and play, we've got to play our best game," Narduzzi said. "For us to stop the run, we have to play our best game we've played and we've got to be on point."

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