Pitt's early non-conference history should help team avoid letdown against Villanova

So, Villanova. Look, I'm not going to play Joe Paterno here and declare this to be one of Pitt's toughest opponents on the schedule. It's not. The team knows it, the fans know it, and surely, Villanova knows it. This is a game that, should the Panthers show up to play, they should not only win, but also win comfortably.

Should and will, obviously, are two different things.

Early non-conference games are often cupcakes - or at least they're supposed to be that. But that hasn't always turned out to be the case. Power 5 teams have struggled, and even suffered defeat, to weaker teams early in the year. Yeah, go ahead and count Pitt among those schools that have had some issues.

In 2003 as a top…