CFB Bowl Preview 2025: Go Bowling Military Bowl
By Stiofán Mac Fhilib
Bowl season is in full swing, and we will be previewing every bowl game this year. This year’s Go Bowling Military Bowl will be contested between the Pitt Panthers and East Carolina Pirates. Let’s take a look at the key matchups.
Where and When
Location: Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis, Maryland
Date: Saturday, December 27
Time: 11.00am EST / 4.00pm GMT
Story So Far...
With both teams coming off 8-4 regular seasons and going 6-2 in conference, and being 2-2 all-time against each other, this could seem like an evenly matched bowl game. However, the upheaval in the Pirates program, primarily thanks to the transfer portal, would seem to give the initiative to the Panthers. And results against their common opponent in 2025 – Pitt beat NC State 53-34, East Carolina lost 17-24 – would also suggest the ACC team holds the talent advantage.
Pitt won five straight in the middle of their season to move to 7-2 and #22 ahead of a tough three-game run-in that offered playoff hopes. Home losses to Notre Dame and Miami, however, dashed those dreams. But they can still get to nine wins for just the third time in Pat Narduzzi’s tenure with a win in Annapolis. The Navy home stadium was the scene of Narduzzi’s first bowl game with Pitt. He set the tone for his Panthers’ bowl record with a loss back then, and they are 2-5 in bowls since.
East Carolina Head Coach Blake Harrell hasn’t had the most straightforward of bowl preparations, with multiple key losses to the transfer portal, as well as the departures of Offensive Coordinator John David Baker to Ole Miss and DC Josh Alrich to South Florida. QB, Katin Houser, threw for 3,300 yards and 19 TDs in 2025, before announcing his portal departure. Ditto WRs, Yannick Smith and Jayvontay Conner, who take 67 catches and 916 yards with them, and their leading RB, London Montgomery. The joys of being in charge of a good G6 program in the current CFB environment.
The Quarterbacks
True freshman Mason Heintschel replaced sophomore Eli Holstein after the Panthers started 2-2 and quickly injected the spark the offense needed. Throwing for over 300 yards in four of his first five games, he was instrumental in Pitt going 7-2 and ranked. Elite Notre Dame and Miami defenses were able to contain him, but he showed stacks of potential to give Panthers fans major hopes for the next couple of seasons.
With Katin Houser off to the portal, the Pirates’ next most experienced QB in 2025 is true freshman Chaston Ditta. Perhaps the best thing that can be said about the Austin, Texas native is that Pitt will have virtually no game film of him with which to prepare! He threw passes in just three games, attempting a grand total of seven, with four completions. His sole TD came with under three minutes remaining in a 56-3 win over the FCS Campbell Fighting Camels. The well-drilled Pitt defense will present a much sterner test.
Who to Watch
Pitt
Rasheem Biles, Linebacker
The junior from Columbus, Ohio, earned Second Team All-ACC honours for a second consecutive season. He missed three games in mid-season with an ankle injury, but in nine starts, he led the team with 84 tackles (second in the ACC), 12 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble and a pair of interceptions that were both returned for TDs. He is the heartbeat of a typically tenacious Pitt defence, which could be the key to victory over the Pirates.
East Carolina
Anthony Smith, Wide Receiver
The sixth year (Covid) senior from Huntingtown, Maryland, should feel right at home on Saturday lunchtime: he’ll be taking the field just 30 miles away from his hometown. And for East Carolina to have any chance of success, their leading receiver will need to help whoever is under Centre for the Pirates.
Smith built on a breakout 2024 campaign (41 catches for 799 yards) to notch 60 receptions for 897 yards and 5 TDs this season. With the two key portal departures at his position, Smith will need a repeat of one of the three games this year where he caught at least eight passes. Easier said than done against a Pat Narduzzi defense perhaps.
Prediction
The Pirates’ defense is their only hope of keeping this one close. But by the second half, the losses on offense for East Carolina will be insurmountable, and Pitt will ease to their first bowl win since 2022.
Pitt 23-10 East Carolina
STIOFÁN MAC FHILIB
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A VERY LONG-DISTANCE SUBWAY ALUMNUS OF NOTRE DAME, COUNTY ANTRIM-BASED STIOFÁN HAS BEEN A FAN OF THE FIGHTING IRISH SINCE 2000. FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER @SMACFHILIB.