UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 26, 2026

Allen Bryant

Press Conference

Pitt 59, Bucknell 0

Q. Allen, when did you know you were getting the start today?

ALLEN BRYANT: Yesterday. Yeah, yesterday. Coach P kind of spilled the secret, but yeah, yesterday.

Q. What was it like knowing, like, hey, my number is getting called?

ALLEN BRYANT: Man, it was a blessing. Yeah, it was a gift from God, truly.

You know, I've just been kind of trying to stay consistent and making sure you're preparing like a starter, because everybody says that. You never know when your number is called, so stay prepared so you don't gotta get prepared.

Q. Special teams demon for this team the past few weeks, just getting down. I see you on the kickoffs. How much did that contribute to like the coaches saying this guy is ready to work?

ALLEN BRYANT: Yeah, 100 percent. I mean, field position plays a big role in this game, and I mean, going to know that over the years, so they always preach, inside the 20 and stuff like that. So being able to contribute that way has been amazing.

Q. With it being your first career start, how would you kind of self-rate yourself?

ALLEN BRYANT: I think that I can clean up with communication things. My biggest goal is to go out there and play free. Coach Daoust told me before I went out there just go out there and be myself and make plays. My biggest takeaway is communication, being more clear with that.

Q. (Inaudible).

ALLEN BRYANT: Taking what's come to me, you know what I'm saying. Reading my keys, trusting myself and just playing football, for real, for real.

Q. Since the season opener of 2020, what did it mean for you guys to keep the 0 on the board throughout this game? It meant a lot. We knew what our objective was going into this game, and that was to dominate. And I think we truly did. We got things we can clean up, of course, and that's football, but we dominated how we're supposed to.

Q. (Inaudible).

ALLEN BRYANT: Yeah. And that's what he was harping on, because I think we're doing better this year. Last year he just brought it up at Kent. We were 168th, or something like that, in penalty yardage.

So if we want to win a championship and it's our goal to go all the way, we have to cut down on those things. And that's another thing we gotta clean up on.

Q. You've now blown out a couple opponents. You won the game in the rain against Central Florida, beat Syracuse by a couple of touchdowns in the ACC opener. Where do you think this team is at four games in?

ALLEN BRYANT: I think we're looking good. We're playing great defense, speaking on my side of the ball, great defense, and making plays on special teams. So we just gotta keep being consistent. Don't get comfortable. Don't get complacent. Just keep stacking really. The season ain't over yet.

Q. 31 yards today. How important is it to stop the run just to help the complete team defense today?

ALLEN BRYANT: That's our main goal. Every game we go into is stop the run. You stop the run, now they gotta force the ball down field. And when they do that, we're going to take care of that in the back end. So that's the main goal.

Q. Last week this offense during the passing game kind of struggled. What did you see from your perspective on how they kind of tried to get back on track this week?

ALLEN BRYANT: I mean, we looked really good. It looked like they cleaned up things. I'm not really in those meetings or knowing what they gotta clean up, but they looked good today.

Q. How much of an emphasis was from the coaching staff this week to stay focused on Bucknell, don't overlook this opponent and stay 1 and 0 this week?

ALLEN BRYANT: Yeah. You never want to look past anybody on your schedule. It's a nameless, faceless opponent. So you prepare for them how you prepare for anybody else.

We're not looking past nobody. We're giving you the same treatment we're going to give everybody else.

Q. Short week this week, what are the challenges of having them so close together?

ALLEN BRYANT: Really just knowing we're right back on the clock. There's not much time to celebrate, I would say, you know what I'm saying. Despite it being homecoming or whatever, we have to get back on the clock this time, and we gotta go back and play football. Friday night lights.