CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Larry Fitzgerald could be playing in his final game for Pittsburgh when it takes on Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl.
The Heisman Trophy runner-up, Fitzgerald grabbed 87 passes for a national-best 1,595 yards and 22 touchdowns for the Panthers (8-4) in his sophomore season. He also has caught at least one touchdown pass in an NCAA-record 18 straight games.
At the Heisman ceremony, Fitzgerald sidestepped the issue of whether he will be return to Pittsburgh next season. With quarterback Rod Rutherford graduating, there is speculation that Fitzgerald will try to enter the NFL draft.
"My focus is on the Continental Tire Bowl," he said. "My obligation is to my teammates and coaching staff to come back and play to the best of my ability."
The NFL does not allow players to enter the draft until three years after graduating high school, but Fitzgerald elected to enter a military school midway through his senior year of high school to improve his grades, and the NFL may face a legal challenge over his eligibility.
Behind Rutherford's 3,433 passing yards and the stellar play of Fitzgerald, the Panthers finished third in the Big East Conference, going 5-2 in league play, but they lost two of their final three games.
Pittsburgh is in a bowl game for the fourth straight season. It has won the last two, including a 38-13 rout of Oregon State in the 2002 Insight Bowl, but is just 10-12 all-time in bowl play.
The Cavaliers finished the season 7-5, winning their final two games after dropping four of their previous five. Virginia concluded its regular season on November 29 with a 35-21 win over Virginia Tech, a team Pittsburgh beat 31-28 three weeks before.
Senior Matt Schaub passed for 2,708 yards despite missing nearly three whole games with a separated right shoulder.
Virginia beat West Virginia in last year's Continental Tire Bowl, 48-22.
The Cavaliers are 5-8 all time in bowl games. They have never met the Panthers in a bowl and dropped their only two regular-season matchups, 26-0 in 1953 and 18-7 in 1955.
