This is painful to have to do. Pages of game notes that followed a painfully familiar script. As always, I’ve avoided the papers since the game, only relying on the box score and game log to make sure my numbers are accurate.

[Big Caveat: It looks like who ever did the box scores really screwed up. Missing numbers on sacks, fumbles and punts from a quick look. Repeated elsewhere. This one from the Pitt Athletic department appears correct, though.]

Contintental Tire Bowl Pre-game notes, observations and comments

Read and heard some things before the game, about how Pitt might come out flat because they were disappointed by their bowl game. Not a concern of mine. Pitt played their way down to this bowl. Pitt needs to win to show that they weren’t completely overrated this year.

The crew for calling the game:

Pam Ward — play by play
Chris Spielman — color grunting and ranting
Mike Gleason — useless on the sideline

The Refs for this game are from the SEC, suggesting taunting and showboating will result in penalties. The SEC refs have a short fuse for that sort of thing.

Prior to kick-off, they showed the Pitt locker room with Walt Harris finishing his pre-game speech. Live and in monotone. He ticked off three items:

Physical play;
Execution — actually he kept referring to that; and
Have fun.

God was that speech uninspiring. I mean, it doesn’t have to be the insane rantings of a Mike Ditka, or the over-the-top passion of Pete Carroll. It’s just, I felt like I should go get some more coffee after that snippet.

1st Half

UVA starts on offense. UVA is looking to pass on its first drive. Incomplete (overthrow), incomplete (dropped), complete for 18 yards. Pitt’s pass coverage is playing very far off the receiver. No excuse for that on 3rd and 10.

A 4 yard run, then Schaub takes a sack when he held the ball too long, the run got stuffed on 3rd and 10. UVA punts.

Ward and Spielman are already talking about the Pitt run defense, and how bad it’s been this year.

Pitt takes over from it’s own 30. They proceed to march down the field. Miree runs the ball well. Polite is getting a couple runs and a fantastic one-handed stab catch for 4 yards to bring the ball inside the UVA 10.

The way they managed to stop UVA and are marching down the field, is a bit reminiscent of the Miami game.

Pitt has the ball 1st and goal from the 2 yard line. Out of 11 plays, they have only thrown 3 times. Run the ball one or two more times — maybe to see if you can punch it in. But then it should be time for the bread and butter. You have to throw a fade or jump ball to the corner to Larry Fitzgerald at this point. He is bigger and can jump higher. Take advantage of it. He’s been doing it for 2 years.

The sequence:

Polite up the middle for nothing.
Rutherford keeps after faking the hand-off. Stumbles against his O-line for a yard (from one angle, I almost believed he broke the plane, but he didn’t).
Polite runs for no gain.

4th and 1 and they are going for it. I’m screaming for the fade. Even if he can’t come down with it, they have a shot at getting the interference call and a fresh set of downs.

Miree tackled in the backfield as the O-line was shoved backwards.

My stomach just sank into my ass.

Annoyed and queasy, but not ready to panic yet. Pitt went 69 yards on 15 plays and chewed 8:33. At least the defense is staying rested.

The Pitt defense decides on this series to show that it can be incredibly soft against the pass. Two passes, two first downs. 32 yards covered on the two plays. A reverse for another 13 and then a 52 yard pass play for a TD. Where the deuce was the secondary? There was no one near the tight end. The frickin’ tight end!

7-0 UVA.

Pitt again marches right down the field and scores with a balanced attack. Miree really seems to be running well. He’s finding and hitting the hole.

7-7 tie.

UVA starts from its own 30. That quickly changes as the very first play is a run that goes 51 yards. There wasn’t even anyone near him to miss a tackle until the guy was 10 yards past the line of scrimmage. Two plays later, it’s 1st and goal from the 5. This seems familiar.

Run for 3 yards; run for 1 yard (barely); and then Schaub bootlegs and should have been tackled back at the 10, but the ever generous Pitt defense lets him get back to the line of scrimmage. 4th and 1 and they go for it. Naturally, UVA runs it right up the middle and scores.

14-7 UVA

Again Pitt responds. Miree is definitely looking to impress the NFL scouts. So is Rutherford. He even runs on a sweep for 17 yards. Rutherford is sacked from his blindside. There was no chance to get rid of the ball. Hopefully that was just a blown assignment, not just bad line play.

Fitzgerald isn’t getting the ball thrown to him on this series. Spielman and Ward note that he is getting double and triple teams on every play.

Still Pitt keeps moving, and UVA gets called for a dumb personal foul to help the cause. Pitt scores on a screen to Miree that goes for 18 yards. But David Abdul misses the extra point!

14-13 UVA.

This leads to the most bizarre comment from Spielman for the game, “Yeah, Walt [Harris] doesn’t like that. He’s a fundamentalist.”

Huh? Fundamentals? Harris? Coaching? Teaching? Whatever Spielman was having, give me two.

Spielman also gives the sob story on the rough year for kicker David Abdul — longtime girlfriend gives birth, gets married, apartment burns, and then watching his friend and Pitt football player Billy Gaines fall to his death from a church catwalk they were on. Spielman forgets to mention that the two were drunk at the time.

UVA goes 3 and out. A big break for Pitt, since UVA had a good run back on the kickoff but did nothing. The punt is signaled to be a fair catch by Tutu Ferguson, and he muffs it! UVA has it. Crap! But the SEC ref down there actually blew his whistle too soon. The refs called it an “inadvertent” whistle requiring the down to be replayed. Pitt catches a huge break. Spielman is beside himself with the unfairness of the call to UVA. If I was a UVA fan, I would be bent also.

On the rekick, it is a booming kick and a flag as the Pitt player ran into the kicker. Running into the kicker is only a 5 yard penalty, so it is declined. The ever wise Spielman complains that the refs got it right, but should have still called for the roughing the kicker 15 yard penalty to make it up to UVA. Yes, compound bad officiating. It’s a shame that Ohio State didn’t take Spielman seriously when he declared his desire to be the head coach at OSU a few years ago.

Pitt moves quickly at first. Miree runs for 11 yards. Rutherford passes and runs for a couple more first downs. Pitt moves from their own 19 to the UVA 32. Suddenly UVA stiffens. Miree is stopped for no gain. UVA blitzes virtually untouched up the middle on second and third downs. Somehow Rutherford manages to get rid of the ball and not take a sack. Pitt takes a time out with 1:30 left, and appears to be going for it.

My stomach is now down to my ankles. I am standing and screaming at the TV at my inlaws. Thankfully, everyone is downstairs, but they can hear me. It comes out as sputtering incoherence since I am making desperate attempts to censor myself.

I realize they have no faith in Abdul to kick a field goal, but they should have even less faith in their D to stop UVA from quickly moving into field goal range. Punt it. Pooch kick it. Throw a deep interception on purpose even. Something, but don’t go for it now.

4th and 10. Corner blitz to Rutherford’s blindside again. Never had a chance to even plant his feet to set and throw. A 7 yard loss. UVA takes over at their own 39 with 1:25 left.

UVA inexplicably throws two short passes for a total of 6 yards. I almost start to believe Pitt might escape being down by 1 point at the half. Then the defensive line misses tackles to allow a 12 yard run with 19 seconds left.

This leads to the Spielman understatement of the day, “You see the run defense struggling for Pittsburgh.” You think?

UVA picks up 16 more yards to get to the Pitt 27. UVA has a good kicker and he nails the 44 yarder at the half.

17-13 UVA.

Halftime thoughts and comments

Pitt completely dominated the time of possession, but still couldn’t keep UVA off the board. That 4th and goal looks even dumber than ever.

Mark May goes to Pitt’s first drive, and notes that a simple fade to Fitzgerald on the 4th and goal should be the no-brainer call if Pitt is going to go for it at that point. Pitt’s coaches outsmarted themselves again.

This was my exact comments in my notes at the half:

Pitt needed to be tied or leading at the half. I have no faith in the Pitt coaches in the second half to make adjustments. The defense is playing like crap — again — and with the time of possession completely favoring Pitt; it doesn’t even get the standard excuses of being worn out from being on the field too long.

I wasn’t feeling optimistic about the second half.

Second Half

The second half gets off to a really, really bad start when Rutherford is intercepted. It was a high throw to the tight end, Kris Wilson. Wilson managed to tip it and it went about 15 yards further to the waiting secondary.

Still, the defense actually holds. They were helped when Schaub simply fell down on 1st down, losing a few yards. Followed by a dropped pass in the endzone.

UVA settles for a field goal.

20-13 UVA.

Pitt starts from their own 20. On second and 3, Miree tears off 17 yards. Then they finally throw to Fitzgerald again. The first time in some 30 offensive calls — that isn’t good — and he hauls in a high throw for 28 yards. Miree runs again for 12 yards. He is gashing UVA. 1st and 10 from UVA’s 16. Then Pitt sputters and stalls.

Out comes the field goal squad. The kick will be attempted by Gibboney (who?). Abdul has been yanked. Good time to let the senior who has never kicked a field goal in a game get his shot. He makes it, but this is still not a good scene.

20-16 UVA.

The kickoff is taken by Marquis Weeks of UVA from his own goal line. He takes it 68 yards to the Pitt 32. The only reason he didn’t score was because he tripped himself up. In a moment that just about summed up Pitt’s season, just before he tripped himself, a 2 Pitt players collided while trying to tackle Weeks.

The defense, though, makes it’s second big stop of the second half. UVA turned the ball over on downs. They had a 4th and 1 from the 12, and rather than run it through Pitt; they had brain lock and opted to throw a screen that lost 7 yards.

Of course, this is when Pitt has it’s first 3 and out of the day. Andy Lee booms a 50 yard punt that was returned for 8 yards, but there was a block in the back penalty on UVA — seemed like a questionable call. They have the ball on their own 22.

UVA starts to move the ball then near midfield they get hit with another personal foul when the running back, Lundy, was caught retaliating against a Pitt player.

Pitt starts out from their own 19. Rutherford hits Wilson 15 yards down field, and he runs for another 18 yards. UVA then jumps offside, to make it 1st and 5 at midfield. I’m almost starting to get hopeful.

Should have known better. Rutherford is sacked for a 12 yard loss. He was rolling out, and they were right on him. He still needed to get rid of the ball. UVA keeps blitzing and Pitt has to punt.

UVA has the ball, starts moving down field as the 4th quarter gets underway. The first 3 plays of the drive go for 14, 7 and 21 yards. The Pitt defense is looking like it is fading. It is starting to give up yardage in chunks again. UVA gets to 1st and goal from the 10. They run for 6 yards on 1st down. On second down, they try a fade that is intercepted in the endzone by Ferguson.

unbelievable. UVA keeps doing dumb things to keep Pitt in the game. I realize Schaub, the UVA QB, is pretty good, but come on. The weak point of Pitt is their run defense. UVA has some good backs. How can you keep throwing it in critical moments rather than running it? UVA fans had to be pulling out their hair.

Pitt has the ball at their own 20 with most of the 4th quarter left. In a 5:50 drive, Pitt moves the ball on the ground with Miree; catches a big break when UVA gets hit with another questionable personal foul (taunting?) after nailing Rutherford with another corner blitz; and some good catches by Wilson, Lee and Brockenbrough. Ultimately, Pitt again stalls and Gibboney doesn’t even come close on a 36 yard attempt.

Pitt needed a touchdown at this point regardless of whether the FG would have been good. 7:51 is left on the clock and Pitt’s O-line has been getting worse in providing protection to Rutherford. As there is less time remaining, that means Pitt has to throw, and UVA will blitz more. Not a good combination.

UVA moves down field and adds another FG to make it 23-16 UVA.

There is 2:28 left, and I’ve just about given up hope…

Ferguson takes the kickoff from the 4 yard line out to the Pitt 48. Pitt may actually have a small chance to get 52 yards in 2+ minutes.

Hah! Rutherford sacked for the 5th time and a fumble! UVA has it at the 37. That is it.

This game really hurt. I didn’t want to believe, but I kept thinking Pitt might. They had so many chances. Really, it seemed like all the breaks went for Pitt — penalties and bad calls. All went Pitt’s way. Still Pitt blew it.

It wasn’t that Pitt played flat, or didn’t show up for the game. It’s that Pitt played the game like they played during the entire season. Harris wasn’t completely outcoached — Groh made his share of dumb calls — but Groh made adjustments with his defense to bring more pressure on Rutherford and not give him time to throw. Harris didn’t or couldn’t adjust the protection.