Reed, I do think Palko would be ahead of Troy Smith at Ohio State. In fact, Troy Smith would be a defensive back or receiver by now. Palko was a highly regarded recruit, Smith an afterthought who was put in as a starter only after the extremely sought after Justin Zwick fell on his face. Palko was never as bad as Zwick and Smith would not have had a chance to show what he could do.

Well, this year’s team is looking like a 6-6 team. A .500 record was great my freshman year, when the team went 5-5-1 after three 1-9 years, but isn’t good enough now. Are these guys simply less talented than we thought or is it the coaching?

Mitch – you could be right, we’ll never know. My point was that I hear a lot of fans stating they feel sorry for Palko because he never won a National Championship etc…, but Palko himself has never shown that he has felt hurt by what’s happening. Maybe that’s because he’s the good teammate that does not complain, or because he really does not feel slighted.

He’s done well here – he has a good future (hopefully) in the NFL, has fan and community support and admiration, and has seemed to be able to stay the same decent kid, and good football player, he was when he started at PITT.

Sometimes things are more important to the fans than to the players (or the players’ families) themselves. I’d like to think Palko will leave here and get on with his life’s work with good feelings and memories of his four years as a student and QB at PITT.

Reed — I don’t expect Pitt to compete for a championship at this time. I do expect them to be better than Connecticut and South Florida. They are not.
You paint a rosy picture of a content Palko, however, I don’t think he’s just “happy to be here.” You could see his frustration boiling over last night.
If winning is more important to the fans than the players we have a problem. There’s an outlet for this type of indifference — intramurals.
I feel sorry for players like Palko and Blades because I don’t see the adults tendered with his care and education (on the football field) putting forth the same effort the players.

Dave you are right, we are better than Uconn and So Florida and thats why those losses are crushing especially with so much on the line. 8-4 would have sounded a hell of a lot better than 6-6 with a 5 game losing streak to end the year. When the hell does Pat White graduate anyway????

This program owes it to its rapidly-diminishing fan base that pays the bills to throw Rhoads under the bus. If not then we absolutely must boycott buying any more tickets or paying any more extortions … I mean donations.

If he is so well regarded by “experts” than he’ll end up in a far better situation, right? Meanwhile, we couldn’t possibly do worse with any other coordinator. Or let Wannstedt take the duty himself; at the very least it will help confirm the growing doubt that the D is at least as much his fault.

I agree with the above, with the exception of some misgivings (the ridiculous commitment to Stephens-Howling as an every-down back) Cavanaugh is OK. Our OL is still low-grade dog food, especially with the injuries.

And whatever coach (or parent) is responsible for Connor Lee should be promoted. The guy has been fantastic this season.

Mark my words, I will not have season tickets agin next year.

Dave, my post mentioned that Palko “might have had a wonderful four years here” not that he did. I don’t pretend to be privy to his feelings. My point was that he is probably like any of us – and that is no one aspect of his life completely dominates the others. His team’s football record might not color the whole of his experiences at PITT.

As to the “indifference” (a word I wouldn’t have used by the way) the players might feel, what I wasn’t able to articulate correctly is that sometimes us fans get more wrapped up in expectations and failing to meet them than the players might. Honestly, after a loss, do you think the kids sit around and dissect every aspect of the game and the program, bemoan the fact that we are not progressing in incremental ways, and call for the coaches to be fired like we bloggers do- or do you think they leave the stadium, grab their girl and a beer and put it out of mind for the next two days, then come back and get ready for the next challenge. I’ll bet on the latter.

I agree though, that Palko is a very committed guy, and his play and loyalty to the team and coaches show it. He obviously hates losing. But, the original post was about Palko choosing PITT over other programs, and what happened to him because of it. My contention is that we don’t know whether he holds regrets because of his decision, and that he might not have any – and maybe even is content with his choice.

Anyway, who’s picking who in the WVU-RU game? I’m kind of hoping RU wins. There is a good article about the BCS and RU situation in the Wash. Post regarding the college football traditionalists discounting Rutgers because they are “new”…

“Not so long ago, though, one of those new neighbors was the University of Miami. Those who remember the 1983 Miami Hurricanes’ run to the Orange Bowl (where they defeated mighty Nebraska) are trying to present a solid case for undefeated Rutgers leapfrogging the traditional powers who might end the season with one loss.”

I hate Rutgers more than WVU. They have no business being good and the Big East coaches should be ashamed of themselves for letting it happen. Pitt football stinks, frankly. They are an embarrassment. The only good thing that came out of yesterday’s game was Revis’ punt returner (the spin at the end was awesome) and Kinder’s block on the same return. That was the best play I have ever seen in person.

Wannstedt is a complete idiot. Byham made a spectacular touchdown grab, and does he play again? No. He better be one heck of a salesman otherwise this will end in disaster. He thinks it is all about talent, well it isn’t. Pitt basketball does not have the most talented kids in the country and they definitely didn’t a few years ago, yet they compete for Big East championships year after year. You will never hear Jamie Dixon complain about the talent level of his team, never. Good coaches get the best out of their players, Wannstedt’s teams continually under-achieve. I don’t understand how we came out so flat after halftime yesterday. It is the coaches job to have the kids ready to play the entire game. Pitt only thinks it has to play for 2 or 3 quarters. I sincerely hope Wannstedt gets his act together. I want him to succeed and definitely don’t think he should be fired (who are they going to replace him with?) but a fan can only take so much. Hopefully we can beat Louisville next week, but I am not optimistic.

Omar, I think you have to take your tempature…you admitted that Rutgers is good.

I’d like to see WVU to lose in everything, including a terrorist attack. So GO KNIGHTS.

RU might have a chance. I see WVU going in way overconfident, especially after rolling over garbage like us, and getting smacked in the mouth pretty hard. How they react will be telling.

Yes Reed, I will finally admit Rutgers is relatively good. However, WVU will kick their behind.

1st off guys. Wanny is the one making all of the calls. I like the guy but he is afraid to lose. He calls it that way. He is using a scat back who weighs 170 as his every down back. You don’t cause fatigue with a 170 pounder. He is afraid to develope the freshman. On defense, Wanny is the one who has switched to a base defense. Rhoads was always the Blitz guy and everyone knows it. He would never play base defense against anyone. He lead the country 2 years in a row with defense in Walts 1st two years. It was Walt who repulsed defensive recruits and his recruits that are now sucking up the field. Dave’s recruits are not allowed on the field yet. If you insult Rhoads, you are not paying attention to detail and don’t understand Dave having all final say. He would be the 1st to tell you it is his choice to play base just like he did at Miami. It is Dave that said this in the paper the other day…”I don’t like to watch football much on TV when I am at home”. It has been Dave that has been forcing Matt to pass every down because Dave won’t use his power backs.

I like Dave, and I don’t want him fired either. But it is Dave who needs to change. Insulting Rhoads is like insulting your own intelligence. Pitt is losing with Walt Harris’s 50th ranked recruiting classes. That is why he was fired. Suddenly Rhoads is supposed to win games while Dave redshirts all of his star recruits? It’s Dave making decisions and you all insult yourselves thinking otherwise. Dave will tell you so if you just ask. At the same time, you fans will all get Rhoads fired and then think you caused something because next year we will be playing our better athletes and of course we will be better. But base defense is here to stay. DW does not adapt to the times or theories of modern defense. Won’t happen. He never has.

Any Morons talking Harris are just complete football idiots with no brain. What is Walt Harris’s record at Stanford? What about the many losses Harris had against DII and laugher programs. How did Harris do when he recruited? He was fired for getting 50th ranked classes that you now see on the field. He had to play shootout ball against Furman. He lost to MAC teams, Conference USA teams, and recruits hated him. He got to the UTAH bowl game by being the least sucky team in the new bigeast and made us all pay for getting there. Walt Harris could not get a single linemen and now we stink because of it. Wanny might not be great, but Walt is the worst.

[…] Not much of an article and even less about the pathetic story of stopping the run. And all respect to Bruce (FireWalt), but to even consider absolving Paul Rhoads for his role in the run defense — and the recruiting — is beyond moronic. Last I checked, the assistants play something of a role. We credit Dave Walker for Collier, Aubrey Hill and Charlie Partridge for helping get kids from Floriday. Then Rhoads deserves more than a fair amount of blame. As I pointed out, after a couple years of shaping the defense and doing some recruiting, the run defense took a major hit. This is not something new, and not something you can blame only on Harris. As others have pointed out, despite the mid-range recruiting classes, Pitt was still out-recruiting teams like WVU and Rutgers. There’s more than a little to do with developing the talent on hand. […]