Personally, I detest Wednesdays, Thursdays and especially Fridays. College football was meant for Saturdays, preferably afternoons. I know its a negative reflection on the program in this case but it’s a positive in my case.

National Championship

I would be happy with top 25 and a Bowl game…Any bowl game.

Interesting statistics on performance against expectations in the Big Dance. As we all know Pitt doesn’t score very well in the analysis.

See ESPN Tournament Team Trends

Hey, I thought that Bowling Green was their first game.

I don’t know – that home schedule looks all right to me. Five out of the seven games are against decent opponents, this includes Navy who I think everyone truly underestimates – they play great football and have one of the highest ranked rushing teams in the country (just what PITT wants to see). And, its the height of folly to think that we have automatic wins against UCONN and USF. Those losses last year kept us from being either an 8-4 or 7-5 team.

I personally think we are better situated without any expectations what so ever on the team and coaching staff. It really does not matter if we are televised because all we have done is lost on national TV. Not being showcased will not hurt us on the field, and a better won lost record will make up for it as far as recruiting goes – and even a mediocre W-L record hasn’t hurt us yet in that aspect, so no Thursday night games probably won’t either.

I’ll go out on a limb and say I think we are looking at a 7-5 team this year – but the difference will be we won’t get blown out of the water in our losses. Remember we lost three close scoring games to Rutgers, UCONN and USF last year, and this year we might be able to win those. We’ll be better on defense and more competitive in games against the three top BE teams. I am concerned about UVA and MSU however, both those programs might be on the way back up and be trouble for us.

Here’s a question, and it would be interesting to hear your thoughts….

Last year we improved (on paper) from a 5-6 team to a 6-6 team. How would you feel if we kept improving by one win a year until DW’s contract is up for renewal in its last year? That would be 7-5 in 2007, and 8-4 in 2008. Should he be a lock for an extension? Would you be disappointed at 8-4 in 2008? – when all fingers point to that year as the one where his recruits mature? Or, would the winning trend be enough to justify faith in his staying on? Do you think a winning record should be the basis for contract renewal at all, or do the other aspects of the program (academics, graduation rate, representing the University, etc…) being done well mean as much as wins when renewal time comes along?

I am actually glad to see all Saturday games. The schedule is horrible especially at home. It should be interesting to see the attendance they get. I for one will not be renewing my season tickets. After Paul Rhoads was retained I made the decision that there is no way I will be a season ticket holder in 2007. This is DWs third year its time to start seeing progres.

I won’t be surprised if this team is 6-6 again. Having Cincy, UConn, and South Florida here might make the difference, though the defense will be improved and there will be more and better depth – if Eric Thatcher and Chris McKillop/Doug Fulmer weren’t hurt last year I say we beat Rugters and UConn and go 8-4.

That is NOT a schedule to draw fans, however.

I don’t think 8-4 is acceptable in 2008. There has to be significant improvement that year. 9-3 minimum.

id be very happy for 6 wins next year. we had a lot of young guys last year who will be getting experience this year, we’re losing the 2 best players on D and a senior qb. we also have a schedule where all the tough games are on the road. im not expecting more than 5 wins, but i can chalk this up to a rebuilding year. however in 2008 pitt MUST, MUST show improvement.

geeman, college football is meant for saturdays?? it is also meant to be played on a college campus then!! anybody know how many home games will be followed by a steeler home game on sunday???

What a horrible schedule. The average attendence this year is going to be horrible i would guess 25, 000. This is because of people like Rex.

I hate “fans” like him, so what if you wanted to see Rhoads go. I’m sure a lot of people did, and I was one of them. Will you jump back on the bandwagon and want to come to some games if McCoy starts tearing it up?

Fans like Rex are the reason why we have to hear shit from Penn State fans like “you can’t even fill a 60,000 seat stadium for the biggest game of the year.”

I really think our run D has a good chance to crack the top 80 this year. Call me an optomist, Paul Rhoads has a 15 year plan in the works and we will see very slight improvement each year. You people all saw missed tackles and 400 rushing yards given to every team with a half assed running game these past X years, what I saw was a man with a vision.

Chris, first of all I live in Washington DC. Ive been a season ticket holder since 1996. So dont tell me about loyalty. I also pay every year to watch Pitt on ESPN Gameplan. Ive basically decided that Im sick of whats going on. Then after the first year under DW and a losing season, the Pitt administration basically doubled the price of my season tix but being the good soldier that I am I re-purchased my tickets. Also, I never said I wasnt going to any games, I just said that I wasnt purachasing season tix you ass. Why would I purchase season tix when I can buy tix on ebay or the street for at least half the face value? That was more or les the biggest reason for not renewing. I am pretty sure I wont have trouble finding $10 lower level tix to Grambling. So Chris, stick it.

80 is a little optimistic, but I’d say top 117 for sure. Chris, I don’t think many people go to the games just so PSU fans won’t make fun of them for an empty stadium. They go because its fun and entertaining. Watching your team get rushed all over for 200+ yards game after game reaches the point where it ceases to be fun and entertaining, and it just pisses you off. Not wanting to pay money to sit and get pissed off doesn’t make you a bad fan. Not caring enough to get pissed off makes you a bad fan. Empty stadiums are a result of mediocre football, not poor fans.

True football fans support their team regardless of the schedule. Major schools play weaker teams at home (and regularly sell out) in preperation for the conference schedule. When PSU had those bad years, and Nebraska too – they sold out regularly. Pitt is re-building and fair weather fans won’t go. In a year or too it should be a hot ticket – but even when Pitt was a regular in the top 20 – sellouts weren’t often.

I’m shooting for at best an 8-4 season, at worst a 7-5 year….and if we go 6-6 I’ll suck it up and take it, but Dave had better start winning ASAP or my alumni money will go elsewhere….

Sept. 1 Eastern Mchigan TBA – WIN
Sept. 8 Grambling TBA – WIN
Sept. 15 at Michigan St. TBA – Loss
Sept. 22 Connecticut* TBA – WIN
Sept. 29 at Virgina TBA – WIN
Oct. 6 Open TBA
Oct. 13 Navy TBA – WIN
Oct. 20 Cincinnati* TBA – WIN
Oct. 27 at Louisville* TBA – Loss
Nov. 3 Syracuse* TBA – WIN
Nov. 10 Open TBA
Nov. 17 at Rutger* TBA – Loss
Nov. 24 South Florida* TBA – WIN
Dec. 1 at West Virginia* TBA – Loss

anyone know what’s happened to pantherrants.blogspot.com….it’s been down for two days now?

I am hoping to upgrade to some better seats this year. (move down a couple of rows) I think this would be the year to make that happen.

I’m dieing without panther rants!

Way to support the university by not giving them money for the tickets. Instead give it to the crack head scalping tickets on the side of the road. Your a fair weather panzy, I hope Pitt wins the big east this year and seasons tickets are a hot commodity so you get stuck up in the nose bleed section when you try to buy them next year. Fai weather panzy.

Yeah Rex, you should be ashamed. You should be supporting the pot head scalpers, not the crack heads. I can’t believe what an incredibly awful fan you are!

Rex – happy to see that you are a FAI weather fan (as our fellow poster Chris states). I am also, even though I’m not Irish, but I still think they play good football over there. Here is a link that you might enjoy…

link to fai.ie

Also Rex, I don’t think you should be supporting either the crack heads scalpers or the pot head scalpers, you should buy your game day tickets from just regular drunks like Chris when he decides to throw in the towel on PITT Football. Rabid fans are always the worst once they fall off the bandwagon.

Chris, I think Ive done my fair share to support the University. Lets see, first the $65000 in tuition and then 10 years of season tickets, plus all the merchandise. But thanks for your analysis of what type of fan I am…. heres an analysis…. you are a jerk off.

Incidentally, I think everyone’s entitled to a bad day. And whereas I don’t condone “lashing-out” at others on the site, its pretty much a first for “Chris” whose been commenting here for as long as I can remember. sometimes cynical, but never malicious insofar as I know and have seen.

I think we have all paid our dues — some more than others to the university. For this, too, some folks just might think the university owes them more wins than others, I guess. no need to go further than that I think, is all.

Neil, thank you for shedding some reasonable insight. As you know I have also posted here for a long time and would prefer to simply comment on Pitt and my opinions. Im not sure why Chris felt the need to share his opinion of me because I dont care and Im sure nobody else does.

Grambling, Eastern Michigan. No Notre Dame. Where are we headed? D-1 AA? I do not think we should be playing Navy although lately they have been playing better than Pitt.

If Rhoads is not the answer, clearly Cavanaugh is not either. The fans in Baltimore were happy to see him go. Let us hope that the good recruiting efforts of DW and Co. will result in a few exciting conference games where we win.