Hey, at least we can breathe easy knowing we’ll go 5-5 with him back in the lineup, right Wags??

😉

ESPN says Big East hot, Big 11 not:

link to sports.espn.go.com

…Maybe it’s just because ESPN is pissed that the Big 11 Network is going to take some of their games?

Glad to have this nonsense over with. Now let’s focus on winning some games and getting to a bowl game.

I just pooped myself.

What the hell does that mean? What the hell could it be? “Panic Attacks” would be ruled out, because those are football related.

“He wouldn’t have elected to leave…” and “Physically and mentally, he was ready for football…”

So he was forced to leave for a not physical or mental reason? What was it then, a metaphysical concern? Did someone steal his lunchmoney or somthing? I’m totally lost here.

I don’t think it matters much at this point what the issue is. From the comments made, it obviously is something that the family would like to keep private. Perhaps a family mmeber is ill, or having surgery or any of a number of other things. How lost Stuart is, apparently is of no concern to the Bostick family.

Who cares? It made Smizik’s ridiculous article sound even more retarded. Evoking the legacy of Joe Flecco??????? Yeah, the staggering loss of Flecco, or Falco, or whatever … that spelled doom for this team.

““Panic Attacks” would be ruled out, because those are football related.”…

No, football related panic attacks are what PITT fans have.

“Also think back to 2002 — the training camp battle for the starting quarterback job was supposed to be won by a heralded freshman — Tyler Palko. But Palko injured his arm and in the meantime the inexperienced — and under-appreciated — junior, Rod Rutherford, earned the job”

Hmmm… just what we need, another QB that underthrows EVERY deep ball…and from what i’ve been reading that is what Stull has been doing in practice…

Too bad for Stull there won’t be a Fitzgerald on this team to make him look decent – he’s going to have to do that on his own. Absent Larry, Rod would have been benched after 1 game and Palko would have been in.

Dude you are crazy. Rutherford was an excellent, I mean excellent, quarterback at Pitt. I would take him over Palko in a heartbeat. Unlike Palko, Rutherford never cost us a game and had more than one big win in his career. There is no way Palko would have beat Rutherford out, no way.

Chas in respect to you beating yourself because of bloging about the old man dying in an accident, I say no sweat.

I found it some what incredulous that some posters found that so offensive. You have a right to think out loud, search for answers, and speculate. I believe that is part and parcel of this great site you have so freely given to us.

The backlash you experienced is nothing more than “PC Policing” personified. I say to those who jumped on you, derided you/your blog, and were so insulted by your supposedly insensitive comments…….”May your freaking flat screens come to life and bust you in your PC illiterate heads!!!”

Chas you keep speaking your mind, which includes speculating likely hypothesis, until you cannot type anymore. If some don’t like it or better still call you out, hey it’s a free internet…..BLOG SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!

rod rutherford set some B E records, won alot of games if they had put him in shotgun earlier in the 1 miami game they might of come back and won it. just that td reception vs psu was priceless. “Rod is God” article was in the window for at least a year.

Omar:

See Miami 2003. IMO opinion that is a game that Rutherford cost us.

I remeber him fumbling late in the game and missing a wide open Yogi Roth in the end zone.

He also kept us in that Miami game. I distinctly remember him leveling Ed Reed on a scramble in that game. It was awesome.

Big difference in losing to Miami at the Orange Bowl versus losing at Ohio U. by throwing two interceptions for touchdowns to the same defensive back. Palko cost Pitt more than a few football games. Rutherford’s junior and senior year were much better than Palko’s. No question about it.

I live out in Lancaster and Bostick graduated from the school district I live in. It’s a shame he left camp for whatever reasons…I hope whatever the reason he left camp he gets it resolved…remember we’re talking about a young man just graduated from High School….he potentially has plenty of strong years ahead of him….I didn’t expect him to carry this team this year….and if anybody on the Pitt staff put that onus on him…. shame on them….Pat did quite well in HS against some good teams….he can do it at Pitt…I know nobody wants to hear this…. but in this case…some patience and understanding might be needed…..let’s hope for the best and Go Pitt

All I remember is Rod throwing up jump balls….to receivers who had a 3yd lead on the db…..and having to stop and come back to them over and over. Who was that kid he got KILLED catching that “deep” (not so much) ball…he had to stop, come back, and WAIT for the ball to get there while the corner closed in – it looked like he was trying to field a punt FCS – and the corner DESTROYED him. That play wrapped up Rod’s ability in a nutshell.

How many of those AMAZING Fitzgerald catches were him slowing down, having to let 2 defenders catch up to him, or coming back to an underthrown ball?

No answers to Larry making him look good…interesting. If Larry wasn’t on the team, this wouldn’t even be an argument. EVERY terrible throw was caught. The guy was inaccurate and underthrew anything more than 10 yards.

I’m sure we can go back and each find games one QB or the other lost – the Miami game above missing a WIDE OPEN WR in the end zone. And against Virginia in the bowl game: “The Cavaliers also sacked Rod Rutherford on fourth-and-10 near the end of the first half, and forced him into a costly fumble that basically sealed the game.” Pitt was supposed to be a top 10 team that season.

I think you people are lost on the fact that Pitt had better “teams” those years and ended with better records than when Palko was playing. What games did Palko screw up as a senior? When you put up 45, 27, 24, and 23 points you assume you’ll win at least 2 or 3 or even 4 of those games, not 0 because of your lousy defense.

What about setting the record at ND? You tell me underthrow Rod would have done that?

I must not know about Rod’s records – can you tell me which ones he set?

Hmmm…i got palko with 66/25 td/int, rod 60/30. Palko 8330 yards, rod 6724…Palko 60.0% completions, rod…54.4% completions… I guess palko did screw up that one game that one time, so he must suck worse than rod…that makes sense.

Imagine if Palko had Fitzgerald to throw to. This wouldn’t even be an argument.

Not to mention Palko, and his teams at Pitt, had to deal with the raiding of the BE which definitely hurt our recruiting, a coaching change, and his top receiver leaving early for the NFL. I hate seeing Palko get a bad rap from Pitt fans. He was truly one of the few players on the team that played with consistent intensity. Maybe he did try to do too much at times, but I am sure he thought “If I don’t do something, who will?” Lastly, I also liked RR and believe that he did the best he could. Ironically, for both Palko and RR my best memory is of them blasting an opposing player off of their feet (Palko against BC, RR against Miami).

Palko’s arm is garbage. There is no argument on this point. Rutherford only started for two years. Palko started for three. He should have more yards and touchdowns. As for completion percentage, the current offense throws dinks and dunks all day. Rutherford threw the ball down the field quite a bit more, hence the lower completion percentage. Yeah it really sucked for Palko that the big east was raided. He didn’t get to play Miami or VTech and prove himself against all those NFL players. Too bad for him, he would have lit them up.

The thing is, Palko was a nice kid and I’m glad he played at Pitt. However, Rutherford was the superior quarterback and the best we have had for quite some time.

Additionally, see the aforementioned comment on the touchdown grab versus PSU in the final game in the series. 12-0 Pitt with the only touchdown courtesy of Rod Rutherford. I’m sure Palko would have lined up at receiver and done the same thing. He was really fast and elusive.

What can you say about Fitzgerald? He was awesome. I do remember him saying he wouldn’t trade his QB for anyone in the country on more than one occasion. I wonder what he would say if you asked him about Rutherford now.

Poor Rosey Bynes, may he rest in pieces after that game…never came back.

“Poor Rosey Bynes, may he rest in pieces after that game…never came back.”

Exactly. That play summed up Rod’s ability for me. Poor kid. If I were any of his receivers I’d have hated him, underthrowing me and getting me killed play after play…

How do you figure Palko’s arm is “garbage”? When was he getting his receivers layed out like that? He was smart, accurate, and had a high completion percentage. I’d still take him over Rod any day of the week. And, once again, if he’d had Fitzgerald, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. That kid would make Morelli look good.

You all are missing the point with Bostick. His Dad comes off as kind of a jackass. The kid must have some issues – PA player of the year and now is having trouble adjusting. Fellas, he’s 18. He’s not Dan Marino yet. He’s just a 2nd or 3rd string QB trying to figure things out. His Dad obviously didn’t know he was even coming home and was probably pretty ticked off. Why would he go to the paper with this stuff? Oh, we made the decision he’d be back soon, loves the school, coaches, blah blah. The Dad made that decision. There’s something going on there. It’s really too bad, I hope Bostick’s alright and I wish him the best. And Omar? Rod helped lose the Notre Dame game when Brady was a frosh and Julius Jones ran for..ever on us. Rod was very good, probably better than Palko. But he was flawed.

Good point about Bostick. I didn’t even think about his Dad being an overbearing ass.

As for Rutherford vs. Palko, I agree Rod had some flaws. However he was better than Palko and Stuart proved it with his post of their statistics. Rutherford did almost as much as Palko with one less year on the field. Rutherford losing to ND when Jones went crazy isn’t as bad as losing at Ohio U. by throwing the same interception twice. There is no excuse for that loss. Palko blew it in that game, he simply blew it.