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September 6, 2007

Saturday’s Curiosity

Filed under: Football,Players — Chas @ 11:00 am

No one’s said much about the defense because, well, the defense did fine. It also helped that they were playing a team with very little to offer in terms of offense. And, quite frankly, last year the defense did fine in the first half of the season against offensively inept or inferior teams (Virginia, Cinci, Citadel, Toledo, ‘Cuse, UCF — 55 points), but as the season progressed or against a team that understood the concept of the forward pass or had a running game (MSU, Rutgers, USF, UConn, WVU, L-Ville — 219 points). So, I’m not going to be reading too much into the performance.

Just a thought, I realize the release of Pitt’s basketball schedule was something dictated by the Big East, but couldn’t Pitt have had a waiver to delay for a few days. Think about this extra promotional incentive. Attend the Grambling game and be the first to get the Pitt basketball schedule. It couldn’t have hurt. Couple that with Wanny not revealing who will be the starting QB until Smith or Bostick runs out with the offense on the first series and it would be some great reasons to go to the game.
Mike McGlynn is eager to get back to playing.

McGlynn did his best to show Pitt coaches what they were missing in his cameo last Saturday. He replaced sophomore Jason Pinkston for one play at right tackle, and promptly unleashed his frustrations on an unsuspecting Eastern Michigan defender by driving him backwards 15 yards.

“I was excited and I took it out,” McGlynn said. “I definitely left it all out there on that play, that’s for sure.”

McGlynn is expected to replace Joe Thomas on the line who gets a bit of a defense from Zeise’s Q&A.

Q: Joe Thomas seems to be everyone’s whipping boy for the OL troubles, but why does C.J. Davis get a free pass? He hasn’t exactly dominated the competition these past two years, and versus Eastern Michigan he was whiffing on blocks and late on his assignments. Maybe Bokor should get some reps versus Grambling.

Zeise: I disagree about Joe Thomas taking more criticism than the other guys on the line. Are you going to tell me he has taken more flack than Chris Vangas? And Thomas was not singled out at all last year because people understood he was a true freshman. But I think one thing you need to remember is Thomas has had a number of nagging injuries that have slowed his progress this training camp. He hasn’t been healthy yet and coaches understand that, they aren’t down on him, they aren’t giving up on him, but at the same time, this coaching staff understands it has to win games now (like I said in my opening). He’s got a lot of talent and will still have a great career, but even he’ll tell you he’s struggled a little this year so far. C.J didn’t light it up either, but he’s been a consistent performer for two years so he gets a little slack. And if he has a couple more games like that, you might see Bokor, or even a guy like John Fieger, getting a few more reps at that spot. Believe me, this won’t be the only lineup change this year — the hook will be quicker for everyone because Dave Wannstedt is going to put the 22 guys out there who he thinks give him the best chance to win.

Thomas is catching more flak this year for two reasons: 1) his potential is greater than most of the other players on Pitt’s O-line, so more is expected; and 2) he hasn’t shown it — whether because of injuries or not — which means no progress from last year.

Kevin Gorman posts that he thinks it should (will) be Kevan Smith starting if for no other reason, that the players on the team seem more behind Smith at the moment.

The Oderick Turner Fan Club

Filed under: Fans,Football,Players — Dennis @ 10:40 am

Those of you at the game on Saturday who sat on the visitors side or the bleachers (or who saw us on the jumbotron in the last minute or two of halftime) maybe have noticed the “Oderick’s Crazy 8’s Crew” sign hanging in section 530 — I take some credit for that one.

My friends and I have always wanted to make a huge banner. We were thinking of ideas when someone threw out the possibility of playing off of Turner’s number, 88 — thus the “Crazy 8’s”.

The Specs:

  • Length: 29 feet
  • Height: 3 feet
  • Letter width: 3 inches
  • Letter height: 2 feet, 8 in.
  • Colors: Blue inside of black outline with yellow background
  • Awesomeness: Immense

We hope to be in the same spot this coming week, so be sure to check it out.

(Lack of image quality due to pictures being taken with my cell phone…errrg. Next week I’ll have the digital camera with me for better shots.)

After the jump, a look at where to find us and how it was made.

(more…)

“Overall we will face one of the nation’s most challenging schedules,” Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon said. “This is the most demanding non-conference schedule we will play in my nine years here. When looking at strength of schedule and our road games last year, our schedule was considered the nation’s most difficult. Once again, we have positioned ourselves to have the highest rated strength of schedule in the country.”

Coach Jamie Dixon, on the the Pitt 2007-08 basketball schedule.

“This will be the most challenging overall schedule we will play in my eight years here,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said. “The Big East will again pose a tremendous challenge. I’m excited about our non-conference schedule as well. Last year our strength of schedule was ranked 30th out of 327 teams in the country. We have put ourselves in a position to have one of the toughest, if not the toughest overall schedule in the country.”

Coach Jamie Dixon, on the Pitt 2006-07 basketball schedule.

Someone in the Pitt Athletic Department really needs to look at past press releases before they draft the statement for Coach Dixon.

I didn’t do this last week, but I’m hoping to make this a weekly thing.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Middle Tenn. St. vs. (8) Louisville, 7:00 pm EDT
MTSU gave up over 400 yards in last week’s loss to Florida Atlantic, while Louisville’s offense picked up 655 over Murray State. Brian Brohm will tear this defense apart.
Pick: Louisville

Oregon St. vs. Cincinnati, 7:30 pm EDT
Oregon State’s running back Yvenson Bernard looks good this year, and although Cincy beat up on Directional Missouri, I’m not completely sold on them.
Pick: Oregon State

Friday, September 7, 2007

Navy vs. (18) Rutgers, 7:00 pm EDT
ESPN’s Friday night game is an interesting one for Pitt fans since we play both teams. Rutgers beat up on Buffalo while Navy beat Temple 30-19. I have Rutgers for the win because of their evolving, multi-demensional offense.

While Ray Rice rushed for 184 yards and three touchdowns, the Scarlet Knights showed there is more to the team than just their senior running back – who’s rushed for 2,914 yards in his previous two seasons. Junior quarterback Mike Teel was 16-for-23 for a career-best 328 yards and two touchdowns, and junior receiver Tiquan Underwood caught 10 passes for a school-record 248 yards and two TDs.

Pick: Rutgers

Saturday, September 8, 2007

(3) West Virginia vs. Marshall, 11:10 am EDT
Five words: Pat White and Steve Slaton.
Pick: West Virginia

Grambling State vs. Pitt, Noon EDT
Watching Michigan lose to a I-AA (or whatever they call it now) team puts the smallest slice of doubt in my mind. In reality, I expect us to win by at least 3 touchdowns — even with Smith or Bostick starting under center.
Pick: Pitt

Maine vs. Connecticut, 7:00 pm EDT
UConn quarterback Tyler Lorenzen (any relation to Jared?) threw for 298 yards and a pair of touchdowns against Duke. In my book, Duke and Maine are comparable.
Pick: UConn

Syracuse vs. Iowa, 8:05 pm EDT
The ‘Cuse managed to make people feel embarrassed for them last week. Iowa, while not amazing, managed to receive one vote (one whole vote!) in the AP poll. If the Orange manage to keep the loss to 16 points or less, we’ll call it a moral victory.
Pick: Iowa

South Florida vs. (16) Auburn, 9:00 pm EDT
Everyone’s Big East sleeper team will have a tough test playing War Eagle on the road. One guy who can make a difference for USF is freshman RB Mike Ford, a former Alabama recruit. Meanwhile, Auburn’s ground game was nonexistent (62 yards) against Kansas State. Matt Grothe and his great passing accuracy helps the Bulls knock off the ranked Tigers for the upset.
Pick: South Florida

Track the scores here.

(Rankings used are from the BlogPoll.)

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