First it was Derek Kinder’s ACL, now it’s DT Gus Mustakas. He was injured during yesterday’s game against Grambling State and will miss the rest of the season. The injuries that this team has seen are disheartening, with out top QB, WR, and DT out for either a long period of time (Stull) or the whole year (Kinder, Mustakas). Mustakas was the second leading tackler for the Panthers this year before he went down.
“We are incredibly disappointed for Gus,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “He was off to an outstanding start this season and had been playing like an all-star caliber defensive lineman since the spring. Fortunately, Gus can receive a medical redshirt. I know he will show his trademark dedication during the rehabilitation process and get himself ready for action next year.” (Trib.)
Losing a player for the whole season in a game against a 1-AA team definitely stinks. Even though injuries will happen in a sport like football, having all of these happen before we even play a tough game are really hard to swallow.
Over/under on how many minutes into the broadcast before its mentioned that we’ve already lost 4 of our top starters? Is this going to be the theme/excuse this year?
Are you considering Collier a “top starter”?
I’m only counting Mustakas, Stull, and Kinder.
We should do a “Red Out” at Heinz Field for the UCONN game – along the lines of PSU’s “White Out”. Every PITT fan should wear a red T-shirt that says…
“Wait ’til Next Year – then we will be REALLY good” on it.
Still optimistic for MSU game – no reason we can go up there and win a close one.
No one really is giving PITT’s defense credit for how they played when the other teams have been in our red zone – very little points given up, 6 I believe and that’s with a lot of plays run. I don’t care who you’re playing – to stiffen up like that is good defense.
I agree with you…I’m not sure about the negativity, but perhaps this is a fanbase is too used to waiting for the bottom to fall out. Maybe the margin of victory wasn’t quite what some wanted it to be considering the quality of opponent (let’s not forget that Pitt got incredibly conservative in the second halves of both games. Against EMU, they did so by design when Stull went out. Against Grambling, the game was well in hand and there was no sense flinging the ball all over the field and risk some turnovers that could’ve let Grambling back in the game).
I got my first glimpse at this new Pitt team on Saturday and I’m starting to see glimpses of what Wannstedt is trying to build here.
For the first time in his tenure, opposing RBs are being met at the line of scrimmage by defensive linemen and linebackers. It doesn’t seem to be the LBs and DBs making the bulk of the tackles so far this year. This is even more encouraging knowing that pretty much the entire DL two-deep is made up of underclassmen, and some of these kids are going to be monsters. The interior guys have done a nice job so far tying up blockers and allowing the LBs to roam a bit. And the DE’s have done a nice job on inside contain.
For the first time in Wannstedt’s tenure, Pitt has fundamentally-sound linebackers. H.B. Blades was solid, but they had to upgrade over what they had with Session and Bennett over the last couple of years. It’s nice to see LBs that don’t spend their time on the field catching running backs as they come flying through a six-foot wide gap in the line, or get faked out of their jockstraps by every head fake or shoulder dip thrown at them. Watch Shane Murray…that kid may not be huge, but he’s about as fundamentally-sound a tackler as I’ve seen in at least a few years out of the Pitt LBs.
And for the first time in Wanny’s tenure, Pitt’s QBs aren’t running for their lives two seconds after taking the snap from center. The line has done a very nice job on the pass block, which you couldn’t say in each of the last two years. I know Pitt’s played some pretty lousy teams so far, but pretty lousy teams gave the O-line fits on the pass rush over the last couple of years. So this is at least a start.
This is a team that’s also got a ton of weapons at their disposal in the passing game, and both Byham and Strong will add an entirely new wrinkle to that. Teams are still going to force Pitt to pass, but if they work a nice intermediate pass attack with the receivers and tight ends and take a few good shots downfield, sooner or later, defenses are going to have to respect the passing game as well. That can only free up room for McCoy and make things easier on the o-line.
I’m encouraged by what I see so far. Wannstedt is building something here, particularly on defense.
