Yeah, our oline looks terrible. At least Shady is smart enough to bounce those stupid inside run calls outside. And don’t we have a fucking 5 yard slant pattern for 3rd and 5? Twice now…what a mess.

Thanks for the nocall on tackling out of bounds, but hammering us was a 10 yard holding instead.

More running into the backs of our oline, still no slant pattern for 3rd and 3, instead we throw a pick.

This is a disaster.

Don’t we run a “west coast offense”? Isn’t that what cav calls it? DO WE HAVE A FUCKING SLANT PATTERN? 3rd and 3, 3rd and 4, 3rd and 5….runs, 20+yd pass patterns? WTF are we doing? Trying to lose?

And who blew that coverage, 40? Way to let a guy stand on the 5 waiving his arms for the ball. What a mess.

Whats the call now, down 7? Run into the back of our oline some more, and throw an int on 3rd down or punt on 4th?

Thank god he took that outside. That kid is fucking amazing. Heisman baby.

LE-SEAN MC-COY

THank you god… WE have a D that can sack.

We need to find a way to get smith his confidence back. That was a great call b/c if smith puts the ball on the spot it is a huge play

I dont think bostick is the answer because you need to be mobile against MSU with our O Line.

Lets go pitt

Smith is struggling big time. I’m afraid to even think of Bostick right now. Just give Shady the ball I guess.

Well, Anthony Morelli looks like usual. Our Qb is terrible. Our coaching was doing nothing to help him, then he throws a 20yd pass to a WR screen 3 yds away.

Please, get Bostick in the game. I can’t watch this hack Smith anymore. At least with Bostick, we can throw for 0 passing yards and gain some experience.

Just ugggggly. You know when I’m wishing for Walt Harris’ offense, something’s wrong.

it may be time to get smith out of the game. i hate to throw bostick to the wolves but cav needs to do something

I think it’s time for the Pat Bostick Experience. Kevan Smith is just not going to improve the rest of the day. ZERO passing yards through 1 1/2 quarters is NOT good.

And Dorin Dickerson!

Our defense looks like it’s leagues above last years. 3 sacks for us so far = good.

I think the only decision is which QB do you want throwing the picks? We need a miracle, or they’re really going to figure out that our only play is to 25.

This game is far from over, but who would have expected to say “Your D looks pretty decent, but your O sucks the big one” at this point?

This game is ripe for the picking, and MSU is a bunch of headcases. If we wouldn’t score for them, we could win this thing.

Good job Dave, let’s end the half on a sack. Call the damn timeout and give shady a run for the love of sports.

smith is terrible…put in bostick so he can actually thow some deep passes to turner, pestano, porter, mcgee, and byham…we have great receivers…someone needs to get them the ball

Great first half… we had bad bounces (interceptions) but we are in the game.

It stinks that our qb cant throw the football b/c our receivers can do alot of damage especially w the way mccoy is running.

How should we start the second half out? Play action? Mo william reverse? A screen? Or the long ball?

WHat about pump fake? The corners will bite and we can over top of them wiht our taller rceivers

I’m not sure why anyone is calling for Bostick. Did you people see him last week? The only thing you should be calling for is a miracle that fixes stulls thumb at the half, Palko to find out he actually has 1 year of eligibility remaining, or put in 2 RBs and run the fucking option. Or I guess pray that Bostick looks NOTHING like last week and comes out like Marino.

The sad part is we look like the better team so far except for 1 fucking player: the QB.

Why do you do this to me Pitt?

LeSean is Le-git

i fucking love the guy, put him at qb. much to love to our d in the 1st half

Our offense coaches SUCK!!!!! I can’t take these stupid fucking screen passes anymore. That interception for 6 is all Cavanaugh. Why call that fucking play? They know it is coming and it isn’t going to lead to a first down. Just give the fucking ball to our stud running back or throw deep. Our quarterback is a freshman and cannot run the stupid west coast offense. Accept it and hand the ball to your BLUE CHIP, STUD, RIDICULOUS 5 STAR running back or run play action. It isn’t that fucking hard. Anybody who plays Madden can do better than this.

Once they realize our QB should be in the PeeWee league, its going to get real ugly. They’re going to put 9 in the box, realize he can’t hit a wide open anyone, and stop Shady.

We need a punt return, a pick 6, or some sort of defensive score if we want a chance here today. And put in some goddamn plays that this retard QB can throw - more than 0 yards, but less than 20. Is that a no-throw zone or something? They lose those pages of the play book until 2 minutes left in the half?

alright i was kidding about lesean playing qb, but the dude needs to touch the ball as much as possible

Did i fuckign call that or what? We’re running the fuckign option.

nice offensive scheme but should have had mo williams as the qb instead of shady.

Man .. what can we do to getsmith his confidence back. MC give him some easy decision and he is missing bad. Strong was wide open and he under throw him. We need to run a similr play and hit msu with a pump fake or something.

We have to take a shot down field

If our QBs suck so bad why are we “taking a shot” downfield? Thats an incomplete at best, INT at worst. Only do it on 3rd down as a type of punt.

LOL we turned into WVU.

There’s your deep throw. Incomplete.

Run the option, thats what crappy teams with no QB do.

oderick needs to get his head in the game, make a play and stop talking

Coaches are being creative. We have one playmaker, use him!

I can’t believe I’m giving Cavanaugh credit for creativity–now need to just throw a new wrinkle out of the “Shady” shotgun set. Pass, maybe?

It’s like High School out there. Give the ball to the best player on the field and tell him to run for his life.

Stuart you go deep bc it is the second easiet throw next to a screen. plus, as we see there is no safety help.
We took a shot and Oderrick dropped an easy touchdown pass.
Now.. the defesne needs to some up.

we need a turnover

Is our defense getting tired. I dont blame them but we a spark

We have a chance…

This is the best we could of hoped for. A fighting chance is all we can ask for at this point.

That is the spark..
Now… how do we come out offensively?

This is a huge possession. We need to give our defense some kind of breathers with a long drive

That block was huge, it could be the momentum shit we needed. Does anyone know why the D-line is doing the X arms every time they get a sack?

guys, smith is horrible, why is he still in there?

He can’t even make a decent screen pass - he tried to throw the ball thru the WR, and it was picked for 6.

I can’t believe what i’m seeing here.

Our defense has to come up huge for us here. The fact we’re down by only one the way Smith has played is ridiculous.

john - they’e doing it to show love to gus mustakas who’s out for the rest of the season

PULL SMITH!!!!!!!!!!!
This is absolutely inexcusable. When you feel safer with your running back as your QB you probably should replace the QB

and you can knock k. smith, but vangas singlehandedly killed that drive

bullshit call on berry

Has Cox (no. 5) made a tackle at all today? Every time I look at him, he’s backpeddling away from the play or he’s missing a tackle.

GREAT GAME DEFENSE! Good to see we have improved everywhere but QB (well that is our backup QB at least.)

Game is over, defense is too tired, on the field all day. I can’t believe we stayed competetive with 40 yards passing. An improvement over last year no doubt. We will be dangerous when we get Stull back. 4th and 1, doesn’t look good.

Oh Lord. I can’t believe we can still win this.

That’s called a reverse jinx people, no need to thank me.

and a fumble, nevermind, I was right the first time.

Nevermind.

we still need to find a qb

Without a competent QB this is going to happen. Bostick should get a chance next week, it obvious now.

open tryouts for qb next week?

We can probably take Virginia and UConn without a QB.

Question: Is Shady is QB, why do you still have Smith on the field? Is he adding anything to your offense?

JUST LET THEM SCORE SO WE CAN GET THE BALL BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i agree on bostick but is he ready?, only the coaches know

we are still in the game. a touchdown or field goal doesnt hurt. i would prefer a field goal but touchdown only puts us down by 8.

The problem is offensively what do we do

Our defense has been outstanding. If we throw for 100 yards we win this game. I hate to say it but that Smith INT lost us the game.

we are still in the game!!

why do they do this to us. give us hope, rip it away. give it back, rip it away again. now what? option? qb under center? BOSTICK?

If we lose this game, it is due to coaching. Specifically, Dave W. decision to not pull smith. You cannot expect to win running McCoy as the QB for the whole second half (he took more snaps at QB than smith) You cannot tell me that as bad as Smith has played, Bostick would do worse.

Man, I’m glad we decided to stick with Smith no matter what, it really looks like its working out in the end. If by some miracle we win this game it won’t be because of Smith, it will be in spite of him.

why didnt we run a draw to mccoy

holy shit he completed a pass on 4th and 18; we are still breathing

what a waste of a good defensive effort, they better find a qb, we should have won this game.

“If we lose this game, it is due to coaching.”

And how long have I been saying that Wanny is a mental midget? The ESPN commentators were ripping him for not pulling Kevan Smith, if only to save his psyche for another day. This game may have ruined him as a Pitt Panther.

more importantly - if not for the fumble on the previous drive, we kick a field goal and win the game.

Well……..at least we were competetive against a decent team for the first time in 3 years.

Unbelievable that they didn’t at least give Bostick a series, for Christ’s sake.

Our OL + Smith is a disaster. If we are going to lose again, we should lose with Bostick. Frustrating but we had a chance in the end so we CAN build on this but we need a new QB, period. McCoy was amazing…best player on the team by far.

fucking unreal! nebraska, uconn, and now this. lesean mccoy and defense, if you need to transfer, do it. what a disgrace.

I’m not entirely sure Michigan State is decent. Remember, they’re not called Michigan Choke for nothing. Hoyer still makes dumb mistakes. Had that been Stanton instead, I think MSU would have put 40 on the board.

There is no excuse for this one. We lost this game due to Wanny’s decision not to pull smith.

I can’t believe how unlucky Pitt is! Fucking Kevan Smith sucks ass. Bill Stull wins us this game by 20 points. McCoy is sick and the rest of the offense shouldn’t even come home. Oderick Turner drops a fucking touchdown pass. Way to help your freshman QB. The rest of your idiots calling for the coaches head for not playing Bostick obviously weren’t at the game last week. That kid is not ready to play. He tried to kill himself a month ago.

hey- we were competitive all game with mor than one chance to win.

Hopefully, everyone can see what DW is building. Ma, if we had any type of qb play this game could have been different.

Well, at least we learned a few things.

Our defense has improved.

Our o line sucks.

We have nothing that even resembles a QB.

We lost cause Smith sucks - Wanny showed he could change if needed. A pro NFL coach resorting to the option? That was like him eating shit to try and get a win.

You people act like Bostick would have been better. They kid was TERRIBLE. No where near ready. I thought we all would stop this shit after seeing him last week, cause i sure learned.

Back to the drawing board. When does Stull get healthy? We could be a second half of the season sleeper.

ok Joshua let’s think along these lines, if we would have had stull we would have scored a few more times also.

they played a good game in most phases do not take that away from them, smith was not effective in any manner, time to give bostick his chance.

still impressed by the defense today - we’d have something really special if we were healthy.

If we all need to feel better put on the ND-Michigan game.

Gritty effort by Pitt–banged up, young,but showed a lot of heart–and when is the last time anyone said that about us? No complaints about Rhodes today–D was huge most of the game. Pitt almost stole this one–thought they were going to kick a long FG to win it.

Would have liked to see more roll-outs–and maybe Shady can throw the ball a little bit–but he will be fun to watch for as long as we have him.

Bostick may not be “ready” but Smith showed he was incapable of running the offense. Dont you have to give Pat a shot? It is impossible to win without being able to pass. Running the Ark. formation was a great decision but as we got to see, MSU just packed the box with 9 men and it became ineffective.
McCoy is a godsend. Our D looks great, I couldnt believe I was watching Pitt. We need a QB, you have to try bostick. Saying he isnt ready after 1
series is ridiculous.

Bostick looked terrible and if the coaches don’t think he improved enough to be even better than that mess at QB, what would give anyone else an idea that he was going to do anything at all? You people are dreaming if you think he’s going to tear it up with 1 week of practice from that disaster last week. We’re going to have to suck it up until Stull gets back.

The worst part is with stull, 8 or 9 wins suddenly looked possible. Instead, .500 will be a gift.

If Wannstedt plays Smith next week - Donna Sandft should fire him on the spot!!!!!!!!!!!!

PLEASE READ THIS….. BOSTICK IS NOT READY. The game was competive and the arkansas offense did it job during the second half. There was no reason to bring in Bostick to watch out stnk smith. Be honest- Smith did admirable job for being his second start in a hostile environment. Could he have played alittle better yes but nerves got the best of him.

Hopefully, we keep the energy from the MSU game into next weeks game.

there is nothing to admire about kevan smith’s performance today. however turner/vangas/porter certainly didn’t help him out

As much as I have bashed Rhoads and the defense the past couple of years, I have to give them credit for keeping us in the game today. I think MSU had something to do with that thanks to all their penalties, but at least we didn’t get run out of the stadium. Great job!
How long is McCoy going to hold up if we run him every play? Not long in my opinion. He’s a great back, but not much bigger than Stephens-Howling. His effort today was Herculean, but we can’t ask him to do that every game. He’ll be a cripple by the time he leaves early for the draft.
Collins whiffed on quite a few blocks today. I’m surprised they replaced McCoy with Collins on the final drive, presumably for blocking purposes.
Also, on Smith’s fumble during the final drive the MSU clock man let about 10 seconds run off while they were trying to sort out possession. Certainly enough time for one more shot at the end zone (if the game didn’t end on fourth down - I can’t remember).
Dickerson looks out of sorts and incapable of making a tackle. A whole lot of grasping for air and not much squaring up and making contact. Despite what people say about his athleticism, I’m not sure he’s cut out for LB.
Phillips played a great game in the secondary. He was all over the place.
Most importantly, our defensive line played exceptionally well. Short-handed and under-manned, they held their own against a much bigger MSU offensive line for 60 minutes. Superb showing!

The Arkansas formation was never really “ineffective.” If it weren’t for Porter’s fumble, I wouldn’t have doubted them driving at least into FG range.

Bostick is not fucking ready. The coaches would have played if he was. The kid was so bad last week it hurt. He may never be ready. At least we have McCoy. He is a player! TJ Porter has to hang on to the ball in that situation. We should have won that game. Please let Stull get healthy in time for Navy. We can do some damage this year. Our defense is for real. We actually got penetration from our D-line. Are you serious! I haven’t seen that for 10 years. Very encouraging. We can win some games this year on defense. Hopefully Bill Stull comes back and gives the offense some a lift. Very encouraged!

Alright from this game we found out that McCoy is going to be an absolute stud, we also found out that our defense has improved even though it still goes by the bend dont break mentality. Another thing is that we are basically screwed until stull gets back.. Smith is not a very good QB and Bostick I feel isnt close to being ready. For now keep giving McCoy the ball and whichever QB does start next week needs to find their rhythm early for a chance of having a decent game.

Omar you are dead on about the D. I cant believe this is the same team we watched last year. We got pressure on the QB, stopped the run, played good pass defense. I couldn’t believe my eyes. God Smith was bad. Hopefully Bill is a fast healer.

A freshman QB goes into his first hostile environment in the second start of his career and plays horrible…shocking. I doubt that Bostick would have made an ounce of difference. The fact is some of our more experienced players hurt us bad…Turner dropping and easy TD pass (4 Pt swing); Porter fumbling the ball and the game away to MSU late (and both of them had the stupidity to roll their eyes at Smith after bad passes to them a later points in the game; and my all time favorite…our SR center Vangas getting called for a face mask penalty, turning a second and goal at the five into a second and goal at the twenty. Also, while the defense played great overall, how about all those third and long situations they gave up with their “soft” zone defense! Or how about that great kick off coverage we showed. Please, Smith had a bad game, my guess is it sets him on the road to being a better QB, but you can’t say he lost this game for us. Their was plenty of blame to go around. All in all, after my initial frustration with the loss, I see progress from both lines and that is a good thing. And of course, Shady is the man and he will make the entire offense better.

ND’s OL has to be worse than ours. Smith might not be as bad as Clausen, although Kevan has had a year to learn he game. Watching ND play on Offense is like watching Wiley Coyote get squashed by an anvil and then hearing that BWAH BWAH BWAH BWWAAAAA music afterwards.

Our defense might be better than Louisville and WVU at this point. Our secondary coach, Ball, has done an amazing job. Clermond and Duncan need to stay healthy for our line to succeed.

McCoy is not going to be an absolute stud. He already is! That kid is fucking unbelievable. How lucky are we to be able to watch him for three seasons? He is going to put PITT back on the map.

My apologies Omar your right but another score i saw was Uconn beating Temple 22-18 with the owls completing a pass in the endzoe as time expired but the reciever did not keep his feet inbound. So next week i expect McCoy to have another 100 yard game and will be a good game for either QB to gain some confidence before the real games start.

Someone call Bill Stull and find out how his thumb feels, then.

Smith and the entire offense, save McCoy, was atrocious. I don’t care if you are a freshman. Trying to throw that screen pass through the receiver for pick 6 cost Pitt the game. He was beyond awful and needs to get better right now.

Hey at least we have a Running game and good D. It will win us some games. Id rather have this than a passing game and no defense what so ever.

Smith sucks..he totally blew it for us..still alot om improvement…and if i heard that story about jahuu caulrick fleeing when he was 8 one more time..i was gonna flip.I must have heard it atleast 5 times.omg…i saw put in Bostick.he cant be any worse!I mean can he at least thhrow a 6 yard pass??cus if the answer is yes then he is much better than smith…no wonder swith only won one game in HS..he SUCKS!!!!

Jared,

Bostick cannot throw a 6 yard pass. Believe me.

even on that last drive Smith could not complete the quick throw to porter he throws it at his feet and we loose prescious time but other then Smith i feel very good about this team because to be honest i feared a much worse lose then 17-13 with less then 100 yard throwing so lets not give up yet its a long season and our QB situation seems like it can only improve

slam smith if you want, but oderick turner looked like gree lee out there this afternoon with the pass going off his fingertips for pick #2 and the drop of a perfect pass

“How lucky are we to be able to watch him for three seasons?”

Try two years. He was in prep school for a year after the horrific ankle injury (one year removed from HS). This season and next make three years removed from HS, making him eligible for early entry a la Larry Fitzgerald. If he keeps seeing the QB carousel like he did today, then he will bolt out of Wannyville.

Oh, and to those talking smack about Bostick vs. Smith, remember that this is the same guy who said Jay Fiedler was an NFL-caliber starter.

McCoy is going to be around for 2 seasons at least. That is enough for me. He is SICK!

i dont care what anyone says. Wanny lost that game. Smith didnt do one thing. It wouldnt hurt one bit to try bostick. when you have mccoy lined up as qb the kids confidence is already shot. Hell, throw strong in at qb. Wanny should have had a new qb in there.
Defense was GREAT. cant believe im saying that for a paul rhodes d. I worry that a spread offense will still rip us apart though.
Mccoy was the offense today. The kid is AMAZING! What a complete stud!

Yes Turner did drop the one in the end zone but the one that went off his hands and go picked off was thrown way too hard!!!Smith just has no touch on his passes…he gives up on the plays way too much.How manyt times did Andre ware say that he saw a guy wide open but smith missed him…??like 4 times…bostick cant do any worse…i can see why smithhh was only a 2 star out of HS and why he only won 1 games as a senior…pathetic!

AAAAARRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! OK… Let me down another shot or two of Maker’s Mark and I think I can talk about this game now. Gulp… Gulp…

First off, God bless the defense!!! Thought the Spartans would run all over us with that huge O-Line of theirs. Clermond, Duncan, the McKillops, and the rest of the boys did one hell of a job today. They should hold their heads high when they think about this game in the future. They really had MSU’s number this afternoon.

Unfortunately, that was only one part of the game.
The other side of the ball, on the other hand, seemed to forget to show today. Well let me change that slightly, because we did have one shining star there. Shady McCoy is the real deal!!! The kid is phenomenal!!! Lets just hope we don’t get him killed!

As for our O-Line… I can’t complain anymore without getting another drink. Anyone else remember when Pitt always had a great O-Line? Coach Dave needs to recruit us some offensive linemen worth a lick!!!!

OK… Gulp… I had another shot and here we go!!! KEVAN SMITH SUCKS!!! He looked like a scared deer with a tractor trailer bearing down on him all day except on two pass plays (one of which should have been caught for an easy touchdown - thanks Turner)!!! Is Bostick the answer? I don’t know, but I think/hope we are gonna find out next Saturday night.

Anyways, Hail to Pitt!!!!!

turner still got his hands on the ball, got to catch it. and his constant yapping with michigan state’s db got him nowhere. i was confused as to why he was struggling to keep a starting job during the spring, but now i’m not. the dude needs to step it up next week

in smith’s defense this was his first real start (on the road in front of 75,000 no less). but that being said i agree with jared, he just had no touch or placement on his passes. the receiver had to stretch to catch even screens, and the pick 6 was entirely his fault- he put it way to high for turner.

anyone know if mccoy can throw?

Bostick should probably play since he already burned his redshirt. However, I fear that he really sucks and isn’t cut out to be a college quarterback. Think about it, the coaches put the running back at QB. They didn’t even try Bostick. He has to either stink, or not have the confidence of the team. Probably both.

Omar, you are right about Bostick. If everybody thinks putting him into the game to fail would be bad for his delicate psyche, how must he feel now? That this coaching staff has so much regard for him that when the starter played possibly the worst I’ve seen of a Pitt QB since Tony Zimmerman in 1996, in a game that was winnable until the final minutes, they brought in A FRESHMAN RUNNING BACK WHO NEVER PLAYED QB IN HIS LIFE instead of Bostick!!!! AND CHANGED THE ENTIRE OFFENSE! I discounted what happened earlier in camp, but Bostick must be a total zero, or his emotional problems from earlier this year really have destroyed any confidence the coaches have.

I have to say that’s the best effort I’ve seen out of the team since Wanny took over.

And looking at things, we can take UConn and Virginia and then hopefully Stull comes back. So 4-1 is doable (and maybe 5-1 vs. Navy).

And, devil’s advocate, if Turner makes his catch then MSU kicks a field goal to go up instead of going for it, and so and, etc. You just can’t win when you’re 0-12 on 3rd down.

Better coaching, but the worst play call was handing off to Shady on 3rd and 1 for a loss when Collins had just made a quick hitter. Everyone on mSU knew Shady was getting the ball.

Stop comparing Bostick to Marino. Dan didn’t leave camp after a rumored psychological meltdown. Dan Marino he is not.

The rsad part is coming into this season we weren’t sure how we would do, but cleary the defense and rhoads are stepping up. No question with Stull we win this game by 3 tds. If Stull is back by the Navy game we will go 8-4.

Agree with whoever said that putting Mo Williams back at qb and havin mccoy as the motion man in that wildcat formation would be the best. This is the first time in a very long time I was truly impressed with the effort from the team. The difference from the past is that the team now believes that they can win. Mccoy is one of the 5 best backs inj the country and this may have lit a fire under him for the rest of the season. I know its bad to look ahead, but this is a Top 10 team in 2008 without question.

a top 10 team in 2008, rob you have had too much to drink… you think they are close to usc, lsu, florida, texas, oklahoma, even wvu???

come on, you have to be kidding!!!

Hmmm…I liked that Arkansas formation…It puts the ball in the best players hands…Perhaps the Pitt staff wanted to give Mr. Pryor something to think about…Move over Slaton and White, here comes Shady and Pryor!!! (cue the alarm clock). Wow, what a great dream that was!! Or was it….

I liked the Arkansas formation….however, could someone explain the logic of putting Smith at receiver? He doesn’t block and is useless in that formation.

Sorry to tell all of you this but I am MUCH more excited about the season now than I was before the start of the season. For our offense to play like that and not lose by 30 says a lot.

And for all of you “fire Wanny” morons. Go hang yourselves, please.

I think you guys are missing the point with Bostick and his psyche. His mental breakdowns have nothing to do with his ability to perform on the football field. That is where he feels at home the most, and frankly, Kevan Smith wasn’t doing anything short of breaking down on the football field. Not only could he not make the throws, but whenever he got touched or close to touched, he tucked it and ran. He did not look like a qb, so why not even TRY Bostick next week? And before you talk about how if PAt were ready, he’d be in, lets look at Dorin Dickerson, our army-all american who is a sophomore after playing in all of 2 plays last year. YOu guys can say what you want about Bostick, but the fact is that when your tailback is doing a better job of running the offense than your starting qb, then a change has to be made.

Jon C,

I am fairly certain that the reason Smith was still in there was that the QB is still the guy who gets the play in from the sidelines. Admittedly, it’s not hard to guess what the play would be, but the QB for most teams is the guy with the wristbands and the only guy who knows what is being relayed in as the play.

John C - I also think that the defense looks out on the field, and if they don’t see Smith, they know for sure what’s coming and can adjust their personnel as needed. With Smith on the field, there’s always the chance at a throw.

Let’s pack Heinz next week and get our revenge on UConn!

KS obviously didn’t have a good game, however I think it foolish to conclude that he won’t be any good after just 2 starts, and probably even more foolish to conclude that Bostick won’t be any good after exactly 0 starts. There is bound to be a learning curve for both of them. And as bad as he played today, there were a handful of plays where he showed some flashes as to why he’s a D1 QB on scholarship, (drop by turner, completion to Strong, 4th and 18 conversion). Obviously I’m not arguing he had a good game, or even that there’s reason to believe he’ll get better, I’m just arguing to reserve judgement for a little while. Coming in to this season and this game, the hype was that McCoy was going to be a big time running back, and that the D-line was deep and much improved. They both made major statements today, and given my expectations (more or less expected a repeat of last year), I’m encouraged and feel a lot better about this season than before the game.

Doz your tellin me that next year with all of the guys coming back and with the experience not to mention one of the best backs in the country that we arent as good as lville is this year. Our defense this year is better than theirs is and our offense will be hard to stop next year. We should have an above average passing game and a really good running game along with a defense that will have many veterans. So tell me why won’t we be able to compete for the Top 10?

go put the usc game on right now, see what you think….

by the way, louisville is LOOSING to kentucky, they have NOT shown that they are a top ten team this year!!

IF BOSTICK WERE A BETTER OPTION, THEN THE COACHES WOULD HAVE PUT HIM IN. FOR FUCK’S SAKE THEY PUT MCCOY AT QB. BOSTICK WAS NOT A BETTER OPTION, PERIOD!!!!! I DON’T CARE HOW MANY STARS HE HE HAD, HE WASN’T READY TODAY.

Beat UConn and Virginia? 4-1? Are you people kidding? We may not win a game until Stull gets back.

Maybe Bostick doesn’t know enough of the play book, maybe they don’t want his morale to get crushed because he is the future, maybe he just isn’t ready. The kid has 2 pass plays called for him last week, a pick and a delay of game penalty as he stood out there trying to figure out what was going on. Against fucking Grambling.

And that pass to Porter, not to split hairs, but it was underthrown 1 or 2 yards. No doubt he should have caught that, but when he had to slow down, he lost that 1 yard lead he had on the DBs, and suddenly the catch gets harder because you have two guys tackling you as your trying to catch the ball - plus he had to turn all the way around in stead of catching it in stride. That ball is thrown 1 or 2 yards deeper he walks into the endzone, i have no doubt.

If Smith doesn’t stink and give them 14 points, we win 13-3. And if that ball he threw away IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD gets caught, we lose by 11 instead of 4. There are no two ways about it, he was terrible, and the loss was his fault. And taking sack after sack at the end, use your fuckign head. Yes, the line is half at fault, but he has no pocket presence.

And the Defense played “very good,” but not “great.” They secondary had some TERRIBLE coverage at times. Luckily our red zone D got much better than last year.

If we have anything that resembles a QB, we go 6- or 7-0, and win 8+ games. We need Stull back as soon as possible to give us a shot at a bowl game this year.

And we can’t keep this gimmick crap up forever, we’re going to get Shady killed. We’d honestly be better off with 2 RBs and a QB, instead of 1 RB doing everything on every play.

And I’m thinking Shady can’t throw a lick because there is no reason we wouldn’t have thrown 1 time when they’re packing the box with 10.

I hope they see the only running we’re getting done is to the outside. Stop running into the backs of our crappy oline, that gets us nowhere. All the yardage is around the corner or on the outsides on the option plays. Until we have a real line in 1-2 years (we have decent young lineman, they’re just young), we’re not running anywhere between the tackles.

We’re going to need a miracle to win against Uconn next week. You see, they have a QB.

And never in my life have i ever gotten sick to my stomach everytime they’d walk up to the line and the QB would go under center instead of line up at WR, like i did today. Every time, i thought “oh no…no…not this…anything but this…please don’t throw another pick….please…” It never crossed my mind that he would throw a completion - it just seemed like taking a knee (or worse).

I think the thing that’ll stop us from being a top 10 will be our oline still being too young. There may be other issues we don’t see right now, but that seems to be the biggest.

We need help if we want to win any games. One of these guys needs to get their head our of their asses, otherwise we’re crossing off days on a calendar until Stull gets back.

And finally, if we’re ND, maybe our QB completes some more passes because we give him only dumbass patterns (and eventually you have to be able to throw a screen pass, right?), but we lose 3-0. What we really needed was punt return or int for a TD to have a shot. Oh well, can’t blame them for not getting one.

Maybe Bostick didn’t play because they spent all week preparing this Jeff Long Gimmick Offense and couldn’t give him any practice reps.

But more likely they don’t have any confidence in him this year.

Bottom line it didn’t produce any TDs and they didn’t have a guy like Strong or Williams running it, so there’s absolutely no threat of a pass. So it’s doomed. And it reeked of Walt Harris trickery/gimmickry. Isn’t there some happy medium in this freakin’ program between smashmouth football and total dingbattery?

Sadly too, while the D did OK, it didn’t come close to causing any killer turnovers. And our vaunted kickoff return duo didn’t break anything. Lowell and Porter have been disappointments and we need to try Mo Williams or LSH (when healthy again, though maybe I should say “if ever”). Clearly from what we saw today this team needs to try to get points from any source it can. Half-hearted tiptoe kick returns from the 15 to the 25 don’t do it for me. Look what a boost MSU got from long kickoff returns.

It’s so hard being a fan of this program, dammit…

Sheesh, Stuart. UConn almost lost to Temple today (and should have - the refs blew that one). Pitt is light years ahead of Temple and we are not going to need a miracle to beat UConn. Virginia almost lost to Duke, and Pitt is way better than Duke.

Think of it this way - Pitt didn’t convert a single third down, had 40 yards passing until the final drive and gave up 17 points off turnovers - and was a play or two away from winning. Am I saying Pitt can play like crap again next week and win? Not necessarily. But you don’t write every game off just because the QB has one horrible outing and pisses the game away. For crying out loud, UConn nearly lost today to TEMPLE. At home. Don’t try to tell me Pitt is the same level as Temple.

We will beat UCONN by 20+ points. No question. The defense is legit. If Elijah Fields is eligible, then he would have scored today. Philips and Thatcher both dropped interceptions. And we should have scored on the blocked field goal. Smith sucks complete ass. Oderick Turner played like complete shit. LeSean McCoy is awesome. We will win 8-9 games this year. Stull needs to be healthy by the middle of October. It’s on.

Holy F’n Sht, Stuart. Do you really think we are going to need a miracle to beat UConn?
We will stomp Uconn and Virginia. Both of them are bad….real bad. Sorry I don’t have an hour to write a 2 page explanation to back that up.
Our defense allowed 10 points today, both times off turnovers. If the biggest complaint about your D is that they “didn’t cause any turnovers”, then your D had a good day.

First of all, to accuse the coaching staff of doing a bad job is nothing short of insane. You’ve got no QB with any experience, except for mediocre prospect who played 12 games in his entire HS life and a stud prospect that missed an entire week of camp who has throw one ball in college that got picked almost for a TD.

Yet they almost won this game - to make a move into a completely different formation was freakin’ brilliant. The design of the offense was fantastic as well.

Another thing that is complete BS, is that no one has given credit to the fact that just last year we legitimately had one of the worst defensive line I have ever seen. Yet, in one measly year, Wannestedt has totally revamped the defense - and he’s done that with our #1 DT, who is out for the year. There surely was a feeling of futility with the O today, but once again, in one stupid year, Wannestedt goes out and gets this darn Freshman, who instantly becomes our best offensive player.

I’m telling you right now, we lose Otah and McGlynn next year, which hurts, but Nix can play as a frosh. If Lumpy can get healthy, he is awesome. Think about how much better the D will be in a year. Bigger, stronger, faster…it will be sick. The QB play should be fine next year.

I just cannot understand how some of you can be so darn negative. That team last year was not very good. This team this year, even with all the injuries and all the issues, is much better. The loss is frustrating, but man, not all is lost.

None of you realize that when your QB is throwing pick 6’s, your amazing defense is on the bench. WE LOST TODAY BECAUSE THE QB TURNED THE BALL OVER AND THEY GOT ALL THEIR POINTS OFF OF THEM. It doesn’t matter how bad the other team sucks when your QB is hitting them in the numbers with the ball.

And no third downs this week, but we’re going to be great next week? What makes any of you think we’re going to turn this around in one week? Do you people just ignore whats right in front of your eyes? We all watched that game, right? We had open receivers, he just can’t hit them.

I’m not all negative. As soon as Stull is back, its on. We’re much improved, except the douche who touches the ball on EVERY play sucks. He’ll keep turning it over. They’ll put 9 in the boxto stop Shady, and then we have nothing. I want to know how you people think we’re going to win next week? Where are all the points coming from? You think we’re winning 3-0?

Jon C, it wasn’t a complaint that the D didn’t cause any turnovers, i was pointing out a fact. And considering that is our best chance at scoring, i’m not liking our chances in any game the D doesn’t score until Stull gets back. I said they were very good. Now explain to me how the D is going to stop Smith from giving them points.

I don’t understand how we’re supposed to win by default if neither offense can score. Seems like it would come down to which team turns the ball over more. And from what i saw today…

Jon C, you must be the typical Pitt fan, eating up all the sh*t that Wanny spews out. Everywhere Wanny has been, he has had QB and OLine problems. So Bostick was a bad signing. WHOSE FAULT IS THAT? And if he wasn’t a bad signing, then he should have been in the game, as he couldn’t have been worse than Kevan Smith. Shady cannot continue taking direct snap after direct snap, or he’ll get himself crippled a la Earl Campbell before he is ever eligible for the draft. So, if you want to assign blame for this game, 2/5 goes to Smith, 1/10 goes to the receivers, and 1/2 goes to the coaches.

Oh, and to those of you “I wanna suck Wanny off” guys, go catch an STD.

Wow…this late at night, after reading some of these posts here by Jon C., Stuart, and Joshua, I am just laughing my head off. Some of you guys really are funny, especially the ones who either love or hate Wanny.

I can’t imagine Bostick has no talent, but I can believe putting him in there to get destroyed won’t do him any good. He may be immature or a basket case right now, or not know enough of the game plan, and just need some time. FCS this is Smiths second year, and he looks like they found him on the street on the way into the stadium. Why murder our true freshman future QB with no O-line and a shortend play book that looks like tecmo bowl?

As bad as this sounds, I’d rather have them destroy Smith’s morale over the next few weeks then do permanent damage to Bostick. One of them is the future, the other, obvisouly, is not.

And then Stull gets back, and we’ll be in the big east race. Maybe even make a bowl game.

My biggest question right now is what is the timetable for Stull’s return? What game is he back for best case, and what game is he back for worst case?

ryan, you obviously dont know a thing about football, and i wonder if you watched the same game as the rest of the world. To call Wanny’s coaching brilliant makes me wonder if you graduated from penn state. Im guessing you never played football and you are one of those guys that catches a quarter or two on your couch every once in a while.
Not putting in a new qb was the dumbest move. The arkansas package in the 3rd quarter is alright when your d is playing legit and you have a close game, but when we line up Smith as a reciever and fail to use him in the package it is damn retarded… If he is in there use him, because he isnt fast and he doesnt block for crap. (it is good they didnt use him or MSU might have beaten us by another td) I dont care what anyone says about mental ability and Bostick. It is the fourth quarter. If he does okay he gets confidence. If he does horrible you say hey you came in cold and he still gets good experience. Pitt was here to win a football game and keeping Smith in the game lost it. If stull is out 4-6 more weeks we are going to need someone to throw the ball and hell if im going to trust 4 more games with Kevan Smith. Get the kid some experience, and if for some reason you still wont play him then put Strong in. I know for a fact that you have to try really hard to play worse than Smith.

The Defense did a stellar job. Anyone who argues otherwise is a moron. The fact that they didnt create turnovers is not a good arguement to say they didnt play well. You have to remember that the defense was on the field A LONG TIME today… I was impressed with our front four, but i worry about seeing a spread offense and the ability to stretch a slow front four. The first run of the game reminded me of what WVU will do to us. ( when ringer ran a counter and went about 10-15 yards untouched)

Mccoy had that dare i say Larry Fitzgerald attitude today where he didnt care what he was doing or who he was playing he was getting the job done and not making a mistake. ( special especially from a freshman)

Cant really say much for the WR’s except that any that when you keep making routes and not getting balls your way it gets very frustrating and can mentally take you out of a game.

O-line- same old crap… cant stop a three man rush. Mccoy helped them out many times by getting 3 to 4 yard runs out of plays that should have been dead in the backfield.

All in all i was incouraged. The qb position will get better with experience. (this was really the first real team any of the pitt qbs have seen) Especially as a qb you get MUCH better with experience. Defense was great! (I think we are a good d against a pro package, and not so much against a more dynamic spread offense) Mccoy might win heisman just because we sure as hell arent passing the ball, and he is the only one you can trust. (that was a joke… he wont win heisman)

on the real good news! everyone and i mean EVERYONE is laughing at the Big Ten. They suck this year. PSU struggles to put out Buffalo. THey still havent played anyone and if they are the best team in the big ten like mr. herbstreit says it is the worst of the BCS conferences. Wisc struggled with the citadel… (the citadel was a team pitt molested last year) i love it! the big ten sucks

Joshua, you are right. Let’s fire Wanny. Everything would be ok if we just did that. Let’s fire everyone. Fireing the coach is always the right move. Joshua, can you coach the team?

I wanted to post last night but like everyone else I was still fuming over Smith being in for th entire game. Despite his performance and the outcome of the game there were some very encouraging things to take from the game.

1. The D, for the first time in years, appears to be for real so you have to be happy about that. It was a very good defensive game plan and there are finally some players other then Revis and Blades who can execute it. Although bend but don’t break makes me very nervous.

2. Shady is as advertised and then some. There is a running game even when there are no holes.

3. Everybody is bashing the O-line and it’s pass protection but there were many times Smith had plenty of time to get passes off and either missed by a mile or bolted long before there was any pressure.

Connecticut struggled at home against Temple and is looking like a very winnable home game even with Smith at QB. If Stull is as good as he looked in Game 1 and can get back before Smith does too much damage this can be a very competitive team. It is a very young team and right now is playing like one, especially on offense.

Finally, just because we played some high school football doesn’t make us football experts. There is a reason that the know-it-alls on here are on their computers on Saturdays and not walking on a sideline on some college campus. Despite what you think you know, you don’t. Nor will you ever. The sooner you realize this the better we will all be.

Smith played a rotten game, but please don’t discount the fact that this was his first real college football game. Here are his stats: 9-18-2-85. Here are the stats for two other FR QB’s making their first or second start, both of whom were certainly more highly regarded than Smith out of HS: Clausen, ND, 11-17-1-74; Mallett, Mich, 7-15-0-90. If any of you here think that Clausen or Mallett will not get any better in the years to come, you are dead wrong. Smith will never be as good as those two, but he will get better. For the record, Clausen was lifted, but only in garbage time. For the first time in two seasons, I’m happy with what I see on the field from this team. If we can play the tough defense we did yesterday, and eliminate half of our mistakes, we can and should win 7 games. It’s a good start.

We lost.

But honestly I think this team is twice as good as it was last year. We held a good rushing offense in check and ran the ball at will, something we couldn’t do a year ago.

The offensive line still isn’t the best, but it’s a lot better than before.

And a year from now we’ll be twice the team we are now.

And oh yeah, if we have anything even slightly resembling a Div. 1A quarterback playing in that game, we win running away. That quarterback will be under center by next year when Bostick takes over.

Our day is a lot sooner than many of you think.

(Sorry if that was too positive for the typical online, post-loss bash fest.)

I am in total disagreement with anyone who believes that Smith has any right to take another snap. Like many above, I am dumbfounded by the fact that Pat Bostick did not enter yesterday’s game. (It was inconceivable in one of the worst coaching demonstrations I have ever seen.) For thosew of you who continually point to Bostick’s being “not ready yet,” I ask: When will he be? In this day and age it is not wholly uncommon to start a true freshman, whether he’s a QB, or not.

IMO, DW (and MC) demonstrated such incompetence that it made DC Paul Rhoades look like a GD genius with the defense. And I can’t help but to seriously call into question Dave Wannstedt’s ability to coach at the college level — this game demands some creativity from, foremost, the HC. And at this point, I just don’t think that this tandem (HC-OC) have any understanding aside from a pro-style offense which simply does not translate well to the college game unless you’ve got USC’s personnel.

The defense showed up to play and they were not unimpressive. McCoy, too, continued to prove why he was a consensus top-ten recruit at TB. Other than that, nothing more can be taken from the game — our WRs (i.e., O. Turner) and TEs (i.e., D. Strong) could not disguise there frustration and disgust with the garbage thrown to them by Smith. And anyone who wants to say that Turner et al. should have caught x, y or z balls passed to them is nuts — how can any of our pass catchers remain focused when the QB’s delivery is so erratic?

In agreement with ESPN’s observations, many above are equally concerned and peeved with DW’s game day decision making. And aside from Kevan Smith’s utilization, I was equally taken aback by the running game; whereas McCoy looked to be everything we expect and anticipate in a top-notch back, it couldn’t be overlooked that few others had a carry besides (at least through quarters 1-3).

Again, this game gives every reason to call into DW-MC into question. It’s a turning point for me, at least — I never wanted to feel this way about Wanny, but as some already mentioned (in gest or not), he’d probably do a lot better for himself by taking the AD position opened by Long.

Last: Omar. I’ve come to enjoy reading your perspectives/insights in the comments, but FCS man, unless you know something that the rest of do not, how you can say that Bostick “tried to kill himself last month”? Wildly speculative, libelous even, unless you can help me understand what makes you an authority on the matter; do you have a license or any other credential(s) to continuously diagnose the kid with panic attack disorder? And how is it that you’ve come to interpret personal-issues/ problems-with-life to mean someone’s a ‘head case’ - ability to function moderately/ severely compromised - is plain irresponsible. I think you’re smarter than that. Truly

I was intoxicated when I wrote that. Wish I could take it back. However, several sources with access to the locker room have confirmed the panic attack explanation. Secondly, Bostick did not look physically ready to play versus Grambling. He was out of shape. I believe the coaches did not play him because he has no credibility in the huddle. Hopefully that changes this week because Smith was truly awful yesterday. I thought Wanndstedt and Cavanaugh did a great job yesterday and showed some creativity with the direct snap to McCoy offense. If they can expand the offense to include a player that can actually pass the ball, then it should be enough to beat UCONN, Navy, and UVA. The defense was impressive yesterday, save Kenard Cox who looked like he was afraid to make a tackle. I was encouraged by the performance. I hope Pitt fans show up next week for a chance to watch McCoy. He is worth the price of admission.

I agree with you about Cox, Omar, but you know what? I think it was still Cox’s best day at Pitt.

Yi:
That was the most intelligent argument I’ve read to this point.

[...] Another great Saturday of football. We saw everything from great finishes to unexpected beat downs. From blown coverages in the clutch to upset bids that came up a mustache hair short. A couple of Heisman contenders suffered huge letdowns while others put their names on the short list. Also a couple of unranked, winless teams had a pillow fight. On to the top stories… [...]

oh neil, please. turner put the only solid ball smith threw all game on the ground. dude was battling for his job in the spring and has a week to get ready for this game, knowing his qb needed all the help he could get and then plays that way. get real

my point exactly when I talk about waivering focus (and morale amongst the players) when you tell me what is known by all at this point: It was, in fact, just about the “only solid ball smith threw all game…” And given this, — to add to your observation about Turner “[dropping it] on the ground” — how can it be blamed on any of the Panthers’ “stable” receivers for, as I said earlier, losing patience and alongside it, a consequential lack of FOCUS.

Think about it a second. Use any analogy you want, but if you’re on the ball field and your pitcher can’t maintain 1 strike per batter; your skipper, stubbornly, will not take him out despite 4 consecutive walks in the 7th; and the club (all the players on the field) is in collective agreement that the bullpen could reverse the outcome (if for once, JAM), then wouldn’t you too feel a bit defeated/ deflated by the circumstance? I can’t suppose I wouldn’t miss a hard hit grounder to my position at 2nd - one that I’d normally scoop up in at any other time - supposing I thought my that the manager of my ball team (at least on that day) was doing everything contrary to helping the team win.

Case in point: DW didn’t inspire any additional motivation or effort from his offense against MSU.

Sorry to disagree with you on that, Christopher.

Very amusing stuff on here from the glass half-empty (completely empty?) crowd. Tell you what I think about the UConn game. Smith will start and do much better. Why, because UConn’s DL isn’t anywhere near as good as MSU’s and Bostick will not be feeling heat from a DL that gets penetration. And, IMO, if they blitz the LBs they will get burned by McCoy to the outside. The lack of real pressure will do wonders for Smith’s confidence and, consequently, his accuracy and decision making. That, plus a defense that will shutdown UConn will lead to a convincing 31-3 victory. That’s my prediction.

The negativity is unreal.

You don’t put a guy in because of what he was ranked out of high school by scout.com. You guys aren’t at practice. The coaches have seen something other than the fact that Bostick was a 5 star recruit. Last week he looked terrible against Grambling, running into Shady and almost losing the ball on the exchange and then throwing a terrible pass into triple coverage that was picked off.

Yes, Smith had a bad game. Going to the spread Wildcat formation was a good way of coping. They were in that game up to and including the final play, yet tons of people are just bitching and whining about it. Last week you were predicting that they’d lose by three touchdowns.

I have more hope for this team now than I did after the first two games. GO PITT.

Adam - your comments were amazing. Please keep them up.

And Dan35 is correct. Those who don’t like Wannestedt clearly think he’s an idiot for not playing Bostick. Granted, this assumption isn’t based on the fact that Bostick may have been awful in practice and unprepared to play. It’s based on the assumption that the coaches are making the wrong decision. Love it.

I believe the coaches did what they could to get the offense going, which was put in the Arkansas package. As Dan said, it was a good way of coping.

The bottom line is that coaching at the college level also involves recruiting talent. The dramatic improvement of the defense considering we lost two draft choices at LBer and a 1st round corner, is remarkable. If he can transform a defense that quickly, give him next year for the offense when you’ve got all three, Smith, Bostick, Stull competing for the starting role at QB. You mix in Jacobsen and Nix, who will be our two most talented offensive lineman by a freakin’ mile and honestly may both start. You already are deep at TE and you throw in Mo Williams & Andre Wright at WR. Man, we are going to be loaded. It also just gets better after that.

The offense will improve. Kevin Smith will improve. We’ve got some time to get better. We can beat UConn. UVA is pretty horrible. Cinci will be a challenge, but it will be Cinci’s 6th game in about 6 weeks. We’ve also got 10 days to prepare for it.

I think we’re going to be 6-1 going into Louisville, and I’m not so sure with two weeks to prepare we can’t beat Rutgers. But I just don’t think we are THAT far away.

Pitt1972:
you … eh hem, said this …

“Very amusing stuff on here from the glass half-empty (completely empty?) crowd. Smith will start and do much better… because UConn’s DL isn’t anywhere near as good as MSU’s and Bostick [EMPHASIS] will not be feeling heat from a DL that gets penetration.” Comment by Pitt1972 09.16.07 @ 4:51 pm.

In place of what I can only presume to be a mental lapse …in whatever you’re trying to suggest here, Pitt1972 … I guess / think you meant to say “Kevan Smith,” right? I don’t think you meant to say Pat Bostick above, right?

I think that here on this site that we’re all alum and/or dedicated fans, so it’s not all too exciting to disagree and/or, to some extent or other, name-call / call each other out for the sake of argument.

But C’mon Dan35 , ryan, etc. If you can’t differentiate fact-fiction from what you say/ believe and point to as mere ”assumption” (above), nor substantiate what you evidently /moreover ‘assume’ to believe in place of it, then what in CNm. are you getting at or trying to argue exactly?

Uh, GO PITT?

Ryan and Dan35:

How dare you say Wannestedt had more knowledge of the quarterback situation than people who make regular comments on a Pitt sports blog.

Keven Smith accomplished his most important job yesterday…..he got the ball the McCoy without fumbling. Bostick had trouble doing that…..and maybe, just maybe, the coaches saw something that week in practice that convinced them not to play Bostick….I know that is a reach but just throwing it out there.

Anyone read the story about Levance Fields get tasered after allegedly going for the officer’s gun….this one definitely doesn’t sound good.

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07259/818131-175.stm

the kid probably was arraigned this morning and now probably is out on bail…bottom line, he is looking at a possibly felony and the very least several misdemeanor charges…I not sure if coach will let him play while these charges are pending. To be quite honest, this won’t be resolved at the District Magistrate, but definitely will get held over for the Court of Common Pleas, and if it does, the charges won’t be resolved until February-March at the earliest.

Levance I wish you all the best, but are you an idiot, you never get into an argument with a cop, let alone go for his weapon! Stupid, very stupid!

What an idiot! Hopefully this can be resolved shortly. How can you be so stupid?

Umm..Mr. Fields is 20 and he was drunk, combative, and struck a police officer…IF all of the facts are true, don’t look for Mr. Fields to be in a Pitt Uniform this season.

I hope he can structure some deal with the DA’s office to plead guilty to a few of the lesser charges for a couple of years of probation. I don’t believe he has ever been in any legal trouble before so it should be pretty easy to resolve this. Bottom line, Dixon is going to suspend him for several games at least. He should know better.

who’s the backup pg?

Ramon and Bradley Wannamaker are the backups. I doubt all of these charges will stick. Fields probably isn’t going to be dismissed. I hope not. He will definitely be suspended for 5 games at least.

I’m thinking he’s probably done for, unless one of these cops changes his story completely. When Yuri broke into an apartment or hit a girl or whatever, he was gone. At best he’s only suspended a season.

I just don’t see this going anywhere good at all.

I didn’t see Wannamaker pass at all. He likes to shoot. Ramon is the other PG when Fields is on the bench, and well, we’ve seen how good he is. Oh well.

Yuri was a bum. Fields is the starting point guard. Big difference. I’m quite sure their will be a double standard. He wasn’t selling drugs or something completely outrageous. College kids do stupid things when they are drunk. It isn’t an excuse, but I don’t think he’ll be suspended for the year.

there not their. sorry.

“Earlier today I was informed of an incident at an off-campus location involving Levance Fields,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said in a released statement. “At this juncture, we will let the judicial process run its course before determining what disciplinary action is necessary.

“We have built a successful program at Pitt, on and off the court, by prioritizing personal accountability and responsibility. We will not compromise when it comes to those values.”

So we’re going to play him all year and hope the trial/plea is in spring? Go PSU…er, Pitt!

Not that i trust cops one bit…and not that i think underage drinking is terrible either…but he was drinking and screaming outside in public, and is only 20. He needs to make better decisions.

And i hope he was drinking light beer. He already weighs enough.

The best thing Levance can hope for is that the officer drops the Aggravated Assault on a police officer charge, this is a guaranteed jail sentence with extensive probation. If this charge is dropped to say two or three misdemeanors Levance will probably be accepted into the ARD (Accelerated Rehabilative Disposition) program. The ARD program is run by the DA’s office which in turn is basically a get out of jail program which will also include 2-3 years of probation, a fine, anger management classes, and drug / alcohol classes. If he completes all of these requirements in a timely fashion, the charges will be expunged from his criminal record. However, and this is a big but, he can’t get into trouble again, and this won’t be resolved until December-January at the earliest.

Also, on top of the criminal charges, the University will also bring additional University charges against Mr. Fields and he will more than likely be suspended by the University for at least 1-2 semesters. How do I know this, I do this for a living and see it all the time as a criminal defense attorney. I wish this kid luck, but he really messed up, and unless this officer lied on his affidavit Levance will either be riding the pine or off the team for the upcoming season. Best of Luck, Levance, but it’s time to grow up!

On the QB:

Smith has some talent, he’s just very raw. He played 8 games in HS as a QB. Michigan State was game #10 OF HIS LIFE AT ANY LEVEL. The throw to Turner against Grambling was a beauty. The last drive against MS, when the game was on the line, he threw a real tough pass across his body to Strong dragging left, and then threw a clutch pass on the run to Pestano on 4th and 18. There are a number of D1A QBs who can’t make those throws, and there is a reason Michigan was giving Smith a serious look when he committed to Pitt. He missed wildly on flat passes because he was trying to get the ball to the receivers with maximum time to make a move; these misses will go away in a game or two, because the coaches will beat it into his head that he’s got one job, let the receivers do their’s. It will take longer to learn to feel the pocket and to go through his progressions, but it’s not at all hopeless given his inexperience. I’m not saying he didn’t have a terrible day, he did. But he can do some things, and there is some chance he can develop the things he couldn’t against MS. Whoever brought up Mallet and Clausen is spot on, it’s very unusual for a FR QB to be successful in his first game or two unless he is a runner.

As far as pulling Smith for Bostick, the game was always within reach, Bostick is apparently out of shape and threw a pick in one attempt last week, and Smith had all/most first team reps this week; you have to go with the coaches on this one unless you’ve been to all the practices. The players (at least up until MS) have been uniformly in favor of Smith, which means something (players are almost always non-committal publicly in QB controversies).

On the coaches:

Without a doubt, the coaches had the team ready to play emotionally, they looked fired up all day. The defense looked pretty good, and it’s virtually all underclassman. Next year you have Berry/Gary at corner, Fields/Chappel/Dom at safety, same LBs (plus maybe a Lindsey or Nix), same DTs (plus Gus), and Romeus/Sheard/Tkach at end, and a lot of depth. DW is assembling a potentially dominating defense. He has recruited a top 10 OL in each of the past three years (Thomas, Lumpy, L. Nix could have gone almost anywhere, and you can throw Pinkston in there since he’s on the OL now), and some other pretty good ones, but they take a while to develop (I am concerned about that development right now, but it’s not as bad as some make it out to be). He landed Shady and a slew of other great athletes that are making the 2-deep as FR and SO. How many other coaches are going to bring that kind of talent to Pitt?

I think the coaches grade out reasonably well against MS. Great half-time adjustment to run the AK O. Bend-but-don’t-break D is exactly what you need with a raw QB, it shortens the game and keeps the score close. There’s only so much you can do on O when the QB is struggling, and I’m not about to second-guess the guys who watch Bostick every day when it comes to deciding if he was ready or not. If you go down by 10-14 Bostic comes in for sure given Smith’s struggles, but in such a close game sticking with Smith looked like the right call to me. This team is showing signs mentally and athletically of challenging for the BE in a year or two, and we can still pull off 8 wins plus a bowl game this year if we don’t have more major injuries and Smith develops (again, he’s played in 10 games as a QB in his life, his learning curve could potentially be very steep). I think it’s crazy to write off the coaching staff right now, unless you think maybe Pete Carroll wants to watch the seasons change.

I think you have just described the worst case scenario. I don’t think it will go that far. He will probably plead guilty to disorderly conduct and public drunkeness and that will be it. I assume Dixon will suspend him for at least the first 10 games. He made a big mistake. You can’t be this irresponsible. Hopefully he learns a valuable lesson.

Omar, I am as passionate a Pitt fan as you will find, but if the totality of the allegations against LF are true, I highly doubt he will be on Pitt’s team this year, perhaps ever again. Everyone here who has ever been drunk under age 21, been disorderly, and done so in public, raise your hand. Most of us could. Everyone in here who has been in that state and struck a Police Officer and GRABBED HIS GUN, raise your hand. That last one is the one that will not be swept away. I am truly sad for LF, but I think some kid who does not hit police officers and take their weapons is more deserving of the opportunity that LF may have wasted. AGAIN, I AM NOT CONVICTING LF. These are my feelings IF all of the allegations are true.

Sorry, not buying Pitt was “in” the game until the end. Pitt was “in” the game in the very same way Duke “beat” Northwestern last night, true in semantics only but false in almost every other way.

Wow - I learned two things tonight.

1. Oderick Turner dropping a sure touchdown, right in his breadbasket was Kevan Smith’s fault (as if that wasn’t obvious).

2. Even though they still had a chance to win down to the very last play of the game, they were not in the game.

Genius.

Ok, so you guys can say Pat Bostick wasn’t ready. Say what about want about Kevan Smith being nervous. Then ask yourself this about the coaches…if they’re so on top of things, WHY WASN’T A BACKUP QB READY???? Why is it possible for Auburn and VaTech to install freshman qb’s on a week’s notice (all of considerable less smarts than Pat) even when they had established starters. How is it possible we go into a game in which our backup qb is our running back? Why do you keep a guy like Kevan Smith out on the field when you are running the Arkansas instead of Mo Williams? If you guys are so positive about Dave and the coaching staff being SO on top of things, then find me a game under his reign that we won when we shouldn’t have. You are trying to tell me that if we can go out there and run the exact same damn play with Shady for an entire freaking quarter, that the smartest qb on our team (admitted by several other players on the team) can’t get in there and run a 10 play package??? What is our QB coach good for then? Tell me, please tell me.

Yi - when discussing Bostick you have had to be able to read between the lines going back two months. It is clear, and I think Omar is more correct than we give him credit for, that Bostick has some real problems that are not football related. That’s fine, it’s life and sometimes life gets in the way of other things. No amount of coaching by the QB coach can help him if that’s true.

So why is he dressed and on the team? Because he is a PITT panther, and perhaps dropping him off the active roster would be detrimental in the long run. Being a head Coach at the college level is much more than just being a gameday X&O guy - as we have already seen with DW. He has a situation on his hands that is more important then appeasing the fans, and perhaps the way he’s dealing with it is just the correct thing to do.

Regardless of why he wasn’t put in - I trust the coaches that are in touch with Bostick every day to know what is best for the team at large and for Bostick personally. But don’t kid yourself if you think any of the decisions regarding the QB position DW has had to make are easy ones - and I’ll give him credit for making the hard ones and sticking to them.

Reed, it’s the fact that he (DW) sticks with his decisions even when they are questioned/ scrutinized-criticized by an overwhelming majority of fans, writers, and other media outlets reporting on the college game. Based on the last two seasons, if you’ve never thought DW inflexible/ unyielding at times (see LSH up the middle 3&outs) then you’re vision is skewed.

You sound like a good soldier, but when you fail to contemplate your commanding officer’s orders or his-her ability to make an informed decision then you’re bound to agree with whatever the rhetoric, adhering to a system of belief without ever questioning it; i.e., “smash mouth” whatever the cost, damn the personnel.

At least that’s how you make it sound when you consistently defer judgment to this coaching staff, as if they were some conglomerate of mighty genius. Unfortunately for us, it’s just not the case.

As for the Bostick debate, does anyone need question how foolish and ill-advised it is to derive “fact” from what is merely “implied” in your suggestion to “read between the lines.” To date, aside from heresy, there has been nothing released about Pat Bostick’s personal issues, regardless of sources inside the Locke room. Because even if the boy was affected by panic attacks at the time of his departure, how can you say that he equally affected by them now, or that he’s suffering mentally from the residuals of such episodes?

I’m very wary of all the hoopla surrounding the issue and would prefer to look at the coaches and their inclinations based on the past two years, rather than read into Pat Bostick’s personal-issue(s) until something ‘substantial’ is reported from a newsworthy source.

Neil,
Man.. reading this board one would think PITT got blasted by 40. We were in the game and had multiple chances to win. Yes, Kevin did not have the game we would dream of but he played like a first year QB in his second start would play.

MC, did everything possible to help Kevin out but the nerves and confidences got the best of him which is all natural.

Please remember, our young man played an incredible game with heart, enthuasiam and pride for FOUR QUARTERS. We never quit but all this means nothing to alot of the writers on this blog.

Hey bloggers…we got a football team that is actually very good and to stun you even more we have a real shot at winning the BIG EAST.

Kevin is young and will learn from his mistakes. Yes, Pat was rated high but with Pat we need to trust the people who are around and monitor him on a daily basis and not individual like us who read recruiting sites.

Hail to Pitt. I think I am making the road trip to this week to the game because I was that proud of those players.

HAIL TO PITT.

What the Wanny-lovers keep forgetting is that this is the same guy who thought Rick Mirer and Jay Fiedler were NFL-caliber starters. You got what you paid for. I hope you’re satisfied.

“Pitt was “in” the game in the very same way Duke “beat” Northwestern last night, true in semantics only but false in almost every other way.”
Comment by Joshua 09.16.07 @ 11:45 pm

- HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Oh, come on. Raise your hand if you honestly believed Pitt was going to win last Saturday. Okay, now raise your hand if you thought Pitt was going to find a way to choke. As much as Duke didn’t “beat” NW but rather NW gave the game away on a silver platter, Pitt was “competitive” in that the overtaxed de