Let me say that the Pitt Athletic Department and specifically the Football program has a lot on their plate at the moment with the issues they need to address. The UConn game just added another one. The fan support.

The anger and frustration of that performance is starting to give way to an apathy. Apathy is the worst thing in the world to happen to a fan base. The absence of the emotion to the way Pitt played near the end was palpable. At least with anger, disgust and frustration there is at least caring and interest in the program. That game last night, though, had people giving up. Emotionally trying to divest themselves rather than waste the energy of emotions.

I found myself driving home this afternoon wrestling with it. I was pissed and upset about how poorly the entire team played. How they didn’t seem to care. That they seemed to think that because they came close against MSU on the road last week, they had some sort of win. I also began thinking along the lines of, “if they don’t care, why should I?” That I even began entertaining the notion is dangerous.

Pitt fans have been trying to be patient. Injuries have been rough, but that only covers so much. Expectations were reasonably modest. More than anything else, the fans wanted to see progress. Hope. Something that makes us believe the team is actually moving in the right direction. Recruiting coups are nice, but unless the players are actually developed and pan out it becomes meaningless.

Things took a huge step back in this game. Under Wannstedt, Pitt at least beat the teams it should at home. Now even that is gone. There is so much wrong with this team right now, I don’t even know where to begin.

I haven’t read the comments on the game yet — which again broke triple digits. I recommend a couple other rants/venting from Cat Basket and Panther Rants — the latter has finally reached the point of no longer bashing Walt Harris but getting nostalgic.

I’ll be back in a while after I do a bit of reading.