Too tired, too limited in time, too pissed and too frustrated to do much right now.

Here are the links for the day.

A couple stories in notebooks on honoring Dorsett, Martin and Starbauch from the Trib. and P-G.

Zeise at the P-G’s story (boy, you think his chat today will be fun or what?).

The Panthers’ defense began the second half reeling again but the Midshipmen made their first mistake of the game on the opening drive of the second half and it turned out to be a crucial one. Navy appeared to have converted a first down on a 2nd-and-6 run but was penalized for holding, pushing the ball back ten yards and putting the Midshipmen in 2nd-and-15.

That was a big break for Pitt because, the triple-option offense is not designed to convert long down-and-distances and sure enough, the Panthers held and forced the Midshipmen to punt for the first time.

Pitt then took its first lead of the game –and its first lead since the second game of the season in a win over Grambling –when McCoy capped a seven-play, 54-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Since Grambling? I really didn’t need to know that.

Kevin Gorman at the Trib. Reads like a straight recap of the scoring which isn’t too shocking considering when this game ended and the story needed to be filed.

The good in the game was QB Pat Bostick and the offense getting a boost of confidence. The great, LeSean McCoy.

On a night when Tony Dorsett was an honorary captain for the Pitt football team, the Panthers’ latest fantastic freshman tailback, LeSean McCoy, stirred memories of the former Heisman Trophy winner.

McCoy ran for 32 times for 165 yards and three scores, but it wasn’t enough as Navy pulled out a stunning 48-45 double-overtime win Wednesday night at Heinz Field.

McCoy has nine rushing touchdowns this season, which is three shy of Dorsett’s freshman mark set in 1973.

The disaster, of course, the defense.

Pitt had 10 days to prepare for Navy, 10 days to decipher an offense that’s so darned unpredictable that it runs the ball 84 percent of the time, 10 days to ponder the implications of two Navy slotbacks whose combined weight does not equal that of starting Pitt tackle Jeff Otah.

Swear to God.

So it took only two hours after the opening kickoff last night for the Panthers’ “defense” to accomplish what could definitely be called a stop of the Midshipmen, aided though it was by an offensive holding penalty. For the record, it was Joe Clermond, the senior defensive end, who sacked Navy quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, the Hurryin’ Hawaiian, on a third-and-10 from the Navy 27 on the first series of the second half.

10 days was the theme of the column.

Had it ended there, it would merely have been a disgraceful performance by Pitt’s defenders and, more pointedly, its defensive coaching staff. As it was, Navy put up another 17 points in a 48-45 double-overtime victory that was, from Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt’s tortured perspective, well, indefensible.

“I was very confident,” Wannstedt said of Paul Rhoads’ defensive game plan. “We spent more than 10 actually, although it probably didn’t look like it. We spent time in the summer, talking to different people about [Navy’s] offense.”

The Middies’ crisp execution of the allegedly antiquated triple option makes for a nice nostalgic theme for press box antiquarians who might believe the game has long since become hopelessly over-coached, but this isn’t necessarily what the Panthers bargained for on a night soaked with nostalgia.

At least one columnist made mention of the DC being responsible for the defenses’ game plan. Collier’s column puts the blame on the defense as he notes so much attention will go to the OT playcalling on offense. The defense’s performance was indefensible.

It has to be pointed out, for example, that when Wannstedt and his staff have more than a week to prepare for an opponent, Pitt’s record is 2-8. In the same situation, by damning contrast, Navy coach Paul Johnson is 17-7 given the same advantage.

“We went for it on fourth down a lot more than I was comfortable with out there,” Wannstedt said, effectively illustrating the desperation Pitt brought to the field last night. “That was not normal football.”

No, not at all.

Normally, football teams with the size, speed and recruiting advantages Pitt holds over the Naval Academy cannot be outfoxed by an offense that hasn’t been operating at the elite levels of the sport in 20 years. They can sometimes be fooled by a play or an inspired series, but not for 45 minute and 32 seconds, which was Navy’s time of possession last night. The Panthers spent so much time chasing Kaheaku-Enhada, trying to pull down Navy’s bullish fullbacks, trying to spot its whippet slotbacks, that when slot back Reggi Campbell swept out of the backfield on a pass pattern toward the left flank of Pitt’s defense, veteran safety Mike Phillips just let go.

“Guy just ran right by him,” Wannstedt said. “He thought he was gonna block him.”

Starkey, by contrast did mention the defense sucking. Funny thing, however, no mention of the DC by name or direct blame.

The Midshipmen spent the rest of the first half torturing Pitt with its triple-option. Pitt’s defensive linemen wore shin guards in practice to prepare for Navy’s cut-blocking. Maybe they should have worn chest protectors, because Navy’s fullbacks spent the better part of the evening stomping over them for big gains.

Didn’t that fullback dive play show up on film study?

Navy quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada (spell check just exploded) also had more yards passing in the first half (96) than he’d had totaled in three of his first five games.

Not that any of this was particularly surprising. The Panthers haven’t stopped an option attack of any kind in years.

I eagerly await the next defense of Paul Rhoads needing more time.

Baltimore Sun sportswriter blogs a bit about the game (and thanks for the link).

In the first OT, Pitt hammered out a touchdown and Navy answered with a single strike 25-yard pass from QB Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada to Reggie Campbell. In the second OT, the Middies went on offense first and settled for a 29-yard field goal by Joey Bullen. Then, Pitt comes storming back. The Panthers had second-and-goal from the 3-yard line. Second down: running play for one yard. Third down: incomplete pass (illegal motion penalty declined). And with the game on the line, Wannstedt goes for the win on fourth down and the Panthers go incomplete on a jump ball in the right side of the end zone. In western Pennsylvania, they want to back up the truck and load up the whole coaching staff.

Yep. Pretty much.

Attendance was officially listed at a bit over 30,000. Looked like less on TV.

Usually I won’t do this. I generally allow myself to at least wait to react to a game after I sleep on it. Sometimes you write things too quickly that are purely coming from the emotions of the game — this is not one of those times.

I’m pissed. Every person who I heard walking out of Heinz Field at 12:05 this morning (!) felt similarly. First, the actual game before things completely fell apart…

I expected the score to at least be in the 30’s, and I knew the defense was going to be it’s typical self while under Rhoads. I’m done complaining about the entire defensive side of the ball because it’s a dead complaint. Either Rhoads is fired or we’re going to have this for a long, long time. I will hand it to the Navy offense, though. QB Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada is very smart and runs the triple option very well. You had to expect the triple option was going to torture our defense and it certainly did.

We also knew that the Navy defense wasn’t too great. I’m encouraged by the way that Bostick, McCoy, and Conredge Collins played. I don’t know what to make of it against a defense of this caliber…who knows.

The real problem here is with the coaching. I was fine with Pitt playing for overtime. Once we got there, though, I agreed with nothing else. The first OT is what it is – we scored then they scored (albeit on only one single play). We managed to hold Navy to only a field goal in second overtime. Obviously the thought is, “Great, the worst that can happen is we kick a FG of our own and go to a third overtime.”

That final drive started out well with the 16 yard pass to Pestano. 1^st and goal from the 9. Who better to give it to than the guy who has already carried the offense all day, LeSean McCoy. Smartly, we give it to Shady which is good for 6 down to the three yard line. Next play is McCoy for a yard to the 2.

At this point, the coaches fall apart. We don’t know what to do – pass, throw, crap our pants? They choose option #3. It takes so damn long to get a friggin’ play call in that we don’t break the huddle until the play clock is at 8 seconds. Bostick gets the snap (play clock at 3) and throws an incomplete pass to Nate Byham, but Byham gets flagged for illegal motion anyways.

Why do I bring this up?

1. We have a timeout left to take. When we haven’t even broken the huddle at 10 seconds it might be wise to take it. Instead, it was never used and it’s floating out there in “what if” land as we speak. Maybe Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts offense can keep their composure and hurry to the line to get a play of quickly. Instead, we’re the Pitt Panthers. Our QB is a true freshman, and the entire offense in general is young – probably not the best group to attempt to pull this kind of thing off with.

2. Using that timeout keeps Byham from getting flustered and being called for a penalty.

3. Lastly, what was up with the play call? Was Shady’s seven yards on the last two plays not good enough? Had Conredge Collins not proven himself enough yet during the course of the game? And if you are going to pass, why not in some type of spread formation?

In reality, it’s an incomplete pass with a declined penalty – 4^th and goal from the 2. I don’t know how I feel about going for the win as opposed to kicking in the chip shot field goal. I do know, however, that IF YOU’RE GOING TO GO BALLS TO THE WALL, THEN GO BALLS TO THE WALL! DON’T GO HALFWAY BUT TRY TO TIP-TOE YOUR WAY AROUND IT! If you’re not going with Shady or Collins on 3^rd down, then at least go on 4^th. If you think you’ll fool them with a pass play, DO NOT THROW IT TO A TIGHT END IN THE BACK CORNER OF THE ENDZONE. It is perhaps one of the worst play calls I’ve ever seen. A jump ball in the back corner has an amazingly low chance of being caught, even if we threw Larry Fitzgerald in there. Strong isn’t even our best receiving TE. NOTHING ABOUT IT MAKES SENSE.

What now? I’ve tried to keep from saying it, but all of the coaches need to go. Wannstedt, Cavanaugh, Rhoads, and every other coach beneath them. Gone. The season is over. The best we’re going to finish is 3-9, and I could easily see us losing out and finishing 2-10. You want Wanny around for next year, the year we’ve been waiting for? I can’t see how any team can keep their coach if they finish with 2 or 3 wins, Pitt being no exception.

As for me, I’ll still go to every home game. What I won’t do is make anymore road trips. It’s not worth my time or money to go to places like Morgantown to see this train wreck. I’ll be at every home game, sure, but I’m done cheering and booing. I will simply go, sit, and watch. I stood and cheered for all four hours of tonight’s game with the 30 foot long Oderick Turner sign in section 530. The sign is done for the year; nothing personal against Oderick, it’s just not worth it anymore.

Finally, sorry for any misspellings, grammatical errors, awkward sentence structures, and those caps I used a few paragraphs back. It’s almost 2:00 in the morning and I’m cold and unhappy. Less than a month till Pitt hoops…go team.

Update: 1:59 am — Didn’t see Chas’ post until after I published mine. Sorry for any repetition you might see.

Not a lot of changes from the draft ballot. Minor tweaks, really.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU	—
2	Ohio State	2
3	California	—
4	South Florida	1
5	Boston College	1
6	Oklahoma	4
7	South Carolina	6
8	Florida	—
9	Southern Cal	7
10	Cincinnati	6
11	Missouri	7
12	West Virginia	—
13	Wisconsin	6
14	Hawaii	—
15	Oregon	—
16	Florida State	6
17	Kentucky	6
18	Arizona State	2
19	Illinois	7
20	Kansas	5
21	Auburn	5
22	Maryland	4
23	Virginia Tech	3
24	Texas	7
25	Georgia	16

You can see the full results here and individual ballots here.

I have my in-laws showing up tomorrow for my kid’s granparent’s day at school. My dad is also making a trip in for this. I need sleep, but it won’t be coming for a while. The bourbon tastes like crap with the ashes of this season, but I’m still drinking it.

This game was there for the taking for Pitt. Something. Anything. Just a little hope. Apparently that little spark was just too much right now.

The defense was as piss poor as expected. DC Paul Rhoads showed his usual ability to cope with a rushing attack with a QB that can move vertically. He can’t. He never has. He never will.
Pitt gave up 497 total yards. 331 yards on the ground and 168 in the air. Oh sure some might argue that numbers get skewed with 2 OTs, but not this time. OT only accounted for 38 yards.
In regulation, Pitt gave up 459 yards total, with 318 rushing and 141 in the air. Prior to this game Navy averaged around 446 total yards per game. What does that mean? It means Pitt was slightly below the average D of Temple, Duke, Air Force, Ball State and Rutgers. Oh, and only Duke allowed them to score more points (in regulation).

Hell, what is there to write about the defense that hasn’t been written tons of times before. I mean, the ultimate humiliation is when Lou Holtz is able to see the problems while not even being sure who’s on the field.
Up until the final couple plays in the second OT, I was completely ready to give the offense a pass. Expectations were and are low on that end, and Navy’s defense is hardly much of a measuring stick. Still, 38 points in regulation after the past 3 games still could only be a positive. Taking some chances. Letting Bostick have a chance to play and throw the ball.
Then Pitt had the ball inside the 2 on 3d down. The 3d down pass, I suppose I can accpet. Questionable but not insane. 4th down. Totally right to go for it. I’m not questioning that decision. The play call. The formation. That was madness.

A called fade to the short side to Strong. All the while in a conventional set that doesn’t spread the defense. Gives no other choice and gives the defense every chance to make the play.

Otherwise, the offense did fine. It got yards. It mixed things up. It did its best considering the pathos that is the O-line. Actually involving the wide receivers in the game plan. Over 400 yards of total offense and not just from second half desperation to catch-up.

Pitt fell behind after 3 quarters and took back the lead. Actually got a lead back.

Pathetic. Yet another, “must win” for Pitt and Wannstedt that wasn’t.