Come on. Pitt has to play well at home some time. Don’t they?
Let’s see if what you people see on the TV matches what the rest of us see at Heinz Field.
For those of you who can’t be at the game or watch on TV, I’ll be giving updates over at http://hailtopitt.blogspot.com
I’ve been a Pitt fan since 1961 and I say we win this game!
It doesn’t specify which game is playing at noon on my channel guide, but it said it was Pitt v. Louisville in the paper.
Is there going to be a live chat thing?
Thanks for the justin tv suggestion! HTP!
2008 Scouting Report: Enters his first active season following a redshirt…has distinguished himself early on with his desire and dynamic ability with the ball in his hands…in addition to receiver, could surface in the return game…while he did not step on the field last year, made a vital contribution to Pitt’s 13-9 upset of West Virginia… played the role of WVU quarterback Pat White on the scout team…the Panthers responded to the preparation by limiting the Mountaineers to just 183 total yards.
2007: Redshirted as a true freshman.
Prep School: Spent the 2006 season at Milford Academy (N.Y.), where he was a receiver and returned kicks…rated a top 40 prep school prospect by Rivals.com…Scout Prep School “Hot 50″ list…PrepStar All-East Region…had 22 receptions for 409 yards (18.6 avg.) and five touchdowns…also scored TDs on a 92-yard kick return and 35-yard punt return… helped Milford to a 7-3 record against a schedule made up of collegiate competition…played under Coach Bill Chaplick at Milford.
High School: An All-City League performer at Perry Traditional Academy…as a senior helped the Commodores to an 11-2 record, the City League title and quarterfinals of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs… caught 45 passes for 1,500 yards and 22 touchdowns his final two years…played under coach Bill Gallagher… selected to play in the Big 33 Football Classic…also wrestled at Perry.
Personal: Aundre De-von Wright, born 9/22/88, is the son of Charise Wright…has one brother…enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The New Jersey Pitt Alumni Club is coordinating ticket sales and an informal Pitt gathering inside the Prudential Center each day. All Pitt alumni and Panther fans are invited to gather in the Goal Bar before the first game and between the first and second games on Friday and Saturday.
First game tips off at 5:30 p.m. each day, second game follows 20 minutes after the first.
Friday, November 28
Game 1: Mississippi State vs. Washington State
Game 2:Pittsburgh vs. Texas Tech
Saturday, November 29
Game 1: Defeated teams from Friday
Game 2: Winning teams from Friday
Hope we do not get concervative. Not sure whether Louisville may not have more talent on the field.
Go Pitt…hang on
Need another drive.
(seemed like a generous spot to me too)
please work on the math skills and go for two there. Hopefully it won’t come into play (it shouldn’t) but it would be nice to have a 3 TD lead.
Stull looks solid. He has seemed a little bit jittery back there, but that’s to be expected. He’s also made some huge throws.
Now let’s eat the clock.
INT for TD. McKillop! The route is on! Let’s go Pitt. Boy did we need this.
Hate L’ville…payback is a bitch!
Hail to Pitt!
Cav called a good game, taking advantage of what Louisville gave. They bottled up Shady (except when he smelled the endzone, on a play he look to want to go up the middle, stumbled and found the right side open), and Stull made them pay. Nice grab by Oderick.
Nice to see two Defensive TDs…smart play by Ricky Gary on the ball just sitting on the gorund…and great to see Scott getting into the endzone, dragging a WR for about 5 yards.
Hail to PITT!
-al-
Revis scored a few games after that, but it was on a punt return (with the famous Kinder block against WVU Nov 16, 2006).
Does anyone know where to find a “13-9″ flag/banner?
Terrific Day. Stull is a world of difference better than Bostick. We all love pat for stepping in and finding ways to win but Stull is the man.
Really proud of the way our team has bounced back after disappointing losses this year.
Really proud of the way our team has bounced back after disappointing losses this year.
1 Penn State, of course
2 Notre Dame
3 BC - leaving BE
4 Louisville - biggest city in the reddest State
5 WVU - Another red State
As far as I’m concerned, the only good thing to come out of Louisville was Hunter S. Thompson and if you read his classic article “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved” you’ll see precisely how much he cared about the swine in KY.
Now they’re the visiters.
Also - anyone that isn’t aware of this site: http://www.justin.tv - check it out. You just search for a tv broadcast you want to see and someone will be feeding it. I am sure it will be shut down through copyright infringement soon, but enjoy it while it lasts.
Pitt won.
PSU lost - to a team we beat!
The Hoopies lost to Cinci in spite Cinci’s best efforts.
Barack Obama won in a landslide.
Yup, it was a good week!
Amen. Obviously, we Pitt fans wanted Iowa to beat PSU more than any other team in the Big Ten. You don’t know how much ammunition Iowa’s win gives me around the office.
Oh, and on a lesser note… um… yeah, good for Obama too.
What’s stunning about the uni’s is not only their drabness but that “PITT” is on both the jersey and the helmet. What were they thinking?
The free telecast of the Pitt Fairleigh Dickerson this coming Friday will be on All Access CSTV.
But there would be nothing better than a victory.
In other words, its not happening, as much as I’d like to see my school play my favorite school.
For 1st place AND for the River City Trophy (we’ve never lost the trophy)!
if penn state just lost to a team that pitt beat, then why do you assume that pitt would lose to them. and why would pitt not be in a bcs bowl any other year? pitt has played very well the majority of this year. if it wasn’t for a brain fart by the coaching staff in the bowling green, then we would be 8-1 with one bad day at the office. pitt is better than you might think.
If pitt takes care of business the next 3 weeks, they will stumble into a BSC (Shout out to JoePa) game for the 2nd time in 5 years. There is a difference between deserving a bid and accidentally receiving one.
You can not go back and say that we would be 8-1 without a brain fart from the coaching staff. It was a loss that we deserved. None of the voters are sitting there saying o, pitt should have won that game. We lost it, we deserved to lose it, and we will continue to pay for it through the rankings all season. If you want to look at it that way, we should be 9-0 since we had a brain fart and should have never lost to Rutgers.
Penn State is better than you think. Teams choke. Penn State blew it versus Iowa. Pitt screwed up against BG and Rutgers. Florida, arguably the best team in the nation, faces an uphill climb to the national championship because they lost to a 5-4 Ole Miss.
I am a diehard Pitt fan. Both parents went there, and I’ve had season tickets for football and basketball for about a decade.
However, as a Penn State student, I’ve been to every home game and have followed the team throughout the year. The team has an explosive offense, with two elusive RBs, two exceptional QBs, and a trio more than capable senior receivers. The base offense is the spread, though they throw in the wildcat frequently. The defense, as usual, is very strong. As much as I hate to say it, I believe they would destroy Pitt.
Its used very frequently in fan arguments, but the transitive property does not apply in college football.
We have perhaps the greatest depth of any team for wide receivers. A potential superstar (Baldwin) on deep pass routes. Three quality tight ends. One of the nation’s best place kickers. The special teams are a big plus. On defense, last year’s leading tackler. A tough, fast defensive line.
If the secondary holds, from my perspective, Pitt can match up against anybody.
“If the secondary holds, from my perspective, Pitt can match up against anybody.”
That is a HUGE “if”. Lets break this down.
QB:
I’d take either Darryl Clark or Pat Devlin over Stull, Bostick, and Cross any day. Both are very mobile quarterbacks with cannons for arms.
Edge: PSU
RB:
Evan Royster and Stephfon Green, a sophomore and freshman respectively, are very quick running backs. More LSH than Shady, but they have some power. I’d take Shady over any one of them (actually, I’d take him over any back in the nation), but together Royster and Green are a formidable duo.
Edge: Pitt, barely
WR:
Jonathan Baldwin is a stud in the making, but is still very much a work-in-progress. Oderick Turner is a waste of talent. Unfortunately, Kinder hasn’t been the same since his injury. Pitt has a trio of capable tight ends, but they serve largely as blockers or short pass safety blankets. The rest of Pitt’s receiving corp has modest talent (I really like Aundre Wright, but I’ll get to that), but this is sort of a moot point due to quarterbacking failures. Penn State has 3 super-consistent senior receivers in Deon Butler, Jordan Norwood, and Derrick Williams. Any of them could explode in a given game. While his stats aren’t spectacular, Williams is really the X-factor here. He lines up as WR, RB, and even QB. He catches, runs, and throws, causing defenses to scheme around him. He also has 3 special teams touchdowns. My hope for Pitt is that Aundre Wright fills the role, and if last week is a sign of things to come, that will happen. Pitt has talent but underachieves and doesn’t have a strong QB.
Edge: PSU
K:
Kevin Kelly vs. Conor Lee/Luke Briggs. This is close. Lee has gone 18-20, good for a tie for 3rd place in the NCAA and has never missed an extra point (30-30 this year). However, he doesn’t do kickoffs, handing over that duty to Briggs who has been unspectacular. Kelly is 17-20, which places him in a tie for 8th place. Kelly has gone 46-46 on XP. In terms of overall scoring, Lee places 14th while Kelly is 11th (McCoy is 3rd). Kelly is also in contention for the Lou Groza award, given to the nation’s best kicker.
Edge: Push. Both are excellent kickers, and I wouldn’t mind having either.
I could break down the defense if you’d like, but I’m trying to watch the Steelers. Instead, I’ll just say that PSU is called “Linebacker U” for a reason and point to the #10 pass, #9 rushing, and #6 overal defensive rankings.
Two points I would like to make .. (1) although I believe PSU to be the better team, I don’t think they would ‘destroy’ Pitt. One thing is that Pitt is more prone to mistakes and yesterday was an aberration in that they easily won the turnover battle. (2) I hope the team doesn’t take Cincy for granted as the people who are posting to this site this afternoon with all this talk of the BCS bowl game. Remember, the game is at Cincy where, unlie Pitt, they haven’t lost this year … I think a little dose of reality is required here.
let’s look at one stat in particular. pitt and penn state have one common opponent, iowa. pitt won and penn state lost. both games were pretty tight, therefore i do not see a decided advantage for either team.
stull actually performs under pressure. clark chokes. clark may be better physically, but i would rather have stull. he is a winner.
Why are we comparing these two teams when we should be celebrating the Pitt victory and the losses of Penn State and the Mountainqueers in the same night??
We won’t play each other, so it doesn’t matter. You never know who would win, that is why they play the game (perfect example: December 1, 2007)
To say the PSU would “destroy” Pitt is a little bit ridiculous. Penn State is a sound, albeit incredibly overrated,football team this season. I would absolutely love to see this in-state rivalry resume. I think it would be great for both programs and great for the state.
We do play Cincy, who’s also turning it on at the right time. They only lost to UConn because they had 6 turnovers and no rushing yards. Right now they’re the team to beat because of the tie-breaker they hold over WVU. We can’t look past this game. Wanny should put mousetraps all over campus, not just the practice facility.
Despite their record, Louisville is not bad. They had the best gameplan against McCoy of anyone this year. I know that turnovers and special teams are a part of the game, but if they didn’t turn the ball over, it’s a completely different game (Pitt turning that into points is a sign of a great team).
I’ll rest easier if Louisville beats Cincy. They need that 6th win to be bowl eligible and it’s a Friday night home game.
U Rock!
if the Stillers would have won, it would have been the perfect weekend! State Penn, WVU choke, and Pitt spanks Louisville. What more does a Pitt fan want. to Matt, I say 12-0 and the previous 2 games were pretty close also. I believe a blocked fg on the last play of the game won one for State Penn. I think the overall strength of schedule hurts St Penn in BCS standings year after year. Fla Int and Buffalo only help so much. I will give the Buckeyes credit, they have played Texas and Usc in the past. Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained.
Go Pitt!!
Shady > Royster > Green > LSH
And to repeat what I said earlier, the transitive property does not apply in college football. The only way to truly compare teams is a head to head matchup. Every team has bad games. Personally, I’m more afraid of Florida now that they’ve lost one.
I respectfully disagree with your assessment. Pitts edge at running back is their most glaring advantage over PSU and it is a large one. Royster and Green are average college backs playing behind an excellent line. I’ve watched several of their games and neither really do anything special, other than running through large holes and being physical. LSH fills his role perfectly as a compliment to Shady. If you put that combo behind PSU’s o-line in their offense PSU would lead the country in rushing. 2 average backs don’t make up for the best back in the country. There is more to a rushing attack then the backs and that is why Royster and Green have success. Think about this. Do you think Pitt would have had success running at ND if Royster or Green were their back? No way. Do you think they would have run for nearly as many yards or TD’s this year? No way. The reason this happens is because Shady and LSH can both create something out of nothing. Both are are faster and quicker runners than the other side of the ball. They are behind a far inferior O-Line yet continue to produce because they can make people miss and hit holes that would close before Royster or Green could get to them. I believe that 3 guys currently sitting on Pitt’s bench: Shariff Harris, Kevin Collier, and Chris Burns are all on the level of Royster and Green. I understand what your saying in terms of production, but in terms of talent, those guys aren’t even close to Shady/LSH combo. In spite of his size LSH has actually done an excellent job carrying the ball this year in short down situations and inside the 20. He has become a much more powerful runner. He may not seem like it with his small stature, but he also has a low center of gravity. If Royster and Green are Pitt’s backs this year, I believe Pitt loses to ND, Iowa, USF and possibly even Syracuse. The fact is these two guys are two of the greatest playmakers on the team, and one may be the greatest playmaker in the country. Royster and Green type backs are found on probably 50 teams throughout the NCAA.
“Nope, both of the conservative head coaches would play to keep it close into the fourth quarter and try to squeeze out a win, proably with their kicker!”
Penn State’s playcallers are anything but conservative. JoePa is a very conservative coach, but he has very little impact on gameday. I’m not calling him a figurehead. He certainly runs practice and schemes leading up to the games, but on Saturday, he sits up in his press box and watches. Penn State runs an offense they call the “Spread HD.” No one knows what the name means, but its basically a super spread offense. According to ESPN, its gotten them 52 20+ yard plays in 9 games. I don’t know how this would affect a Pitt-PSU game, but you’re mistaken if you believe that PSU runs a conservative offense.
Any team can win on any given day. Pitt fans should know that very well after last year. Emotions and coaching are major factors. I still believe PSU beats Pitt 4 out of 5 times.
A perfect example of what I said earlier about transitive victories (from Sporting News):
C is for Concatenation. Or the fascinating chaining of transitive loss one can run through at this point in the season. For example: Penn State loses to Iowa, who lost to Pitt, who lost to Bowling Green, who lost to Miami of Ohio, who lost to Temple, who lost to Western Michigan, who lost to Nebraska, who lost to Virginia Tech, who lost to Eastern Carolina, who lost to Houston, who lost to Colorado State, who lost to Cal, who lost to USC, who lost to Oregon State, who lost to Penn State 45-14 way back on September 6th.
Other than bragging rights, there is no reason for PSU to schedule Pitt. That is the same reason why you dont see the basketball team playing PSU any more. What does the hoops program gain? Nothing.
Completely agree with the absurdity of comparing PSU and Pitt transitively.
I also think that the offensive line is the one area where PSU does have a tremendous advantage. And line play is so significant because of its implications on both the passing and running game. I think its a little bit ridiculous to state that either team would dominate the game and I’m not even sure PSU wins 4 of 5 times. They are a good team, but I also think they are still overrated at #8. If I had to, I guess I would give them a slight edge.
That being said, I would love nothing more than to see the two teams line up against one another. In an in-state rivalry game like that neither team has a decided advantage. I don’t think you could overstate the importance of home field advantage in a game like that, which is something else to consider if you’re going to evaluate this match up.
Anyway, those of us who would like to see a Pitt-PSU game can all keep dreaming because it, unfortunately, isn’t going to happen any time soon.
of course this game isn’t going to happen but its a joke that these two teams are not playing each other. Renewing this once great rivalry would provide a tremendous boost for both programs. If it turned into an annual contest it could be a much bigger rivalry than even Pitt-WVU. It would be great for recruiting for both schools.
Also, who is PSU’s rival right now? They don’t have one. They like to think it’s Ohio State, but come on, everyone knows that OSU-Michigan is the big cheese there.
You don’t play a rivalry game just because you have something to gain. You play it because first of it’s good for the fans and its tradition. To end it in the first place was ridiculous and shows how cowardly PSU is. Pitt would play PSU regardless if they were the number 1 team in the country and PSU was 150. PSU isn’t a perenial top 10 team for starters. I seem to remember a 4-7 and 3-9 season not too long ago. Disillusioned PSU fans like to put there program on that level but it isn’t always there. Second, PSU does have something to gain, how about the recruits that Wanny has been getting at Pitt from PA the past few years. These are guys that almost assuredly would have went somewhere else prior to his tenure. By winning over Pitt a few times PSU could steal some of these. (PSU knows these wins wouldn’t happen easily or consistently so they don’t play). But of course this won’t ever happen. The PSU program is so disillusioned that they actually convince themselves the reason they don’t play Pitt is b/c they are on a different level and have nothing to gain from it. Yet, the real reason is they are flat out scared to play. PSU’s arrogance truly showed through in their offer years ago to play if it was a two at home one on the road contest. This is unheard of in a rivalry. Especially in a rivalry in which the last time the teams played your team was shut out and lost 12-0. Shame on PSU for ending a great rivalry. Renewing this matchup would not only show that PSU isn’t as far ahead of the Panthers as they think, but it would also show that the Big10 really isn’t as far ahead as the BE as they like to think.
There have been plenty of years (especially in the late 80’s early 90’s) when Notre Dame had nothing to gain by playing some horrendous Pitt teams yet they played relatively frequently and have revived the series. I think Pitt fans probably think of this as more of a rivalry than ND fans do, nonetheless its always an interesting match up. You end up with some great games, like last weekends 4OT game and the longest in ND Stadium history. At least I can respect the Irish for playing us.
As great as the ND/Pitt series is, a Pitt/PSU series could be so much more.
I just dont think PSU sees anything to gain from renewing it. Period. Whether they are right or wrong who can really say. It is their program.
Speaking of geographical rivalries, Pitt should not even bother with PSU and start a series with Ohio State. Both schools there would have something to gain from the series, particularly in recruiting. I am surprised there is not more of a push for that series.
They do have something to gain. And its an arrogant belief by PSU fans thinking they have nothing to gain. If they’d beat Pitt solidly it will be much harder for DW to swing recruits to Pitt. Pitt has been recruiting PA like crazy since DW has arrived and PSU has been missing out on top prospects. Lets be honest, the fear is that Pitt will out-perform the Nitanny Lions on the field, and this would be even more fuel for DW’s recruiting. This is what PSU doesn’t want. They cover up the fear with this attitude that their is nothing to gain.
Mark Schlabach of ESPN has them projected to play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowlprojection?season=2008&week=11
Not sure I agree with that projection, but I think that would be sweet. No doubt a tough match up, but it would be interesting to see how we’d fare against an SEC foe.
For those of you who can’t be at the game or watch on TV, I’ll be giving updates over at http://hailtopitt.blogspot.com