NO ACCOLADES FOR TONY WISE TONIGHT.

Some perspective…A 9 and 4 season from a team that will lose only a few players is not the end of the world. I am happy with this season. As for this game, I did not expect this low of a score, but I knew that it would be a low scoring game because both of the coaches have that pro football, feild position, keep it close, and win it in the fourth quarter mentality. The bottom line is that we lost to a good team by 3 points, you would think it was by 30 points to read some of the game comments on this blog. I’m not sure why all the barking about the play calling, particularly in the first half. When the other team puts nine people in the box, you throw the ball. I don’t care who you have at RB, you throw the ball. A few completions backs them off and then we can turn on the Shady show. We just did not execute the pass plays. Throw it to Shady right? Wrong, they just pinned their ears back all day and came after us. We needed the RB to block on passing plays. I am not one of these people whose favorite player on the team is always the backup QB; but, what I have noticed about Stull is that when he starts bad in a game he stays bad, in fact seems to get worse as the game goes on because he presses. I’m OK with the play calling, but Stull should have been benched at halftime. I’m fairly certain that the QB position will be open for competition in the Spring. Hard to knock Cav, I believe we averaged close to 30 points per game this year during the season. I can clearly remember a Monday Night Football game from a few years ago between the Steelers and the Patriots. The Steelers stacked the line of scrimmage and just bull rushed on every play (just like OSU did most of this game). The result, Tom Brady threw the ball 65 times and the Patriots won the game. Maybe we did not throw it enough! When interviewed after the game, Brady was asked why he threw it so much and he simply said, “We just take what the defense is giving us”. Lastly, I heard the broadcast team mention one time that Pitt was playing without two starters on their OL, while I heard what must have been two dozen mentions of the Rodgers brothers absence from OSU. I don’t think the game is one bit different with Jacquizz Rodgers in it. He is no better than, and may not be as good as, Noel Divine. I don’t think Divine’s last two outings against Pitt show that little speedy backs eat us up!!! Give OSU credit, they saw our weak points as the OL and and our QB, and they designed a defense to take advantage of those weaknesses. And give our defense a lot of credit for giving our offense the chance to the win the game right to the bitter end.

Let the apologists start. You seriously think we are going in any direction? Cavanaugh should have been fired in the locker room and Wannstedt right after him. What a completely disgraceful performance. I feel terrible for those kids on defense who gave it all and did everything aksed of them only to watch total incompetence rule the day. Getting excited because we are 9-4 as if thats a great accomplishment is horrifying. The fact it only seems great after three yuears of total incompetence is even sadder. WE GOT SAHUTOUT BY A TEAM THAT GABE UP OVER 60 POINTS IN THEIR LAST GAME!

I am completely disgusted and my four year disgust with Dave the incompetent is at an amazingly high new level.

We are Pitt…being satisfied with being 9-4 doesnt cut it.

We played excellent defense. It was a super performance for the D against a fine team. The Offense was terrible but give some credit to the Beavers D. They beat us off the ball, they covered our receivers and they didn’t get fooled. Not as terrible a loss as one might think. We lost a hard fought game. As for Billy Stull, give the kid a break. He is a tough player and had no time to throw to his well covered receivers. 10 wins next year. If Wanny can’t get 8 – 9 next year, THEN make a change. Hail to Pitt! By the way…How bout’ that Hoops team???

Bill Stull flat out sucks. In Bostick I trust. Excellent analysis, Chas. I realize the players love Cav, but they also loved Rhoads and it was clearly best for him to move on last year.

Also, I don’t want to get flamed for being negative, since there was plenty of positive stuff in the game, specifically on D, and moving into the offseason.

-The D-line’s improvement continues.
-Berry may have had some time for introspection in the last month. Either way, I think the light went on for him in the same manner that it did for Revis before his Junior year, and to a lesser extent Josh Lay before his Senior year. Look for Berry to have an outstanding year next season.
-The defense began creating more turnovers by the end of the year, as promised by Coach Bennett.
-While we do not have the depth of a USC or Florida, we were able to preserve the redshirts of some vital components of last year’s class.
-This year’s class in looking to be shaping up nicely and I think we will finish strong with 4 or 5 more commits.

HTP!

I will not give Billy Stull a break. He deserves nothing of the sort. The fact that this adult is able to sleep at night knowing he is getting a free ride to play at a level most 12-year olds could match is disgusting. BCE is right, some of you act like 9-4 is a freakin’ National Championship. Wansteadt had better re-evaluate his proclimation that Stull is the starter heading into next season. Here’s a thought: mabe if Stool, err, Stull, would spend less time getting idiotic tatoos and adding stupid little gadgets to his helment, and spent more time practicing, then maybe, just maybe, he would be able to throw a screen pass without underthrowing his receiver by 5 yards. The entire offense was a disgrace, don’t get me wrong, but as the quarterback, Stool is the leader of this…umm…attack? Add in the fact that an orange could be more effective under center, and you get the most disgusting, worthless, embarrassing, talentless, lazy player that this fine program has seen in the last 20 years. My heart goes out to the defense, their effort was amazing. Stool cost every senior on this team a chance to end their career on a winning note, and the D-fense did their part. I cannot remeber the last time I was more disgusted with an athlete. Don’t worry though, when we lose a game 2-0 next year, Stool will have outdone himself.
P.S. Cav has to go too. I could go on for another hour about the horrid play calling, but I’ll save that for another time.

Under Wannedstedt we don’t play well after a break with few exceptions. The bowl break has been the longest interval without a game. The offense reminded me of the Bowling Green effort. BUT since we are taking a hit for the 0 points from ever media source and fan, we Pitt fans need to keep a rational perspective. Our defense played superbly and we all need to hope Bennet returns. Prior to today’s game we were the highest scoring Big East team at 29 points per game. So fans – get over it. We are doing better and after 4-7 last year 9-4 is a great record. Let us not forget our #3 basketball team was on Fox winning a game over Rutgers unlike last year’s freaky loss. Two programs on national television highlighting our two ranked teams. It is pretty exciting to be a Pitt fan now.

Yeah, what an “exciting” football game. I am not a big Bostick fan, but he can’t be worse than Stull. Hell, my grandma can’t be worse than Stull.
I love this program, but Stull is a selfish, lazy player, and he does NOT deserve a scholarship. For that matter, he doen’t deserve a punt pass and kick trophy. Wanny had a major brain fart the day he recruited this worthless waste of space. I don’t know or care how much the players like Cav, the guy is as good an OC as Stull is a QB. Oregon put up almost 70 POINTS on this defense. Thank God Stull gave away the Cincy game, because this team would have been embarrassed by just about every other BSC team (OK, not VT). One more thing, can we please stop talking about how “tough” Stull is? He is about a tough as a throw pillow. I hope Stull is reading this, but I doubt it because
A) No player in their right mind would visit this blog after a loss:)
B) He probably doen’t give a shit that he sucks anyway. Stull’s probably happy to take his hair-dryer and leave. Thanks for the scholarship, suckers!
Other players have had bad games, but this is the first time that I honestly feel one of our players didn’t care if we won or lost. The effort just is not there from Stull. If were working hard and TRYING to get better, he would not be getting WORSE. This selfish, lazy, shameless young “man” makes me sick to my stomach.

Cavanaugh needs to go. It was so apparent that he was putting the game in Stull’s hands instead of Mccoy’s which makes no sense considering how poorly Stull has played this year. I don’t blame Stull – he is what he is, and how Cavanaugh doesn’t recognize that is the reason we need someone with a fresh perspective. Also, there was zero creativity in the offensive game plan. Maybe some new blood can better utilize the offensive weapons Pitt has, because Cavanugh certainly has not. How can this offense, or for that matter, any offense not score??

This was not our best day. But I am proud of this team regardless. Had the coaching staff refused to pull Stull, I’d be very apprehensive about 2009. But they did. Too late to win the game, I know. But again, they pulled the trigger. And that is change, and that is progress, and that is positive. And that’s why we should remain excited about this team.

We have every reason to believe that next year will be a good year, too.

I’m sober – I might not be in an hour. So long as I am, though, I can sincerely wish each of you a Happy New Year – let’s keep this blog clean (a fun place to visit).

Can we raise a toast to Chas there fellas (and gals)?

My sincere thanks for your dedication & interest to this site — has it really been 5+ years?

Hail to Pitt

As I watched the final game slipping away like fade patterns thrown 5 yards out of bounds, I tried to give myself some perspective. Yes, we did improve mightily over last year. Yes, our defense played possibly their best game of the season and gives us hope for next season. I tried to tell myself that it wasn’t Bill Stull’s fault that the wind was blowing the ball around.

However, as I walked back to the kitchen to get myself another beverage, I happened to glance at my calender and realized how long the coaching staff had to put this ‘winning’ game plan together. They had 25 days. Thats over 3 weeks to game plan.

And what a game plan Cav came up with! The play calling was typical Cavanaugh… Start off with a couple bubble screens to the recievers to loosen up the defense, then hit them with McCoy with dive plays and a couple counters, throwing only when we have to and those passes will only be screens or hook patterns unless a long yardage situation was encountered. And there is nothing wrong with that game plan if it is working. That is a textbook game plan for ball and clock control. However, if its not working it is the football equivalent to banging your head against a wall.

However, after 3 and out after 3 and out, no changes were made. Especially in the second half, Pitt just kept running the same old 7th grade football plays, hoping against hope that McCoy would eventually break one. And Oregon State just lined up with as many players in the box that they could fit, knowing Bill Stull wasn’t going to throw anywhere near a reciever. Through all of that offensive failure Cav just kept on calling one bland play after the next, like Kevin Bacon at the end of Animal House, screaming “All is well” in the face of the melee.

Didn’t we have any play action passes in the game plan? How about any play in the Wildcat formation that didn’t involve Shady trying to run directly over the center? In a time when literally nothing that Pitt was trying to run was working, where was Greg Cross? Where was a trick play? We were only down 3 points, why not try something, anything for God’s sake? Why did Stull, just keep throwing fade patterns out of bounds barely in the same vicinity as an overmatched Baldwin?

The Pitt offense today was utterly ineffective and relentlessly stubborn. Cav refused to alter his gameplan and wasted away any chances that we had with idiotic play calls. I realize that Oregon State played well enough to win the game and should have won that game, their defensive line dominated the game and their linebackers plugged the holes superbly. Their offense moved the ball on us at times and should have scored more points. But Cavanaugh and the Pitt offense should have put up even a little bit of a fight. He squandered away the best defensive performance of the year.

The person who I feel worst for however is Scott McKillop who absolutely played like a champion today. Hopefully he gets drafted by a team with an offensive coordinator.

Happy New Year

I am no Stull fan but after every bad Stull performance people demand Bostick – but when Bostick has to go in and do more than hand-off, people want to revoke his scholarship too.

Clearly, Pitt may be better served by not fielding a quarterback at all.

I think we need to give Cross and Sunseri a serious look next year. I think Stull is a good leader, and the best option we had this year, just not a long-term solution. I like Bostick’s moxy, but he’s immobile and not a very good drop-back passer.
With our struggles on the offensive line, I believe we need someone who can evade the rush and give our quality wide receivers a chance to get open.
Also, the current bowl system is a mess. Four weeks off is just enough time to develop some rust. A playoff could have been decided in that time.
Finally, McCoy should touch the ball 30 times a game. He’s the best player on the field for Pitt and he gives us the best chance to win.

Chas,

Good analysis.

A few additional thoughts:

1. We never rolled our QB out, since the only passes working seemed to be “north-south” passes, due to the wind (How many times did they tell us about the wind…it was discussed more than the game itself). Rolling out Stull would have given him time ( i hope) to look vertically downfield…and hopefully set and then throw, “north-south”.

2. I kept waiting for playaction on first downs, and throws over the middle to TEs, or quick slant-ins to our WRs. And am still waiting.

3. I do believe our OL struggle was a bigger problem than the wind…but give credit to the OSU DLine–they came to play.

4. The only problem I had with going for the first down on fourth down, is we didn’t set it up on third down….it’s as if we weren’t thinking ahead.

5. The most exciting plays were the OSU punts…their punter kept launching long kicks…and Porter did a good job returning them (and at least he had the presence to fumble out of bounds and pick up a few more yards), and came close to breaking one all the way.

6. D-Line was terrific!

7. My OSU friends were pretty good about the game…one started dozing off in the third quarter, and the others just thought it was an overall bad game. They were happy to win…just not excited, and were pretty much on mute the whole day…as opposed to the Duck fans who went crazy when they beat another OSU in yesterday’s Holiday Bowl (exciting and wildly offensive game, especially in the second half).

8. Where was Cross at all in this game..with his speed, and as I noted above, the roll-out would have been nice to see.

9. Cav, I thought during the year (other than the BG fiasco) called plays built for the strength of our players…today, I don’t know what he was thinking…everybody has a brain freeze…maybe he had too much ice cream…but doubtful if Wanny pulls the plug on him, as they seem to be connected to the same scheme, albeit way too much.

I am still pleased with a 9-4 season..though not happy with the first game or last game play…but I like to think this is but the first step to a return to glory!

Hail to PITT!..and Happy New Year to PITT fans around the world!
-al-

As an OSU alum, I was amazed and embarrassed that a field goal won the game. Before the game I truly thought we’d get out butts kicked! Not only did the missing Rodgers brothers account for 50% of our offense but we gave up 60+ to our hated in-state rivals, the schmucks. At home, no less! All things considered, I figured it’d be a long day. I give kudos to both D’s. We haven’t allowed 5 sacks in any game this year. I don’t think we allowed 3 sacks in any game this year! So your guys’ D performed very well. I, too, was confused by your play selection. McCoy did not get the ball enough – Duh! And I agree with most of the posts about Stull. He was a chump. Not that our QB did much better. Our QB has played much better. Today he had an off day. But the game was not as boring to me as others have mentioned. Can you say “tension”? I was sure that after you guys went to the wildcat near the end and did some goods things out of it that you’d march down the field and score with ten seconds left.

Stull is what he is, that being a bad QB which means the team overall has improved because they won 9 games in spite of his ineptitude.

Stull rolling out is hilarious because he can’t progress to the second receiver. Slight pressure and he falls apart. He looks for the most part what a bad HS QB looks like. I have had a hard time watching them this year even when they won because they have QB who is inept.

If he starts next year I just don’t know if I will watch them. I could not bring myself to watch a QB who just goes through the motions and does not have one iota of playmaking ability. Freakin dead weight for sure and that is why I beleive this team was good.

I caught hell when I warned people in here a few weeks ago that this team wasn’t a real 9-3 and I’m sure the same will happen when I say they aren’t a real 9-4 team either. In any other major conference this is a 6-6 team. Don’t let the record fool you. This program, under Wannstedt, is nowhere near an elite program. The truth is, it’s no better than Harris’s teams.

Wow.

Seriously.

Beaver fan here, just to tell you in case you didn’t know…

Stull suuuucks.

Your O-cord is quite possibly the worst I’ve ever seen.

Whine-stedt exceeded my lowest expectations.

I honestly pitt-y you guys.

Chas – your commentary was dead on. I watched the game with a few PITT fans and after the opening series we turned to each other and knew it would be a long day.

I especially feel that, again, this outcome rests on the shoulders of two people – Cavanaugh first and foremost – and Bill Stull.

It was painfully obvious that Bill Stull just couldn’t get it done early on, and yet Cav refused to either acknowledge that, or held out hope we could get one big play. Either way the OC refused to see what was painfully obvious to the rest of America (at least those interested) and that was the QB was not able to function.

All year long I’ve tried to be a realistic as possible in following this team. I don’t get too excited after the wins and I refused to get too upset over the losses – and I’m not pulling my hair out over this either. But I’ve also felt that, as poorly as Bill Stull has played all season – and it wasn’t all like yesterday – he still gave the PITT offense the best chance to move the ball and score points. That said, I was crying for Cav & DW to start Bostick in the second half as it was just too apparent Stull couldn’t make it work.

The best, absolute best, I can say about Stull’s performance yesterday was that he didn’t throw any pick 6s. But, I still would have taken the chance that Bostick might do that for the trade off that we’d somehow finally get in FG range.

As to the cry for firings. We’re crazy if we call for DW’s head over this. We just finished a 9-4 season, on the heels of a 5-7 season the year prior. No, DW’s done a good job in my book.

However, we’ve seen as much as we can from Matt Cavanaugh. If we can’t depend on someone to be willing to 1) acknowledge the obvious and 2) have the guts to act on what the obvious has presented him with, then that person is of no positive use to the team.

We’ve done well this season – but it’s plain to see that we have enough of a quality base that we can afford to stretch in other areas – take some risks to shake things up.

A new OC and honestly evaluating the QB position has to be the first step.

hail2pitt-

I hope that’s the New Years Eve booze talking, because it’s pretty sad to think that an adult would take the opportunity to be as insulting as you are, just because of a lost football game, when they are sober.

Yesterday’s game was like watching the scene in Jaws when the big fish swallows the guy or the Exorcist when the demon sends the young priest hurling down the stairs. But the loss is consistent with the efforts of all Pitt coaches in their first bowl attempt:
1929 Jock Sutherland loss to USC 47-14
1955 John Micheloson loss to Georgia Tech
21-14
1973 Johnny majors loss to Arizona State 28-7
1987 Mike Gottfried loss to Texas 32-27
1997 Walt Harris loss to Southern Miss 41-7
2008 Dave Wannstedt loss to Oregon State 3-0

We are consistent.

I have yet to read over the posts above to see if my complaint has already been covered, but I’ll get to that shortly as I read over this site religiously almost every day. However, the most annoying thing to me while watching the football game today wasn’t the ineptitude of our offense, especially the playcalling. It was the announcers. Did they do any actual research or prep work before this game so that they would actually have something of substance to talk about during the slower periods of the game, or did they just go into the presentation with the decision already made to just wing it with their commentating. There were so many periods during this game that I yelled at the tv for some of their stupid comments just as fervently as I would for a bill stull int. I remember two times in the first quarter when I was just annoyed with their lack of knowledge…when they started talking about how great shady is, which I’m never tired of hearing, but it was obvious they were just reading word for word off a piece of paper as they mispronounced and then corrected several words(saying he was from hartsburg, or something like that, then correcting it with harrisburg) and I believe they said he went to hargrave military academy as well, which I think is where sam young went, not shady. I couldve been wrong when i was staring a hole into my tv, but didn’t shady go to milford? Also, while pitt was on defense, one of our cb’s(they never clarified who it actually was) tipped an osu pass, and they said it was number 30, conredge collins?!? At that point, i realized it just wasn’t Pitt’s day on the field. Unfortunately I’m still a little fuzzy due to tonight’s festivities, but I also recall another time in the 3rd or 4th when dorin dickerson caught a pass across the middle, and as he came down with it, his number 2 was clearly visible and unobstructed to the viewers at home. Yet, they decided to give credit to oderick turner for the catch? really? Not to mention the ridiculous off-topic conversations they immersed themselves in during the game that felt as if we were eavesdropping on two people meeting for the first time on a blind date. They just seemed to be so awkward when engaged in conversation..and that’s only when they weren’t reading directly from the player profiles they obviously decided to print out from wikipedia without checking for verification on anything. I’m sorry if no one else cares about that, I just had to bitch about it for a minute because I was disappointed in how disinterested it made me in watching the game, although the fact that I don’t remember one play for either team except larods 20 yd burst in the first half that i exuded any type of emotion for didn’t help much. Sigh..either way, I’m still proud of the team for going 9-4 and now it’s time to devote 150% of my attention to basketball, since I’ve been hyped for this season since the end of last year. Happy New Year everyone, and keep up the great blogging/commenting that’s kept me coming back to this site pretty much every day for three years.

I am positively ecstatic that I went to the basketball game instead, and as fast as you can say “Chase Clowser” the fb recording was erased.

Happy New Year and at least you didn’t invest with Madoff.

I asked earlier in the season why Chase Clowser at 6.7 and 350 lbs. has never been given a start in four years. Today, I learned the hard way. Secondly, why is Dorin Dickerson wasting away. He could damn well be our number one wide receiver. Baldwin struggles running routes other than the fade, Turner can’t hold on to the ball, and Kinder doesn’t have the tenacity and aggressiveness that Dickerson has. Every time the ball is thrown to Dickerson, he uses his athletic ability and drive to get it. (Syracuse TD, Cincy TD, and two great catches on the last drive today) Cav can’t call a good game let alone make correct personell decisions so DW will have to take more of an active role on offense next season. I just don’t understand why we don’t use Dorin until all other options have been exhausted.

PS: I think we could hire a child that is good at Madden to call a better game than Cav.

When asked in the postgame news conference if there will be an open quarterback competition in spring drills, McCoy and senior linebacker Scott McKillop couldn’t muffle their laughs.

“I’ll need some time to think about that,” Wannstedt said. “We need to improve at a lot of positions, and we’ve got to play better at the quarterback spot, no question.”

The above was copied from today’s Trib. I’m not sure how to interpret McKillop’s and Shady’s laughs … either that they know Cav will stay with Stull no matter what, or every knows that Timo is the best QB in the program (I guess ths is more speculative hope than anything else.)

As I had indicated in previous posts, it pains me to think that the 09 team which has a good chance of being the best Pitt team since the early 80s will suffer because its QB cannot make a play and the OC cannot adapt to anything but a straight drop-back QB approach anyone for Kyle Boller or Trent Dilfer?) At least Dilfer had an overpowering O-line; Pitt does not.

And why exactly does Bostick take no flack from anyone here? For as bad as Stull is, it may be hard to believe, but Bostick is worse. With no timeouts on the last drive, he manages to get sacked twice. That is inexcusable.

You can sit and rail about Stull being bad…he is. But Bostick always looks like a deer in headlights.

Lastly, this goes on the coaches. Not particularly for the play-calling (which was bad), but for their adamant refusal to get Greg Cross involved earlier in the year. By not using him, the team was forced to rely on to completely incompetent quarterbacks. In the Sun Bowl, they couldn’t rely on him because they never gave him a shot.

The only way many of us who live with State Penn people can preserve any dignity for ourselves this weekend is if we hear a lot of “Fight on for USC” this afternoon.

Go get em, Pete Carrol, destroy those hicks.

The most frustrating PITT sporting event I have ever watched. Generally speaking I am optimistic with the Panthers and even went so far as to defend Stull and Coach Cav.

Stull is horrible. Unfortunately, I still think he is the best we have. Isn’t that pathetic? What I want to know is why we insist on having him throw the ball deep down the sidelines. Our line was horrible and he didn’t get adequate protection. He can’t make the big throws when he isn’t under pressure. Do we have a 3-step package? Where are quick slants and outs? And where was the screen package yesterday? Just an embarrassing game offensively. It is so frustrating b/c the offense has talented players who don’t touch the ball.

Also, can we just put Dickerson at WR? He made two beautiful grabs on our last possession. I’ll take that over Turner and Porter dropping balls all over the field any day.

Hopefully this embarrassing performance serves to motivate this team in the off-season and spring ball b/c they are talented and can play much better.

This will not be a popular post but too many bloggers on this site is too obsessed with what is happening up at Happy Valley. Pitt must get its own house in order, and maybe what happened at PSU over the past 4 years may be a good lesson for the Pitt coaching staff to realize (although it is obvious that Stache/Cav seem to be very set in their ways such as JoePa was earlier this decade.)

What I am specifically referring to is the style of QB play. In the last 4 years, PSU had two BCS bowl teams when using a mobile, option-type QB (Robinson and Clark; but hen they had the strong-armed, pro-style Morelli (Cav’s wetdeam), they were just an above-avrage team.

Unless you have an overpowering defense AND a dominant O-line, you will run into some games when you need your QB to make a play; not one that just succumbs to pressure but actually can improvise. (Robinson & Clark vs Morelli & Stull.)

I’ve been lurking on this board for the better part of two years. During that time, although I’ve had bad feelings about the coaching staff, I’ve stuck with them. I thought it unfair to make any judgements until Wannstedt got his recruits and his system in place. But I can see where this is going, and its time to speak my piece.

I have no problem with the loss – you win bowl games, and you lose them. I also have no problem with the way anyone played. Players have good and bad days, and some have more ability than others. My problem is the way the coaching staff keeps letting the team down, especially in key game situations.

Three of Pitt’s four losses this year are on the staff, as well as several from last year. Several of our wins were IN SPITE of the coaching staff. Not good when you have good athletes playing their hearts out, only to lose because of poor game coaching. And I’m not talking about reasonable calls that just didn’t work. I’m talking about calls that anyone with the slightest knowledge of the game would know are bad calls (I know most of thats on Cav, but Wannys the HC. He could change it). These men have devoted their lives to the game. I would expect more from them.

I’ve heard plenty of Zeise this year, telling me that Wanny has a “philosophy” that “is not going to change”. Believe me, I understand that. But that has never been the issue. Good coaches will make adjustments to that philosophy for personnel and situation. Wanny does not. He almost seems content to lose games rather than try something different when the game plan isn’t working.

Not that the game plan is ever that spectacular. With a Heisman Trophy caliber running back in the backfield, how many times did they throw long on 3rd and short? Or throw the fade X and goal from the two? Or, in general, not put the game in the hands of the guy who got them there? How do you game plan for the run when you admit the week before the game the only chance your opponent has is to throw?

When it was clear at halftime of the Sun Bowl that Stull didn’t have it, why didn’t Bostick, or Cross, or ANYONE start the 2nd half? When it was clear Stull wasn’t going to hit the deep ball, where were the short routes? Why, on the last two drives, when a field goal could have sent the game into overtime, did Pitt leave 3 timeouts on the board?

This hasn’t happened in just one or two games. Its been happening for at least two years. When you lose after putting forth your best effort, that’s just the game. You got beat. When you lose because the coaches didn’t put forth their best effort, or freeze in game situations, its disheartening.

Sure, I’m thankful to be 9-4 with a bowl game. Its part of the progression, from bad team, to…to what? Elite status? Maybe. But if Pitt ever gets there, we will then be complaining about the lost opportunities. The missed major bowl, or possibly the lost national championship. There will always be those 1 or 2 losses a year that fall directly on the coaching staff. Unless Wanny learns. So far, he’s shown no inclination to learn.

(By the way, I still say ‘What IF?’ What if we had gone back to Script before the game? ITS A JOKE! Fer chrissakes.)

Reed: right on.

Take personal shots at the coaches if you want, they get paid well. Stop throwing the insults at Stull. Yeah he is not a good qb, but he’s a kid. Hail2Pitt, have you ever competed in anything in your life? Fat asses who sit on their coaches everyday who have never done anything competitive in their lives are usually the first to throw those kind of personal insults around. Yeah he had a bad day and is not a great qb, lets keep it at that.

I don’t think its a stretch to say there isn’t a worse QB in football than Bill Stull. I know the line played poorly but I have never seen a more pitiful performance then what Stull gave. And I don’t think he was injured either. I think he gave up. He is soft. He has no arm, no accuracy, no athleticism and no vision. How many times can he over throw Baldwin on a fade? Disgusting.

As for him being the best QB they have. If I have to hear that excuse one more time I will vomit all over my computer screen. PAT BOSTICK IS BETTER THAN BILL STULL. He came in yesterday and completed 2 big passes over the middle that without doubt Stull would have overthrown. Lets take a look at Stulls stats from his first full season compared to those of Bostick a year ago.

NAME CMP ATT YDS CMP% YDS/A TD INT RAT
Pat Bostick 155 252 1500 61.5 5.95 8 13 111.7

NAME CMP ATT YDS CMP% YDS/A TD INT RAT
Bill Stull 181 306 2304 59.2 7.53 9 9 126.2

Keep in mind that was a true freshman thrown on to the field with a horrible line and no options at receiver.

I’m really not sure how anyone can defend this kid anymore. The fact is he can’t play football. Give me Pat Bostick.

Sitting watching the game with Georgia and Georgia Tech fans was frustrating. Many comments were thrown out that Stull looked like a high school quarterback that was afraid of the being hit… They were questioning as to why we have gone all season without being able to find a solid quarterback. With that said, the performance of the offense did not left a good impression on fans of other conferences. We were 9-4 and are not considered to be in the same league as many other teams with the same record.
Good job to the D. They made the plays when they were needed and have improved through the season.
Hail to Pitt! Happy New Year.

Same old Pitt. At least I didn’t waste the time and money on a trip to El Paso like I did to see the Panthers get crushed by Utah in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl. Every time I think I’ve seen the worst of it, they manage to find a way to a new low. Oregon State is a good team, but there is really no excuse for Pitt for what happened in this game. It is the kind of inexplicable loss that people who are Wanny detractors point to and say “See, this is what I mean.” It is not appropriate to deride Bill Stull. He’s a young guy who tried and didn’t have it and should have been taken out of the game for mercy’s sake, if nothing else. (Bostick’s deep ball looks a lot like my deep ball, so I don’t think he’s necessarily the answer either. If I remember correctly many people here were calling for Bostick’s head at one point too.) I do remember a missed interception by a Pitt defender that would have likely won the game. I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned that play, but it sticks-out in my mind. It looked like a clear “pick-6” and was dropped. Stull had nothing to do with that. I also think the Oregon State touchdown was legitimate, so Pitt caught a break there, not that it mattered in the end, though. I would have liked to have seen Greg Cross get a chance in this game and past games. He seems to be the most athletic of the many, many Pitt QB’s. I usually subscribe to the practice of putting all your best athletes on the field and trusting them to make plays. Athletics are for athletes and the better ones usually find a way to win.

I think it is the coaches, make the switch at halftime, short passes to tight ends and backs out of a 3 step drop. End arounds w/ Aundra Wright. Call the same offensive plays as the wvu game and we kill this team! every time I think Cavanaugh has finally figured out the college game he does this. Need a more imaginitive oc!!!!!!

Now that the season is over, I hope Coach W. can come forth with some kind of logical reason why Greg Cross did not get on the field. Please tell me he was injured or they are trying to redshirt him. Something! I try not to criticize the coach too much since I am not at practice every day, but this sequence of events, or lack of, is just mind blowing. To all of Cross’s critics, How “inaccurate” can he be? Worse than what we saw today? Who cares if he even passes? I would take my chances with a snap to Cross and an option of handing it off to Shady over anything I saw today. The fact that he is too stubborn to even try it blows my mind. It should of been a sign to all when Coach W. named Stull the starter before camp even started. There is no way I am going to believe he saw something so definitive in him that he felt compelled to name him the starter without competition. What is going on?

Like Ivan, I read this board regularly but seldom post although I think it is a great forum and it is a clean site without a lot of the back and forth bashing on most boards, thanks.

I went to Pitt in the 70’s and have been a follower ever since. Lived through Foge, Hackett, and Harris debachles. This is worse. Like an earlier poster said, Pitt only got 9 wins because of the Big Least.

I am in business and I can tell you that the problem here is Wannstedt. The players, and the assistant coaches, do what the head coach directs. He needs to move into some kind of an ambassador role where he can still help recruit ( like Johnny Majors did when he realized he didn’t have it anymore)but he needs to stay home on Saturdays. He won’t, of course, and that is why people like me will remain casual fans and not buy season tickets of travel to Bowl games. I know that is not what people want to hear, but I know I speak for most followers who desparately want Pitt to be a major program but won’t be with bad head coaches. Bring Skip Holtz in and I stand in line to buy season tickets and donate the the Panther club, but invest in this charade-fughedaboudit.

A few observations:
1) This was the single worst offensive performance that I have ever seen at any level of football.
2) It is evident that Cav has no confidence in Stull completing quick slants or crossing patterns over the middle – he simply doesn’t call these plays, relying instead on trying to get lucky on a deep fade when we only need 5 – 6 yards for a 1st down.
3) Given this, it is inexcusable that a competent 2nd option at QB wasn’t developed during the season – Bostick, Cross, Sunseri, whoever. This failure falls squarely on Cav and Wanny. How can you continue to play a guy that you have no confidence in?
4) As bad as Stull played, our offensive tackles played worse. Clowser was so overmatched that he couldn’t even get in the way of his guy. Yet, he played the entire game.
I have no confidence that Wanny and Cav will open up the QB position during Spring camp or become more creative in play calling. Unfortunately, I think we are in for a repeat performance next year.
Hail to Pitt!

Worst QB Play in Division 1 for the last two years. I would take any MAC qb that I have watched over what Pitt has. It is amazing that it was a 9 win season.

I watched the Oregon, OSU game to see how Ore. got 60. Their QB is a 5’10 sparkplug that reminds me of Grothe. S. Fla. and WVU would have beat Ore. St. by 4 touchdowns.

We have had enough time to take this all in….it was a terrible game. Terrible game. Terrible. Really, 3 3touches in the first half for Shady? Cav needs to buy an XBox and play some NCAA Football. Sounds stupid but after a few games as Pitt everyone knows you need to get the ball to Shady to win. Moving on, Pitt hoops has a huge game coming up and its time to focus on something positive. I am done with football for a few months. The basketball team deserves all of our attention/support now. Lets Go Pitt!..

The same announcers that did not know the names of the players on the field were continually calling for the “Play Action Pass”. Every time they said it, I laughed becuase it would have done no good. Their defense was keying on Shady and they were doing it from line of scrimmage. They just bull rushed on every play. A “Play Action” fake does nothing to slow that down. Completed passes slow that down.

In todays PG regarding Stull:
To Stull’s credit, he took blame for the offense’s ineptitude and said he felt bad for letting his teammates down. He said what made accepting his performance harder was that his grandfather had died last week and he had dedicated the game to him.

“Things just didn’t click, but I blame myself for playing [so poorly],” Stull said.

“This is the worst game I ever played in my life. It is just horrible, I feel sorry that my teammates had to be a part of the way I played and I feel so sorry for the seniors.

“[The wind] didn’t affect anything, I just played horribly. This is definitely not how I wanted to play for my grandpa and everything, it is just horrible.”

Wannstedt on the 58 yard FG:
“I think it summed it up when it was fourth-and-8 and I had more confidence kicking a 58-yard field goal than going for it.

“I did feel like Conor could make it, I did not feel like our offense could, and when you are 2 of 15 on third down, I felt like I needed to give our team the best chance to win.”

Steve,
Your comments are right on target. Why do some incompetent people get promoted? They demonstrate qualities their bosses want to see. They are often very hard workers, say the right things, and are loyal to a fault. Wanny rewards such players with playing time, and will overlook almost anything they do on the field. The great bosses, and coaches, are more ruthless. Wanny is truly a nice guy – which is terrific for recruiting, but maybe not so good when a player is not cutting it. I think Pitt will continue to have reasonably good seasons, but championships and top-ten rankings are probably unrealistic given the circumstances.

I waited til today to sober up and share my thoughts. Think Oregon Panther and Ivan covered my one thought well.

DW’s toughest three hours each week are those during the game. ADJUSTMENTS are something he and his staff are just incapable of perhaps because they assume it will always go their way? He never has plan B or C. Football games are like wars and business today….they never go the way they are planned. A good coach, like a good business manager today has to be sharp, accountable and make adjustments on the fly.
With Wanny and Co….it has always been his biggest problem (See Miami and Chicago blogs during his tenure there). Start off w. the BG game and their adustment not to line up and play
smash mouth football in the second Q. Game over.
The moment I heard Pinkston was out, I knew we were in trouble. DW is a great guy, recruiter and rep. of UPitt but until someone teaches him to make a plan and have effective alternatives….the “what if” scenerio…he will never improve as a coach. Ditto’s Cav. Think about it….no single active coach is constantly thought to be more ineffective and stupid on game day than Wanny….It’s planning for the unexpected that does him in year in and out.

One last comment….could not agree more on Lundquist and Co. yesterday …the worst announcing I have ever heard.

I said it after the Bowling Green game, I said it 2 years ago when they got beat at USF (when they gave up 1st downs on SUCCESSIVE SERIES on FAKE PUNTS), and I will say it again – the Pitt football program needs to G.R.O.W. – as in Get Rid Of Wannestadt! If we are going to be satisfied with 1 minor bowl bid every 4 years, then we are in trouble. And then, with a month to prepare for an Oregon State defensive team that those bunch of Penn State yokels totally destroyed, Wanny and Cavanaugh come out and sh– the bed. NO POINTS! Are you kidding me? Stull was awful, as he has been for much of the year. But DW and Cavanaugh keep him in. This is the best we’ve got? 4 years of Wannestadt and we got a QB that couldn’t start for Gateway? And the playcalling was terrible, as usual. Where was McCoy? DW and MC (my offense gets Hammer’d) gotta go!

So very ugly. The D looks great though, so we should be strong there next year with most all of the main parts back. Stull had a crap game on a big stage, which is really ashame, but I think Sunseri was going to push him next year anyway. If I’m a major QB prospect looking for some playing time next year, I think I apply to Pitt soon…too bad, but I expect changes next season.

from a RELIABLE source……shady is leaving, turning pro, he is fed up with this offense!

who can blame him????

he should go, we will only hold him back and ruin him……

From a reliable source…Shady has been a more prolific RB in his first two years at Pitt than any RB in the history of the Program was in their first two years…Shady already projects as a first round NFL pick after just two years in the Pitt system…Yeah, this offense sucks for him! Lastly, if he does go, we will not see a giant drop off at the RB position next year. This system is built to showcase the RB.

i sat next to Eric Thatcher on a flight to Dallas this morning. he said cross was moved to safety during bowl practices.

Someone asked the question why Stull gets blamed and not Bostick who took 2 sacks on the last drive.

Let me answer that. Stull played the entire game and was 7-24 with a fumble and a pick in Oregon St. territory.

Bostick actually moved the ball downfield with a minute to go, getting more yards than Stull did all damn game. Sure he took two sacks. But he also hasn’t played all season other than the ND game (which he won), so it isn’t like our starting QB, the one who has all the experience and the reps took those sacks. It was a backup thrown in to rescue the team with 54 seconds to go in the game. The other 59 minutes it was Stull pissing away opportunity after opportunity.

Does that answer the question?

Offensively, this game was so BADLY played that I have not seen any highlights on ESPN, because there were NONE!…I have never watched a college football game where nothing EXCITING happened offensively…I think CBS has chose to BURN the tapes of this game and move on…Watching this game was like “GroundHog Day”, the same boring shit kept happening over and over again!!!…I know that CAV and Wanny are best of friends, but it’s time for Wanny to put friendship to the side and FIRE CAV…His play calling is horrendous, he shows no ability to make adjustments during the game, and shows a lack of creativity thats beyond belief!..What happened yesterday was an embarrassment to the University, the city of Pittsburgh, the Big East Conference, the loyal Fans, and the Alumni.

Since, after all, they are just kids, then the blame for the pathetic outing goes to coaching. Specifically Cavanaugh. Far too many mistakes to be an OC at a major university. He didnt even make halftime adjustments. How about putting Stull into shotgun to give him more time to miss his receivers? How about quick snaps? The wildcat? A no QB set? How about inserting Bostic earlier, just to change things up…like maybe in the 2nd QT instead of 2 min to play.

Wanny really needs to look long and hard at Cav in the off-season and quickly too! Despite Stull’s poor performance and missing a key OL, to not have a better shot at scoring other than one attempt at a FG and at 58Yds too, is an absolute disgrace!

Great win against Georgetown!!!

Hail to Pitt.

…and another thing…Did anyone else notice how bad CBS was?! The two commentators were ill prepared, didn’t know the players, etc. It was like they just showed up at the last minute. Also, CBS missed plays coming back from commercials, etc.

BOO CBS…you can do better than that!!!!