Robert Morris comes to the Pete tonight in a non-televised game. Robert Morris is in a stretch of a lot of games in not a lot of time.
The Colonials have taken on several Top 25 teams this season, losing 78-57 to then No. 22 Xavier and then No. 25 Miami 70-62. The Panthers, though, have been particularly vexing to Robert Morris. Pitt has won all 26 games in the series, and they have not lost any of their 64 games against the Northeast Conference.
Then there is the whole timing issue. Not only are the Colonials large underdogs to the Panthers, but the contest is the middle game of a grueling five games in ten days.
“It’s a very odd spot on the schedule,†said Robert Morris head coach Mike Rice, a former Pitt assistant. “Pitt has almost a week off after the game, whereas we have two and a half days. The timing isn’t great for us.â€
The Colonials began the stretch with home wins over Bryant and Monmouth and will finish it off with road games at St. Francis (N.Y.) and Central Connecticut State. St. Francis is the only team to beat the Colonials in conference play this season.
The storyline is not that Robert Morris has never beaten Pitt. It is another assistant that worked for Pitt and Coach Dixon who moved on and coming in for a game.
Rice, in his third season at Robert Morris, was instrumental in recruiting nearly one-third of Pitt’s roster — Brad Wanamaker, Nasir Robinson, Travon Woodall and, to a lesser extent, Ashton Gibbs.
“I’m excited about playing Pitt,” Rice said following Saturday’s 75-62 victory over Monmouth. “I’m a fan of Pitt just like everyone else, especially because I recruited some of those players. I spent a lot of nights with Jamie Dixon and the staff. I’m excited to see where we match up against one of the top 5 teams in the country. I’m excited to go back to a place where I worked tremendously hard for a year.”
This is the first meeting between the two schools since a 67-53 Pitt win on Nov. 29, 2006, a game in which Rice was an assistant for the Panthers.
The Rice hire, surprisingly brief, was meaningful not just for the recruiting work that Rice did to help reopen Philly area. First, it was Dixon’s first real hire for a new top assistant with Rohrssen moving on to Manhattan. It showed that Dixon could identify quality assistants and get them. The following up with Herrion and even moving up with Brandin Knight, only made that clearer. Then, Rice after only a year landed an improving mid-major job helped make the Pitt assistant position even more attractive.
This is the start of a slight decrease in Pitt’s schedule intensity.
Up next is a non-conference game tonight against Robert Morris. When the Big East schedule resumes Saturday afternoon, the Panthers travel to Rosemont, Ill., to face DePaul, which is still looking for its first conference victory. After that there are home games against Cincinnati and West Virginia.
Of the remaining nine Big East games, the Panthers will only play three games against teams that are currently ranked.
I expect a pretty good game from Robert Morris. The kids there have played Pitt in the summer leagues. They know them, and they will be hyped.
Plus, I just expect a little let down from the Panthers in at least the first half. It’s not conference. It is a clearly inferior team. It is natural.
Yes, I was rooting for the Steelers and wanted Larry to fail with every once of my heart (sorry non-Steeler fans on here).
But even in defeat, Larry showed why he is, and always will be better than T.O.’s and Randy Moss’s of the world. He didn’t complain about not getting the ball for the first three quarters, instead he just came through bigtime for his team in the 4th quarter. Hell, he even nearly stopped James Harrison on the 100 yard int return.
In the end, Big Ben and the Steelers were just a little too much for Arizona to handle, but Larry (and his QB Kurt Warner) are two guys that make football fun to watch. I can’t say that I was rooting for him yesterday, but I can say he did all Pitt fans proud.
Now Gerald Hayes, on the other hand… Dude, tell them you went to Pitt next time!!!
I think Hayes didn’t want to mention that he played at Pitt because he was playing the Steelers.
I’m not following your logic, Fitz doesn’t have a problem mentioning Pitt but Hayes does? Fitz was playing the Steelers too?
Did anyone note that Holmes caught a pass with about 47 seconds to go. Obviously, time was extremely critical. Yet Holmes had to walk forward to let the crowd know that he was the one who just caught the pass. Larry would have been lined up on the line of scrimmage during the time that it took Holmes to get in that little extra bit of showboating.
Pitt now down to #5 in AP behind Duke & UNC but ahead of Wake (all 2 loss teams) which is what I expected …. and not real pissed either.
Hate to say it but I will probably pay more attention to UConn – UL than Pitt – BobbyMo tonight
Then you have the non-glamour team of that conference, Wake, who beat both Duke and Carolina and isn’t in the top 5.
Pitt lost two tough ones, on the road, against ranked teams.
Yeah, Holmes probably should’ve been penalized for the celebration. But I was too happy to care at the time.
In fact, Steelers were able to get him in the 1st Round in the draft after their last SB victory due to character issues/behavior dispayed while Holmes was at The OSU.
But before you get too judgemental, please note that Larry Fitzgerald has a restraining order filed aganst him
That was his first mistake.
– Sam seems to feast on the lesser opponents
– Regardless of who she is, Fitzgerald has to be more resonsible as to who he impregnates, especially because who he is
Holmes has acknowledged selling drugs on the street corner of his hometown of Belle Glade, Florida as a teenager; he says that his mother’s influence and a desire to play professional football made him decide to stop.[8]
Holmes was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida on May 27, 2006 for disorderly conduct.[9] Charges were subsequently dropped after Holmes paid a fine. Holmes was arrested for a second time on June 18, 2006 for domestic violence and assault in Columbus, Ohio.[10]
On July 7, 2006, Holmes appeared in Franklin County Court in Columbus, Ohio for both a pre-trial regarding the domestic case and hearing regarding the traffic ticket. He plead no contest to the traffic ticket and agreed to pay a fine. While Lashae Boone, the mother of Holmes’ daughter and the victim in the assault case, requested that the domestic violence and assault charges be dropped, the prosecutor refused. Boone and their daughter accompanied Holmes to court. The charges were later dropped.[11]
On October 23, 2008, Holmes was arrested in Pittsburgh and cited by officers for possession of marijuana.[12][13] Holmes released an apology after missing a game, stating that he wished to “focus all of [his] efforts on helping our team win on the field and achieve its ultimate goal.”[14]
No editorial comment presented.
The point is your information is suspect. Fitzgerald was not arrested and the woman’s account is suspect at best. Most professional athletes who slam a woman’s face into the ground would be arrested immediately. This was not the case and instead the woman filed a restraining order. How does that make sense? The woman is clearly a gold-digger.
Nobody said Fitzgerald is a saint. Just seems like an alright dude. Less arrogant than some of his colleagues.
