It’s as if the fact that the opponent wasn’t ranked in the top 25 then the win isn’t worthy of praise – which is a crock. That victory over Navy was an excellent win as they played everyone’s darling in OSU straight up and have as strong a rushing game as you’ll find in the NCAA.

Of course, when PITT does beat a “quality” team – for instance USF (#10) or ND last season those wins are degraded in hindsight. As if winning that game didn’t help to make those opponent’s W/L record less impressive.

The same thing will happen come Sunday morning should PITT win tonight. PITT fans will be right back on these websites explaining that “of course PITT won, NC State was riddled with injuries” or “What do you expect, NC State is a mid-quality ACC opponent”… When just a day or two before those same fans were worried about the game, touting State’s excellent QB or saying that they match up physically and talent wise against the Panthers. Their praise, when given at all, is always predicated not on what just transpired, but on what PITT is expected to do, or not do, against future opponents.

It’s totally amazing what that Sun Bowl game did to really tarnish the team’s image. 3 of the 4 largest contributors to that debacle seem to have been corrected and/or improved (QB, OL and playcalling) and the 4th (wind) is outside of the coaching staff’s control.

I believe most people are being cautiously optimistic now … but as long Pitt continues to take care of business on the field, all will be Ok.

I am cautiously optimistic because how many times have we had our hearts ripped out!

The Sun Bowl was a disaster, we had center stage, OSU was minus a few marquee players and we laid an egg on national tv.

So, I agree win at NC State and the critics become few and far between.

My concern today is the weather, it could be an equalizing factor if it rains.

What do you expect from a fan base that is teased every year from the pundits regarding the best recruiting class in the big east regarding potential and the so-called talent Pitt has stock-piled in the Wanny era.

People are frustrated because Wanny was going to take us to the next level, expectations are high, but you have to admit the elusive “Elite” tag regarding the Pitt football program has not been there since the 1982 season.

Pitt essentially has been an also-ran in a mediocre conference under Wanny. At least Walt took them to a BCS game.

wbb states it best, “win and all will be OK”

Great coaching by Majors in the 2nd half had Pitt going with Dorsett at fullback, and it faked the jock off George. George calls a play, “Dorsett still on the sidelines, not back in. The handoff to the fullback, he’s going all the way for a TD, 33 yards. Wait, that’s Dorsett!”

Long story short, hope our current staff is capable of innovation as well.

Please don’t take that the wrong way. Because of the lack of a cut-and-dry playoff system, college football is the only major spectator sport that relies so heavily on outside perception of the program. To some degree, I’m pretty sure what happens within our fanbase goes on in pretty much every fanbase around the country. I spent a few days down in Arkansas at the beginning of August and talk radio shows down there were chock full of callers saying the same things about their team that we say about ours. The perception is that Arkansas COULD be and in some cases SHOULD be battling Florida and Alabama every single year for the SEC title, but there was always some reason why the other shoe drops and they end up in a mid-level bowl.

I think this is what happens when you’re a program that exists on that level that Pitt found itself under Harris and now finds itself under Wannstedt. I don’t know that Pitt will ever consistently be considered a consistent Top 10 program because let’s face it…how many of those programs are there, anyway? Trust me, I’d love to see it happen, but that’s cheering with my heart more than anything else.

I think expecting this to be consistent Top 15-20 program is more realistic, with random finishes in the Top 10 possible. It’s a program that SHOULD be competing year in and year out for the Big East title and while it may not win the conference every year, it should finish among the top three spots every year.

I think this is the path on which Wannstedt has this program right now. His recruiting combined with the work of his assistants have turned this into a program that looks like a Top 25 program, and is starting to play like one, too. As some have mentioned, look at some of the wins this team has enjoyed, especially going back to 13-9 over West Virginia. This year, they’ve buried a Division I-AA team as we see other programs having problems with those kinds of schools. They hung 54 on a pretty solid MAC program as we see those teams beating other BCS-conference schools. They shut down a Navy offense than many experts agree is one of the toughest offenses to bottle up.

Yes, they’ve had some poor losses in there as well – Bowling Green last year, the Sun Bowl (although everyone fails to mention that for as bad as Pitt looked in that game, Oregon State certainly didn’t look much better).

But this is what sometimes happens to programs that were at that Top 25-40 level – they tease with great wins and manage to disappoint with a bad loss here and there. Top 15-20 programs may lose a game here or there, but they’re games that they arguably “should” lose, losses that don’t stick out on the “results” page like they’re framed in neon letters.

That, I think, is the start of Pitt getting to this elusive “next level” that not even Harris was able to reach.

I just got back from the gym where I was talking to a VA Tech alum who had a few unkind words about Frank Beamer. He wasn’t anti-Beamer but had his issues with him, and it got me to thinking how every college program is sometimes too critical of its HC. Although they won’t admit to it now, a very large portion of UPS fans thought that ‘Joe must go’ earlier this decade. OSU fans are now really critical of Tressel, and even the USC fans are all over P Carroll now for their annual flop … and I’m not even going to mention Weis.

I too am pretty satisifed where the program is now, and do believe it is headed in the right direction. And I also believe that Stoosh’s projection of a Top 20 program that occasionally gets in the Top 10 is within reach. (sure, I would be very disappointed if they were to lose today .. but remember, NC St is favored by a point … and for that matter, Pitt was only a slight favorite in the Sun Bowl)

But you guys are right – it isn’t limited to PITT football, but rather a certain type of sports fan who would rather be seen as more knowledgeable than have his team and its players actually do well.