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October 13, 2010

I’m not taking Syracuse lightly. I really am not. What is good about facing Syracuse is that this is Dave Wannstedt’s kind of opponent. A run first, pro-style offense; and rather straight-forward defensive schemes. In fact, that may be the best thing about Big East play for Pitt’s hopes — I mean beyond the overall putridity — plenty of pro-style, simple offenses.

He also said it is clear when you watch the Orange, “they are running the ball, they are very similar to us.” “They will use two tight ends, they will use two backs, they will use three receivers. But what we know is they are going to be physical.

“And, when you run the ball, it gives your defense a chance to play better because they are going to be more rested, you generally are going to have less turnovers and that will let you have better field position. And the play-action passing game opens up when you run the ball — and that is what they’ve done and they’ve reaped the benefits of it.”

Syracuse’s running game, like Pitt’s, is powered by two running backs, and both are very good. Delone Carter, however, has been more of the featured back, rushing 99 times for 524 yards (5.3 yards per carry) as the fourth-leading rusher in the conference.

The other tailback is Antwon Bailey (33 carries, 195 yards).

Here’s another similarity — penalties (hattip, Troy Nunes IAM).

Five games in, SU has committed the fourth-most penalties per game in the nation (9.2) out of the 120 Division I-A teams. On those 9.2 penalties per game, the Orange has cost itself an average of 73.6 yards per game, which is eighth in the country.

“When it comes down to it, if there weren’t little mistakes, there would be nothing to get better on,” junior right tackle Michael Hay said. “These are just things that we have to get better on. Nobody plays a perfect game. There’s no such thing as a perfect game.”

Even near-perfect, though, has been hard to come by for the Orange so far this season. SU has not had a game with fewer than five penalties, and it has accumulated double-digit penalties three times this year.

If you are planning to record or watch this game, allow plenty of overage on time because there are going to be plenty of stops.

Imagine that. Some football player declaring that there is no such thing as a perfect game. Somewhere in Pittsburgh, Coach Wannstedt’s ‘stache is twtiching.

As for watching the game, outside of Pittsburgh (Channel 5), the game is Big East Network affiliate-based or ESPN3.com. Cursory scanning shows Altitude, SNY and MASN are all listed as carrying the game.

With the ‘Cuse mainly a running team, Dom DeCicco will be playing more at the safety position. Odds that some linebackers other than Tristan Roberts and Greg Williams will see action? For some reason, I’m not optimistic.

Now the Orange are actually a 1 point favorite, home against Pitt. As much as that should be a slap in the face for Pitt — and an indictment of the way Pitt has played to date — ‘Cuse fans really do not know how to take this information.





I just “booked” the Syracuse contest on Gameplan. It will cost me $24,but it is worth it. Join me all you out of state Panthers as we watch out team begin our quest for the Big East title. A 9-3 season is most certainly not out of reach. Look for Devin Street and Shane Gordon to have big games. Rev. George

Comment by Rev. George Mehaffey 10.13.10 @ 4:13 pm

I’m down. I’m disappointed. I’m frustrated. I’m all of the above. Yet, I’m still excited for Big East play. We did show signs of improvement over the past 2 weeks. Perhaps very small signs of improvement but some is better than none I guess. Wanny says he will use both running backs and go with the hot hand when needed. It’s a nice problem to have with respect to having 2 very good running backs. However, it’s been stated several times on this blog over the past week that neither back seemed to be able to find a rythem against ND. That worries me because Wanny likes a workhorse who carries the ball 25 to 30 times per game. I’m not sure he knows how to handle 2 quality backs. Also, as the above post points out, I’m very curious to see how DeCicco is used against the Cuse. If he is at fast, do we have to watch Williams line up offsides 5 times per game again?? Any chance Shane Gordon gets a chance to make a play? Not likely but I’d like to see him in there for a series or 2. On a special teams note, our punting has been very good but on the other side of the ball Cam Saddler needs to be able to make a fair catch. we can’t keep losing field position due to punts rolling an extra 10 yards. Just some thoughts…

Comment by Where's Wanny 10.13.10 @ 4:16 pm

I mean “safety” with respect to DeCicco, not fast. My bad

Comment by Where's Wanny 10.13.10 @ 4:19 pm

“Wanny says he will use both running backs and go with the hot hand “”

The Jersey newspaper was critical of DW in that Graham gained 277 yards against FIU but only carried 8 times against ND. Good reason to be critical.

Comment by BigGuy 10.13.10 @ 5:43 pm

So, our season, at a “crossroads,” takes us to Cuse as underdogs? I’m not sure that’s a crossroads…that’s just a prime example of one program taking small steps forwards, and another taking huge leaps backwards. Cuse is due for some progression, but us? This shouldn’t be happening at this point in an established BCS coach’s career with very good recruiting classes.

Comment by Eric R 10.13.10 @ 7:49 pm

After looking at that Cuse blog, they’re very skeptical of their 4-1 start, knowing they’ve really beaten no one of note yet. After playing Miami & ND, this is a big step down, however since we didn’t blow away FIU until the 4rth Q, I am very cautious about this game. We need to jump on Cuse early and remind them how bad they are. It’s got to be 14-3 or 10-0 Pitt at the end of the 1rst Q and then like 21-6 or 17-0 at half. If we get competent QB play (always a huge ?) we should be up more as I’m guessing here, they’ll be stacked to stop the run. Ray Graham is still leading the nation in All Purpose Yards per game at over 200 ypg and is 9th in the nation in rushing yards per game. One can only hope he gets more carries this game.

Comment by VirgilSollozzo 10.13.10 @ 8:00 pm

I have 0 confidence and why should anyone else??? DW will keep this game clsoer than it should be and you know the rest of the story…

Comment by Lou 10.13.10 @ 8:49 pm

Underdogs at Syracuse… Pitt football everybody!

Comment by Omar 10.13.10 @ 8:59 pm

cmon guys an L at the Cuse is just one loss! We still have the rest of the BE schedule. One loss is nothing as long as Wanny’s team show continuing improvement.

8)

Comment by DaveD 10.13.10 @ 9:04 pm

Mr. Wannstedt also thought he knew what was coming against Rutgers in 2008. That ended in a 34-54 defeat. Pitt made Mike Teel look like Tom Brady out there.

The only thing Mr. Wannstedt should think that he knows is that he doesn’t know.

Comment by Omar 10.13.10 @ 9:05 pm

Amen Omar. I remember a few years ago when Wanny, the former defensive coordinator, was being criticized for having a lousy defense, was called on it by a reporter, and he said something to the effect that he had been doing this for a while, and come on, “we know how to do these things.”

Comment by PO'd Panther 10.13.10 @ 9:50 pm

The ‘Cuse now a 1 point favorite on a few lines.
Sagarin has them over Pitt by 7 (with the home field advantage).

Comment by PO'd Panther 10.13.10 @ 10:00 pm

Thanks for the TV rundown. I get to watch this soon to be instant classic on any one of about 5 different channels. Thanks DirecTV.

Comment by Chris 10.13.10 @ 11:28 pm

An underdog to Syracuse after 6 years…

A 42 to 7 romp could only BEGIN to erase the taste of throw up from my mouth.

8 days until BB opens.

Thank God!

Comment by Pauly P 10.14.10 @ 2:53 am

Saturday is another week into the saga of Pitt Football 2010. What drama will come forth this week? How about a solid win with both sides of the ball performing up to their potential for 4 quarters, that would be a novel result!

Comment by Dr Tom 10.14.10 @ 7:30 am

Does this quote from Sunseri fill anyone with confidence we’ll see anything but basic offensive football?…

“The way we are going to orient tight ends is we’ll make sure we get them more involved on check downs,” Sunseri said. “Whenever a defense takes away those first and second reads, that’s when the tight ends and running backs come more into the passing game.

“We have a lot of explosive receivers, and we want to get them the ball. The tight ends are sort of a secondary read.”

I see the validity in this statement, really, I do. But, I can’t see our QB being able to get to his 3rd or 4th reads any time soon.

Hell – he has a hard enough time getting off the play’s primary receiver – hence his missing Baldwin being open so often.

Comment by Reed 10.14.10 @ 7:40 am

If the Stillers had that mentality on tight ends, they would have four Lombardi’s instead of six. My kingdom for a football coach like Jamie.

Comment by wally 10.14.10 @ 9:03 am

Yep, pretty basic, vanilla football, Reed.

What made the offense effective last year was that the TE, Dorin in particular, was often the first read. But that also required throwing into the middle, something Tino hasn’t done at all.

Maybe it’s a good sign as in “the coaches have told me I need to start looking in the middle of the field.” One can only hope, because it looks wide open most of the time as defenses cheat toward his tendencies.

Comment by TampaT 10.14.10 @ 9:35 am

Beating a Cuse team after 6 years of the Dave Wannstedt experience is nothing to write home about so it’s definitely a “must win”. If Wanny loves PITT so much he should surrender play calling dutties or just step down.

Comment by Pittastic 10.14.10 @ 10:14 am

What made the offense last year was the fact that Tino wasn’t the QB.

Comment by Omar 10.14.10 @ 1:45 pm

See i was right. No confidence what so ever. You are right on the money Pittastic. “If he loves Pitt so much then step just step down and stop with the yearly torture of Pitt football the past 6 years…

Comment by Lou 10.14.10 @ 5:19 pm

A loss to Syracuse would be yet another embarassment that should not be further tolerated. Moreover, it would be a huge step backward for a program trying to get on elite footing. If I were Wanny’s boss, I would fire him on the spot. No more excuses, no more chances. It would be painfully obvious at that point, if not already, that things are not working and there needs to be an immediate change of leadership. That’s how the real world operates. I’ve had enough of fantasy world, denial and false promises over the last 6 years. Pitt fans deserve a winner. Nothing personal, it’s Business. Wanny must go.

Comment by TX Panther 10.14.10 @ 5:57 pm

TampaT – your assertion that the middle is open is true – I do wonder if he’s going to be able to utilize it effectively though.

I was told (passing second hand info here) by someone who saw a bunch of camp practices that Sunseri was having problem with short to midrange passes over the middle due to his height and being unable to see his targets. Now, I do wonder about that as I was also sure he’d get a lot of passes knocked down and that isn’t happening.

We’ll see though – that’s a lot of real estate not being used.

TX Panther – PITT will not abruptly fire DW as they would have to payout four years of a $1.4M per annum contract – no way we’ll blow $5.6M in this economy.

Comment by Reed 10.15.10 @ 8:39 am

TX Panther: The “real world” generally does not include contracts that require buyouts. “Fantasy world” says you can fire Wanny and walk away without potentially paying him $5.6 million and then having to find a few more million to pay a new coach. It’s easy to spend someone else’s money. As I said before, if someone has an extra half-million lying around, please lead the booster movement like ND boosters did with Weiss. I’ll be right behind you.

I can see Pittastic’s logic. I just don’t see it happening. If Wanny demonstrated one quality in his other HC jobs, it’s that he’s not a quitter. Some might also call that stubborn.

So regardless of all the Wanny must go arguments, I continue to the conclude that we’re stuck with him, so I continue to use my limited brainpower to suggest how Pitt wins with him. That’s all I ask. I don’t need to be “entertained.” I just want wins, because even grind-it-out, conservative football can be entertaining when your team is winning.

Comment by TampaT 10.15.10 @ 8:51 am

We will loose money if we keep him around. How many people,want to go see another coached DW team? Even bandwagon rider fans are sick of him. You will loose atterndece and bowl apperace $ if you keep the Wannstedt. You will be lucky to get 45,000 at the Rutgers homecoming game. Why keep a looser that cant take the program further? Your just loosing money anyways.

Comment by Lou 10.15.10 @ 9:26 am

Yes, the bandwagoners are about lost. Hey, I’m not making fun of band wagoners, they are an extremly important part of any team or sport. I myself am a bandwagon baseball fan. My first clue, tried to give away two excellent seats for the Louisville game at work, absolutely no interest, oh, well, one lady said she’d let me know.

Comment by DAN 10.15.10 @ 10:15 am

Pitt approaching its 2nd sellout season
Friday, September 03, 2010
Read more: link to post-gazette.com

Pitt launches Pitt Panthers Television
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Read more: link to post-gazette.com

Who’s losing money? Scalpers maybe.

Sure the bandwagoners are jumping off and they’ll jump right back on with a few wins. They are the same people who always think the backup QB is the best choice, the next great coach is always waiting in the wings, the team should entertain them whether it wins or loses, etc., etc. In other words, they’ll NEVER be completely satisfied. I hope Pitt football continues to build LOYAL fans like most of the people here.

Comment by TampaT 10.15.10 @ 10:50 am

Wanny has destroyed any loyalty I have left. Bite the bullet now, pay him his golden parachute and move on. It will save the program money in the long run.

Comment by TX Panther 10.15.10 @ 4:15 pm

Well – DW did resign from both his NFL coaching jobs – so he has a track record of quitting.

Comment by Reed 10.16.10 @ 6:48 am

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