[Editor note: Sorry folks. Thought I hit publish, and instead hit draft.]
So is everyone ready? 0-3 in liveblogs this season. Not a good trend. But then there really haven’t been many good trends this season to date. Hard to believe that this game will be the halfway point in the season.
Pitt loses today, and Pitt becomes a basketball school for the duration. A win and the jury is still out.
Usual caveats. Moderated liveblog. Partially to deal with potential trolls, but also to avoid redundancy and useless comments. The liveblog begins around noon below the fold.
If you want to break it out from the site Click Here, otherwise just look down.
Let me try to provide another answer/perspective to the question in your first post, which you’ve made a number of times: “Why is having a first year starter and losing 3 offensive lineman such a big deal, it’s his 6th year, the starter should have been ready after game one or two, for the rest of the year. Why no competent people to fill in???”
There is another example of this, maybe even more glaring than Pitt – Florida. Preseason #4 to completely out of the polls this week without even one vote. Three losses in a row, all in conference.
They too have a first year QB, problems on the offensive line, a star running back not performing (mainly due to injury in Demps’ case), new DBs, etc. They also have plenty of “talent” due to having the average #4 recruiting class over the past 5 years. And this is all managed by the 2009 “Coach of the Decade” according to SI and Sporting News. So it can happen to the best.
IMHO, talent doesn’t always mature as expected and even if a kid does look good in practices and scrimmages, only under live game conditions – when the pressure’s on – do you really get to know what you’ve got. Unfortunately, there’s no preseason in college football, so all the games count.
Florida’s been making adjustments and I’m sure they’re practicing hard – they’re not getting a day off this week – but their offense is still having difficulties. Florida fans aren’t happy either, and the media is starting to point fingers at the head coach. Sounds familiar, huh?
How can you even compare Florida/Texas to Pitt?
How many Big 12 championships has Mack Brown won? SEC for Urban? And how many NCs have they won?
They are allowed to have bad years… Stache only has down years, he never has the UP YEARS!
You cant say… “look at these programs, they have bad years too!”
Our whole program is off years… the bad without the good, i think wanny has it backwards
Again, CONTEXT, my friend. Dan has asked how can Pitt not have players ready to fill holes left by departures. I simply explained that a even program as good as Florida can have it happen, because you can never know how a kid will play until he actually plays.
So while I’m here let me add this:
“I know at times people get tired of hearing me saying this, I guess that’s all we know how to do is work a little harder, get a little closer and get better.”
No, that’s not a quote/excuse from Wanny. It’s from Urban Meyer, 2009 Coach of the Decade.
anywho… my point was just that its okay to have down years when you reload talent after successful ones (ie Pitt having low expectations after Elite 8 team graduations… but then exceeding them anyway…)
but we havent had a year that would qualify is even meeting expectations in my mind (winning big east, succeeding on national stage in the non conference)
I see your point. Consistent performance at or above expectations gets you a pass once in a while. Consistent performance below expectations doesn’t. I can certainly agree with that.
Jamie has spoiled us. But you know, he and Wanny aren’t that much different in their base philosophy. One big difference is that Jamie’s spent all of his time in the college ranks, while Wanny had been out of college coaching for a long time. That was one of the reasons, I was not a big fan of the hire. It rarely translates.
I wonder if Jamie and Wanny ever talk? Might be a good thing.
