Still lots of questions about this Pitt team. The dismantling of Syracuse was necessary and the kind of thing Pitt was expected to do against a team like the Orange before the season started. Limited time and with basketball stuff and Rutgers looming, I’m blowing through the post-mortem stuff quickly.
Not sure if it was really redemption for the team and players, so much a s a series of wake-up calls. Mike Cruz did not start the game at TE, and he responded. Brock DeCicco did start and played well with the opportunity. Tristan Roberts and Greg Williams finally played good games — Williams seemed to get his jump start from having to come in after Shane Gordon got the start. Cam Saddler seemed to find some confidence and finally busted a nice run on a punt return.
The severe injury to Rutgers Eric LeGrand and the volume of helmet-to-helmet hits in the NFL this weekend reminds us all about the danger of the sport and concussions. Kolby Gray also sustained a concussion during special teams play in the second half.
Tino Sunseri played a pretty good game, when he was keeping his passes short to medium in length. He really lacks touch and accuracy on the deep ball. Something that — at least to my untrained eye — has to do with throwing off the back foot when he tries to go deep. Don’t know if that is just bad footwork, or if he does it because he wants to put more arc on the ball and lets himself go backwards before releasing.
Devin Street was the initial star with the “knife” slant to make sure Pitt’s offense started strong. His stride is so long he didn’t even look like he was moving that quickly. Of course, Syracuse’s secondary did not look fast so that may have helped.
Obviously, Syracuse got reminded that it’s 4-1 start was not built on the strongest foundations. Troy NIAM looks at it from a ‘Cuse perspective and makes a disturbing comparison of Wannstedt to one of their former coaches — no not Greg Robinson.
As far a Niam’s article, I actually think Smizik got it right at link to communityvoices.sites.post-gazette.com and I am not always his greatest fan. He points out some great hypocracies coming from those who claim to be PITT fans.
Its amazing how many idiots come on PITT sites like this pretending to be PITT fans and all they do is run PITT down. Not just DW but JD too. Who needs these self-proclaimed ‘fans’? They all think they know more about coaching than anyone on PITT’s staffs. Call ’em Yinzers or whatever, but if these whiners and complainers were that great at coaching they would be coaching, not coming over to bash PITT coaches. Good coaches don’t denegrate themselves running down other coaches.
A heated discussion is the reason we have blogs.
People who try to focus on the positives also should not be called “apologists, cheerleaders, only looking through blue and gold colored glasses, etc.” either. (I’m not picking on any one person here. Many have used those terms over the years.) As IronManEE68 did correctly point out, that’s happened with discussions about Jamie too, not just Wanny. Blindling saying “he’s our coach so we should love him no matter what” is one thing, but saying “he has his faults but does some things well” is not the same viewpoint by any means.
It’s not that someone’s either right or wrong. It’s simply that one’s perspective is different. And, it’s the dichotomy of those perspectives that makes the discussions here great – and fun.
Exactly, DAN.
This blog is a great site for sharing info and opinions and sometimes heated discussions. But sometimes a little less heat and a little more tight would be a plus.
Lets root for the Panthers to make a run thru the BE schedule and get to a BCS bowl, one game at a time.
The reality of Pitt Football is this…
1) We are bigger, stronger and faster than we have ever been under Wanny; and we continue to put more players on the field on Sundays that contribute to NFL teams. Noone debates his recruiting skills and ability to get players on the field on Sundays.
2) Statistically speaking, we are linearly trending upwards in terms of win totals over the last 10 years; the problem is, so are our regional equivalents PSU, Rutgers, Cincy, WVU and OSU..and they are doing it at much higher paces & levels. Only ND has stayed flat and Michigan is regressing. I’d be happy to e-mail the spreadsheet for anyone interested. We ARE getting better, just not as fast as our regional counterparts.
3) We play in the weakest BCS football conference, and whenever we have a chance to change that public opinion we fail miserably in the court of public opinion over the past 10 years (see BG opener, Walt’s Toldeo game, ND opener for Wanny, Nebraska 2X, MSU 2X, Miami, ND vs. Kelly, NC state, Virginia, UTAH 2X, etc. etc. etc.) Like it or not, we do our conference a terrible disservice by constantly underperforming whent the lights are on us… CFB is perception until a playoff is institued, and we have to face facts.
4) Although we play in the weakest BCS conference, we only have one championship in the last ten years (none under Wanny); unless you go to a BCS and win your conference, you’re really not bringing in the revenue needed to make exponential leaps for the university;
5) In a pro town, it is imperative to win at home to generate a contant positive vibe for the “lukewarm” fan. Non protowns have less distractions and have huge a huge student base to fill the seats. The reality is– there are other options in our town, and you have to be known as a positive experience to compete in our pro town. A positive experience is not how Slippery Steve defines it with all of the kids rides and tailgate game crap, but how the lukewarm/disengaged defines it….WINNING and WIN in a consistent and exciting fashion. Pitt wins consistently at home in dominant and exciting fashion, and the seats will be filled. Pitt wins at home and they are playing night games not noon games, they win at home and it’s a tough ticket to get. Sad truth, but it is. What do we do at home when the lights are finally on…play a boring brand of football, win ugly, or usually flat out lose. It kills us and we all know it.
So, to sum up…
1) We have the players to win at a high level
2) We have been getting better; but slower than our regional counterparts
2) We play in a winnable conference
3) We could improve our conference perception if we consistently won OOC games
4) We can secure good revenue with BCS trips
5) We can secure more revenue w/ a better brand of football that wins at home and fills seats
Penn State, NC State, Oregon State, Notre Dame 3X,
USF (pre-BigEast), Virginia, Iowa, Navy 2X & North Carolina.
It appears to me that we’re around .500 or slightly above it over the last 10 years when playing ‘with the lights on’. So it’s not like we’re losing every game, not even close.
Just seems to be a lot of negative people that enjoy tearing Pitt and whoever is coaching them apart. Are these Pitt people? Maybe some are and some aren’t. Yes, I’d like to see Pitt win every game, is that realistic. Ask Ohio State & Alabama and how about Florida, 3 losses in a row. You want perfection from Pitt, I suggest you build a time machine and visit 1976 or for a longer stay, visit the Jock Sutherland era when Pitt was pretty much making an annual trek to the Rose Bowl and had 79 shutouts in 14 years. Is Pitt improving over the last 3 years, yes they are. Are good recruits coming to Pitt, yes they are. One thing I’d change, get rid of the black socks with the white uniforms, go all white socks.
Is that nitpicking, for sure but just sayin.
Is the ‘Big O’ still open on Bouquet & Forbes?
I doubt anyone would get seriously ticked if we got beat by Floria, ‘bama, USC of the past 4-5 years, but getting beat by Cincy, WVU, and ND because you refuse to make adjustments just cranks people off. WVU may be better than us this year, but ND clearly was not…and in my view, Miami probably wasn’t either — we just played right into their hands.
The BigEast needs to get the Insight Bowl back in the BigEast Bowl lineup.
CRITICAL for Wanny to have the players and coaches ready for another strong start and go-for-the-throat finish.
Hail to PITT! Romp Rutgers!
I dont like watching people getting hurt, but its part of the game, every player knows that going into the game…more people will get hurt if they let up and the RB plows right threw them…
Dan 72, the guys who make a good living analyzing football teams first said that Syracuse was one point better than Pitt. Then under reconsideration, they said that Pitt was one point better than Syracuse, i.e. the teams were about equal in ability. (I know, point spreads, in theory, are determined in a manner to balance the betting between the two teams but …) As per Smizik’s article, no credit is given to Pitt. The win had nothing to do with the caliber of Pitt’s coaching. Pitt just matched up against a grossly inferior team.
As per Wilk’s comment, do you honestly believe Wanny has no direct influence on Cig — that’s pretty delusional. Also, Michigan and BC are not good teams this year…they’re ‘sort of good but not really’ teams. And beating ND these days, while still highly enjoyable, ain’t what it used to be…kind of like if Pitt beat Penn State this year…a far cry from the 1980s-90s, much less the roaring twenties of Jock Sutherland. I bleed blue and gold as well, but averaging 7 wins a year and never beating the best teams on your schedule — after 6 years — doesn’t float my boat. Yes, its great to pound the ‘cuse and even better Rutgers, but kinda ‘so what’? Let’s step up in weight class where we should be. Of course I want them to win every game and do well, but I call’s ’em likes I seez ’em.
Won’t reveal the ‘Cuse coach comparison, so I don’t spoil the fun of the read. But once I read it, I could understand the connection. Let’s hope for a better ending to the story there.