I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m somewhat expecting a 2009 like situation, were the fans constantly boo the starter while screaming for the backup, all the while the starter ends up being decent but not great.

Ever since Palko left we’ve always been talking about how great THE NEXT QB is going to be, we’ll find a great one sooner or later.

In other news, Chad Voytik’s 1st senior HS game didnt go so well. was something like 11-24 120 yds and 2 ints.

OT On Wisconsin with Brock DeCicco

link to jsonline.com

just remember, it just wasn’t him last year. Both Lewis and Baldwin underachieved. While you can contribute much of Baldwin’s problems to Tino, I don’t think you can blame him for everything.

Having said that … I can clearly remember Tino having that ‘deer in the headlight’ look vs Miami and ND (1st half) last year.

Lastly, while I agree that Bostick should have been given a chance to compete last spring, note that the same thing seemed to happen this past spring … Tino was ordained the starter from Day 1 even though a new system was being implemented and 2 highly thought-of QBs were in the wings.

Tino Will Excell

The 1st half of the year, the line was a complete mess, thats why Tino had a deer in headlights look. I sat and watched the line in the Miami game and almost every play there were multiple guys flying into the backfield

The line was why Dion didnt start out strong and Ray did. Graham hits the hole at top speed, Dion waits for the blocks to develop. Last year for the 1st 6 games the blocks didnt develop and the holes collapsed before he hit.

PS

I watched the Tulsa-Houston game last night on TV, ugly. It’s clear that Tulsa really didnt good athletes on both sides of the ball outside a handful of guys.

i would like to ask you all to check out a site to day called MR SEC. COM he list 55 schools near the end of his post that could be the 14th school to go to the SEC than he starts scratch off schools that wont come or that the SEC wont take when he is done there are only 3 schools that could go to the SEC Missouri WVU AND PITT it is a intersting read .

I think people need to be more realistic. In short there is no substitute for experience. Tino did great for a first year quarterback. There is almost always a learning curve when jumping levels in sports (HS to college, college to Pro). The examples are too numerous to mention but here’s three:

Tom Brady’s first full season in the NFL:
264-413 2843 yds, 18 TD 12 INT
2nd season
373-601 3764 yds 28 TDs 14 INT

Peton Manning – 1st season
326-575 3739 yds 26 TDs 28 INT
2nd season
331-533 4135 yds 26 TDs 15 INT

Bill Stull – 1st season
188-330 2356 yds 9 TDs 10 INT
2nd season
209-321 2633 yds 21 TD 8 INT

As you can see there is always a big jump in efficiency, less INTs and most of the time in yds and TDs of a second year or more experienced quarterback. I think Tino will be much better this year and would’ve been better this year even with Cignetti and Wannstedt. The intagibles such as reading defenses, how to prepare for an opponent, how to handle the huddle, etc. will all be familiar to Tino and I think he will have a very productive efficient year at the QB position. For support of my argument see the three QBs listed above.

~Wannstache

In all fairness, 2 of the QBs listed are 1st ballot Hall of Famers in the NFL….Not exactly on equal ground here.

But i do agree with you, in general.

Wannstache if I buy your perspective on experience then why didn’t that apply last season with Bostick. Pat should have had the chance to build on his experience. Not saying Bostick was the answer but he should have started the season and given the chance to play himself out of the starters role, not ordain someone. What happen to paying your dues ? Let’s hope that Tino pays dividends this year to the Pitt fan base for the disappoint that was 2010.

Good site Frank, lots of info. However, the guy was just eliminating off the cuff, like we would on here.

Many schools he wrote off on a him, and not that easy. Clemson, FSU, Georgia Tech, Louisville, for example, allthough in-state schools with other SEC teams, we don’t know the politics of the state, and one of them could very well tell UF, UGA, UK, “you’re voting to let ‘so and so’ in etc. etc.

Also, don’t believe a word from the Va Tech a.d. saying “we have no desire”.

In the end, I think it will be TAM and Va. Tech.
Joined at the hip with UVA will only go so far, just like TAM joined at Texas’ hip.

Wow, Va.Tech would really be bastards, crying to get into ACC, then bolting, if indeed that would happen.

I am very optimistic about Tino. Like teams improving from game 1 to game 2, the same can be said with many qb’s from season 1 to season 2, allthough no guarantee.

BnG, you are speaking of the booing, if he does poorly, I assume.

I mean, if he comes out and lights things up, I don’t see any booing at all.

If he comes out and throws three right to the cornerbacks, ya, maybe there will be.

It’ll be up to him, if he plays well, no sweat, if he shows no improvment, ya, people will be calling for someone else.

I’m hoping he comes out fantastic.

Va Tech, NC State or Mo to the SEC to be the 14th team.

And, Tino will do just fine.

HTP

BnG, if anything the fact that they are first ballot hall of famers and didn’t exactly light the world on fire in their first season supports the fact that experience matter a lot more than we as people have been able to “quantify”.

Agreed Tx, Va Tech and Missouri seem to be the two leaders, and for some reason, they’re always asking the NC St. a.d. for his opinion.

Can’t wait for next Saturday!!!!!!!

Dan you are most likeley right but still it is fourth time on SEC sites that PITT was thought of as a possible member. and it was not bias as we would be he did not want it to come out to pitt him being from tex and all . I think so mutch of what PITT does this year depends on what we do in game 3 if we play well or win will set the tone for the whole year. How QB plays in that high pressure game will tell us a lot.

I don’t think there is any question about the learning curve of the QB, and that Tino will improve.

For that matter, we should see the entire BE improve offensively this year, since going into last season, Rutgers’ QB Tom Savage, a sophomore, was the most experienced QB in the league. This also could have been a big reason why the BE was so putrid on offense last year (as pointed out in Chas’ post yesterday.)

Wanny,

All i was trying to say is that sometimes people don’t have anything more than they’ve already shown you, Brady and Manning obviously had a lot more.

Dan, I don’t know to what AD at NC St you are referring? NC St’s AD is Debbie Yow, the sister of their former basketball coach, the late Kay Yow.

I did a long piece on another board last year about how BE QBs (as a focus group) had progressed from their first starting year to thier second… it was in response to everyone thinking Cignetti was some kind of QB guru which I disagreed with.

But the fact is that there almost always is a big jump in production from year one to year two and I expect somewhat of the same with Sunseri this season, factoring in the new offense.

As I said in some spring articles, I don’t expect great QBing from him but good solid play.

I was a very vocal opponent of DW not opening up the QB competition in 2010 after Bill Stull left. But, even though I’d have liked to see more competition this season, I believe there is a big difference between a returning starter at the position (2011) and a completely open position (2010).

Had Sunseri stunk out the joint and lost us games last season I’d be more upset, but he really didn’t. He gave us, save good production in two mid-season games against pretty crappy BE teams, basically average QB play. But it was something to build on and I’m sure one of the things the staff looked at was, with all the other sturm un drang and drastic changes the team went through, a change at QB going to help or hinder? Not saying that’s why Sunseri is the starter but I’d think that may have been a consideration of the new incoming staff.

The jury SHOULD be out on Sunseri until after the ND game. Way too many variables to judge him before Pitt ever takes their 1st snap. New coaches, running new systems, speed guys stepping into the offense with “fast” being priority one and a nice couple of cupcakes to start the season this year to put it all together before the hill gets a lot steeper quick. It is all conjecture until Tino proves what he can do on the field. To be fair, would any of you, who offer your future insights to Sunseri’s anticipated performance this season, appreciate being type cast in your own field of expertise after your first four months on the job? Well that is just about what we’re doing here regarding this 22 year old kid who is just blossuming into his full potential. A couple years ago at every home game I had to listen to the recurrent chant from discruntled yinzers, who called themselves Pitt fans, of “its Tino time” after any negative play dished out by Bill Stull. Well, this season IS actually Tino Time! It is obvious that Sunseri has grabbed the reins of his opportunity to maximise his potential as the QB of this team. He has a lot on his plate with all of the variables that I mentioned above. After the ND game we’ll, as will the coaches, have a valid impression of what that potential really is, because it will have been tested by the actual game experience. I for one think that this kid will rise to the challenge but if not, I would not be at all surprised if Graham yanks him and inserts the next answer to our “star QB quest” in serch of the combination that puts “W’s” in the win column. Until then my suggestion would be to provide positive energy to the team by offering your good fortunes hopes to the team and to our QB and biting your tongue when it comes to sharing negative opinions, no matter how valid you feel they are, with the understanding, of course, that you have reserved the privledge in the future of spouting off to anyone who wants to listen the “I told you so” about Tino’s lack of potential IF he fails to produce on the field over the next month. Let the games begin, Hail to Pitt!

We will know after game 3 .

cannot wait for coach ditka and his unbiased take

Agree somewhat with BnG’s stmt.

“The 1st half of the year, the line was a complete mess, thats why Tino had a deer in headlights look. I sat and watched the line in the Miami game and almost every play there were multiple guys flying into the backfield

The line was why Dion didnt start out strong and Ray did. Graham hits the hole at top speed, Dion waits for the blocks to develop. Last year for the 1st 6 games the blocks didnt develop and the holes collapsed before he hit.”
Comment by BnG 08.26.11 @ 11:11 am

The line was a mess until they got Gaskins out of there and moved Gibbs to tackle and Nix back to Guard. Of course the schedule became easier at the same time, as the Utah, Miami & ND games were history. Tino again had the ‘deer in the headlights look’ against WVU, so one would have to take into account the competition. Yes and he and Pitt looked good against Syracuse & Rutgers. Big deal. But I do remember a Miami asst. saying they crowded the line of scrimmage on defense to stop the run since they saw little accuracy on the part of our QB. Our QB is not a pro-style offense QB since he had real trouble with anything over 20 yards being on target and had real trouble with the down & out.

With that being said: this new offense and this new coach is a real blessing for him. As these spread type offenses don’t require really great QB’s to make them work. Just look at all the Texas Tech QB’s who have put up huge numbers in the last decade, who either weren’t even drafted by the NFL or were complete NFL busts. Or think of Colt Brennan of Hawaii a couple years back who holds 30 NCAA passing records and the single season record of 58 TD passes. 58 ! He was drafted in the 6th Round by the NFL, released by two teams and was playing in the UFL before his team was disbanded.
No other UFL team claimed him. Get the point.

NY TIMES big 12 talks abought PITT i dont think we want to go to big 12 .

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