This was the last full weekend where the wife was going to get me to do work around the the house and/or do family time that doesn’t involve a football or basketball game. Once college football season gets started, she knows every Saturday until sometime in Mid-April will find me unavailable. She knows it, and for whatever reason continues to put up with it. It is why I don’t give her a hard time about whatever she asks me to do for those 4-and-one-half months of no college basketball or football.
Briefly on the topic of Big XII. I won’t lie. Part of me would love to see Notre Dame join the Big XII just to see the egos of ND and Texas collide. You have two narcissistic, controlling, big-egoed programs and alumni trying to coexist in the same conference. Both used to totally getting their own way. Texas by dictating to the conference. Notre Dame with its independence. The backbiting, the leaks, the complaints. You know it wouldn’t last, but it would be entertaining to see both programs try to tear the other down behind the scenes.
As for Pitt’s non-denial about the Big XII, it bears repeating. Pitt is being given a rare chance to put more pressure on the Big East powers with respect to the conference’s expansion plans and the coming media contract. If the Big East basketball side wants to continue holding up football expansion or force Villanova into the spot, then Pitt now has options — now and in the future. Options that aren’t limited to simply waiting/hoping for the Big 10/12 or ACC come calling. Plus, assuming the Big XII stops at just one program — BYU or Houston — for now, the door remains open for Pitt and WVU to go to the Big XII and bring it back to 12. Pitt is playing it smart.
Some Scarlet blinders:
There’s talent and depth at receiver, hope and promise at tailback and blocking help coming from the fullback and tight end. Pitt was just average at best under [Offensive Coordinator Frank] Cignetti last season but Rutgers has better skill players than that Pitt team did.
Two points, Rutgers offense will improve. Substantially, even. But substantially would be the mediocre numbers of Pitt. As the article noted, Rutgers offense was “100th in scoring, 110th in rushing and 114th in total offense.”
Rutgers skill players are not that much better if at all than Pitt’s skill players last year. Sanu, Harrison and whoever their 3d WR are good, but hardly hands down better than Baldwin, Shanahan and Street.
Savon Huggins will be hard pressed to match the output from Lewis and Graham. Fullback: Hynoski vs. Martinek (converted from last year’s RB) is no contest. Chas Dodd can’t even pronounce his name correctly (“Chase” WTF?), so I’d be hard pressed to say he’s better than Sunseri. The issue for Rutgers is not the difference in skill players. It’s their crappy O-line. We complained about Pitt’s O-line issues last year, but Rutgers was a joke. They allowed 61 sacks last season.
Provincial previews amuse me to no end. The Ft. Worth Star Telegram previews the Big East by pointing out Texas connections. And the Lehigh Valley plays up the local kids at Pitt.
Since Pitt Magazine doesn’t have the summer issue online, I guess it’s okay that Bob Smizik cut-and-pasted the entire must read piece on Coach Todd Graham. I won’t waste time excerpting any since it is a “read it all” piece.
The offense will probably be running at 60-65 percent of the playbook capacity.
So that begs the questions: Exactly how high-octane are the Panthers going to be this year? How much of the offense that Graham ran at Tulsa will he be able to run at Pitt?
Graham has been through these transition years twice before and — while successful — he also had to tailor his schemes to fit the talent he had.
That’s why he said this year he expects to be able to install, realistically, only about 60 to 65 percent of the offense he used last year when at Tulsa. He said his coaching staff has had to figure out ways to maximize the talent already on the roster.
“That was our fourth year [at Tulsa], so we had recruited and gotten a lot of things in place,” Graham said. “I just don’t want to force things. There is a lot of pressure on our quarterback with a complete new system, and for him, I just don’t want him hurrying to mess up. Initially, we were hitting that 15-second goal [in between snaps] but with a lot more mental mistakes, so we kind of slowed it.
“But we’re still fast, we’re still snapping it in 18 seconds from the start of the 40-second clock, so that is still fast.”
Scaling back an offense is not a new thing, but in this case it is probably important to understand how relative “scaling back” is. The offense is extremely complex and even in its reduced version is far more advanced than most offenses.
Graham said that the offense at Tulsa featured about 87 different formations and even the most casual film study reveals that to be the case.
I’m not sure how I’ll react to seeing that actually happen, but I can’t wait to find out.
Good point in this little preview that in the first season under Graham’s new offense, turnovers happen. Have to be expected. Frustrating to be sure, but it will be frustrating
Last week, there was an article about how the depth was thin at the middle LB spots.
Patterson said the three players who right now are going to hold down the two positions are seniors Max Gruder and Tristan Roberts and redshirt sophomore Shane Gordon.
Gruder has consistently started at one spot and is one of the most experienced players on the roster (he has appeared in 39 career games and made 26 career starts), but he has played middle linebacker for much of his career
“Linebacker is linebacker,” Gruder said.
“But assignment-wise we are doing much different things than we were asked to do last year. So it has taken a little time to adjust.
“I like what we are doing this year in this defense, it really will play to our strengths, we just have to get on the same page.”
Gruder said one thing coaches have done is alter the defense from spring to fall so that it plays to the strengths of the players. He said that they changed some of the calls, some assignments and some of the keys so it is a much better fit for the personnel.
Which will hopefully mean not seeing Gruder being forced into pursuing wide receivers. And sure enough in the 2-deep, it includes true freshman LaQuentin Smith backing up Gruder.
The good news for Cornerback E.J. Banks: he is eligible to play right away after transferring from ND. The bad news is the reason why: hardship waiver.
Banks, a redshirt sophomore with three years of eligibility remaining, is a walk-on paying his own way and is buried on the depth chart. But he is finally having fun again on the field after leaving Notre Dame midway through his sophomore year and sitting out of school last spring.
“It was just real stressful,” Banks said. “Whenever I found out that my mom was sick, that’s when everything else happened. A lot of things piled up on me at one time. The stress took its toll. Waking up would be hard, and I was always thinking about my mom back home. It was just hard.”
Football had always come easy for Banks. He was the No. 13 “athlete” in the nation as a senior, according to the ESPNU 150 rankings, and picked the Fighting Irish over Ohio State. But he suffered a torn ACL in his final high school game and redshirted as a freshman in 2009.
Over the next year, the Fighting Irish hired a new coaching staff, Banks struggled with the academic demands and he learned of his mother’s quiet fight with cancer. Banks initially thought his sister LaNette was kidding when she told him the news; his mother had not said a word.
The good news is that she is doing okay and might be able to beat it.
Positive puff-pieces. Jason Hendricks growing up in a bad place, but with a strong mother.
“I’ll never forget this,” he said. “We were outside by the park. I was hanging out with my friends, flirting with girls. We heard gunshots at the corner and we saw this dude drop. We started running and the dude next to me got shot (in the leg). He got caught with a stray bullet. I’m glad it wasn’t me. I was 15. I was scared.”
Hendricks missed a couple of practices last week with a toe injury, but he has returned to practice and will be the starting “bandit” safety when Pitt opens the 2011 season against visiting Buffalo on Sept. 3.
His local high school, Bedford Academy, didn’t have a football team, and the Brooklyn schools that offered the sport — only 19 of the borough’s 85 high schools and academies sponsor football — weren’t high caliber in the basketball-crazed city.
So, Lenora Hendricks enrolled her son in Hudson Catholic, where he became a star running back and linebacker.
“My mother just wanted me to get out of the neighborhood,” Hendricks said. “She wanted something new for me, and I just went with it. She felt it was the best for me, and I agreed with her.”
Hendricks is the starter at “bandit” safety with Pitts behind him.
Then there is the puff piece on the now mature kicker, Kevin Harper. I’m not mocking the maturity thing. That is part of growing up and what is supposed to happen when you go off to school. Division 1-A scholarship talent does not make one preternaturally mature.
But those expectations weighed heavily on Harper, the only scholarship kicker on the roster. He struggled with consistency, and coaches were concerned about his focus.
“There were some days I’d go back to my room,” Harper said, “and watch my high school highlight film just to remind myself I was a good kicker. Confidence is everything in this position, and I lost it for a while.
“I think the thing I’ve worked the most on is the mental side and being consistent,” Harper said. “I used to want to show off my leg all the time, but now, instead of going to the driving range just to see how far I can kick a football, I realized I have to be consistent 50 [yards] and in.”
1) The university wants to be proactive on this and frankly wants the Big East to be more proactive than it has been. I think one of the most interesting pieces of information I gathered at the Big East meetings in Rhode Island a few weeks ago was that a group of athletic directors, led by Steve Pederson and Oliver Luck, are not happy with the way Big East commissioner John Marinatto has handled this expansion issue and they don’t think he’s acted fast enough – or decisively enough – to stabilize the conference.
That’s not to say there is a coup going on – yet – but the bottom line is Pederson and Luck and company would like to see a 12-team football league that is competitive, financially solid and will not be subject to these rumors of people leaving every year.
So while Pitt to the Big 12 isn’t likely – the idea of Pitt – and West Virginia for that matter — leaving the Big East is more likely now than it has been in years and that’s mostly because these two universities want action and aren’t quite sure they’ve seen enough of it.
2) In case you missed it, late last week Steve Pederson was on “The Fan” and was asked about last season when the school made the decision to move the Utah game up in the schedule to be the opener. Pederson said he was not in favor of the move and said it was completely Dave Wannstedt’s call and that Wannstedt wanted to move the game up.
A former member of Wannstedt’s staff, however, heard about this and wanted to set the record straight (unsolicited, I might add) on this Utah game issue and said that was not at all the case.
He said that Pederson was indeed in favor of the move, every bit as much as Wannstedt was, and he said for Pederson to say anything different now is just not being honest (a “blatant lie” was the exact phrase to be accurate) and the equivalent of throwing Wannstedt under the bus instead of being stand-up guy.
Reed, I’ve been telling you all along what a self-serving piece of crap our AD is and it is about time realize, damn it! Smiley Steve (OK, Mel B) botched the most important function that a major college AD has for the 2nd straight time … only this time he was bailed out thru no effort of his own. Nordy must love this guy or he just doesn’t know any better.
I just looked the pic you mentioned in the PG,
I believe they list Trey Anderson at 6’0″ and Tino at 6’2″. Maybe me eyes are failing me but they appear to be about the same in this pic. You be the judge.
If guaranteed no one could leave. I’d like that for 20 years by the way. Ya, that might be doable if WVU came along, and how about the other team is TCU going back where they belong.
If the Big East is going to end up with the original suspects, Houston, UCF and E.Carolina, ya I probably would. The hoops would have to be brought in, in my mind, and would probably suffer.
You know what Frank, I’m going to change my mind, right while I’m writing this post, not going to erase and start over either, so you can see my thoughts.
No, no I wouldn’t. I’m big on the “geography” thing. Just my personal opinion. Pitt should be in an excellent Big East, then the Big Ten or ACC.
You know, if the Big East fell apart, like Syracuse and UCONN leave, or the only teams we get are the usual suspects, could be thought about, but, in general, just don’t like the geographical fit.
I did see the Pitt/Penn State renewal for two years but it appears to be only be a one shot deal. With the Big Ten going to a nine game conference schedule and the addition of TCU to the Big East along with our yearly game with Notre Dame there is no room to continue the Pitt/Penn State game on a yearly basis.
Moving to the Big 12 would be about the buck$. I think most of us in here, realize it. And then throw in the fact, they actually have teams in the Big 12 that have a huge National reputation.
Do you guys want to play with the Big Boys or the little boys?
Given that scenario you laid out, I’m gone yesterday. Let Providence, Seton Hall, Villanova, Marquette, G-Town and the rest go play basketball and women’s football or whatever they do when they’re not playing bball.
melvin, what sport are you talking about? Basketball????
You are most likely correct that with 9 conference games State Pen wouldn’t want to play us, but they did sign up for a two year deal.
I believe in: Where there’s a will… there’s a way.
Now, granted State Pen would have to surrender one of those D1-AA beatdowns or a Temple game at Diaper Valley, but then again so would Pitt.
Probably won’t see that again on an annual basis unless Pitt somehow gets into the Big 10 and since Pittsburgh is approx. 33% Diaper friendly, the Big 10 network already in OUR city.
Solution…have U of Pgh. buy out the local cable providers(much as we have the hospitals) and then stop making the Big 10 network available. haha
There is only one sport concerned when we’re talking about conference realignment and revenue.
I love hoops just as much as anyone here, having played it until I was over 40 (until the knees, and back gave out), but this isn’t about hoops.
Anyway the better teams in the BigEast Basketball are the football schools. And if we move, Kansas, Texas, Okie State, K-State and Okla. are just as good as Uconn, Syracuse, Cincy and Louisville.
That’s assuming WVU comes with us.
Wow, this is moving along at almost breakneck speed.
However the more you dawdle, the more likely you’ll get left behind.
Pitt needs to quit dawdling with these idiots in Providence, either move on or get a new commissioner that’s from the football schools, preferably Pitt or WVU. Don’t really trust Cuse since they attempted to bolt to the ACC and would have had VA Tech not complained to UVA.
Having said that I think Pitt & WVU are looking for (in about this order): most $, most prestige, most stability, traditional rivalries, & some geographical sense.
In my limited opinion, I don’t see the fit with the Big 12. The only way it brings more prestige & $ is if Texas & Oklahoma stay and/or they bring in Notre Dame. Even then, does Pitt really want to pick up the $ leftovers from ND and Texas? So many “if’s” and gambles. I still think some type of combo conference is worked out with the BE/ACC and maybe the Big 12 leftovers as well if Texas and Oklahoma bolt.
I would look forward to playing the likes of Duke, UNC, Florida St, Boston College, Miami, Va Tech, Virginia, Maryland, Wake Forest, WVU, Syracuse, TCU, etc just as much as what the Big 12 has left to offer after it all shakes out. (And that’s in both football and basketball.) That’s still true for me even if the SEC takes a couple of the ACC schools.
Right now the Big 12 is the least stable, least viable football conference in the NCAA. It would take a huge coup like adding Notre Dame to just start to convince me otherwise.
Big Boy Kansas State got beat by Syracuse.
Oklahoma pounded UConn.
Illinois beat Big Boy Baylor.
Iowa beat Big Boy Missouri.
Big Boy Texas Tech beat Northwestern.
LSU beat Big Boy Texas A&M.
And Big Boy Oklahoma State beat Arizona.
By my count:
Big Boys 3
Little Boys 4
Melvin, let me understand: Pitt v. Kansas will generate the same amount of excitement as Pitt v. UConn or Pitt v. Syracuse? Really? Pitt played Texas a couple of times and Oklahoma State in the tourney. Maybe it was just me, but I didn’t get all worked up about the games. In the BE, Pitt’s players were high school teammates and high school opponents to many of the players in the league. Methinks that could be a factor when some of them are choosing a college.
You aren’t seriously trying to compare, Big 12 football in it’s present state to the BigEast in it’s annual state, are you ????
Cause we’re going to have to send over the guys in white coats that use to say Dixmont or Mayview, if that is the case.
What if we joined the Big 12, and Texas, Ok, Ok St. and Texas Tech bolt for the Pac 12????
Hmmmmm???? Then we’re really screwed. No Big East, no ACC, no Big 10. What happens then, Conf. USA???
The Big 12 is a house of cards!
You think any of those teams in the SW will have any loyalty to Pitt, hell, they don’t have any loyalty to each other!!
@ UCLA
Michigan State
@ Oklahoma
Miami, Florida
West Virginia
@ Texas Christian
@ Syracuse
@ Notre Dame
Army (Army was a powerhouse then)
Penn State
Somehow Maine and Buffalo didn’t make the schedule.
The BigEast(football) is certainly a House of Cards.
Rutgers, Syracuse, Uconn & WVU would have all bolted by now, Pitt too if given the opportunity.
The question is: is Pitt going to be proactive or
reactive. Me… I try to be proactive. Hopefully Pitt will too. Nordy and Cochran are very smart guys and they have been proactive in the past.
Doc, I tried, but I was told that I would have to wait until Saturday before we start playing. By then, we will have this conference alignment business all worked out, and melvin will admit that you and I were right.
Here I thought it was a fantasy sports blog where we get to create our own conferences and stuff. I’m bummed.:-)
melvinbennett: In my many years on this site, I’ve noticed that there are some very smart guys here too. Many really know their stuff about both football and basketball. You seem to be a pretty smart guy too, so you may have noticed that you’re the only one arguing in favor of jumping to the Big 12. Just an observation.
I know you said you’d only be in favor of it if ND joins too. I just don’t see that happening. ND can get most anyone to play them at will, because of their TV appeal and national fan base, so they’ll rarely have the scheduling issues that necessitate joining a conference.
A just as likely scenario is Texas going independent. They have their own network now, and they seem arrogant enough to think that if BYU can do it, they certainly can too. Either that or the PAC 12 stealing more teams makes the Big 12 a bigger house of cards than the BE right now.
I don’t mind being the ‘only’ one arguing in favor of leaving the BigEast. The BigEast has NOT been good for Pitt football, Pitt has a below .500 record since entering it for football in 1991.
ONLY Temple & Rutgers have more losses than us in LEAGUE HISTORY. Before signing on for this garbage league we had over a 64% winning % which placed us pretty high among ALL D1 schools.
We have since dropped to a 58% winning % .
It is time for Pitt to move on, play some better teams with National Reputations, recruit in areas with better players like Texas for instance, and get back to where we once were. Pickings are getting slim in the rustbelt for recruiting as millions of people have migrated South. There are no steel mills and those type of guys anymore, (think Bill Fralic or Jimbo Covert) We are not going to get back to what we were in the BigEast. Nobody gets excited about playing anybody in the BigEast except WVU. Do you? (please don’t say USF) haha
Being associated with the BigEast football conference and all the jokes associated with it, really irks me and smears our great program with our continued association with it.
And bowing down to these basketball only schools annoys me even more. We do not need them.
The BE is on the verge of negotiating new TV deals. They have the best b-ball and arguably the worst BCS football(ACC + BE are 1+1A). IF, and that is a HUGE IF, they can make the right expansion additions they might be able to negotiate the $$$$ that everyone suspects Pitt/WVU/Cuse would jump ship for.
However, your point about Maine & N Hampshire is well taken … back then, it was all D1 schools on the schedule and rarely was even a MAC school scheduled.
If you go back to the 20s and 30s, Pitt played the likes of Carnegie Tech, Duquesne and Fordham .. all powers back then
Here a quote from Graham in early May:
“I have a great feeling about this team and these kids,” Graham said. “We have enough talent. Do we have enough talent to run our system? Well, no. We’ll look a lot different three years from now than we do right now. We have some tough, physical players on both sides of the ball. But we have enough skill players to feel confident about.
“Bringing in this offense we’ve got to make sure we don’t go from ‘A’ to ‘Z’ — ‘A’ to ‘M’ or ‘A’ to ‘G’ and adapt to the skills and talents of the players. I feel good about this football team.”
Graham also said that it was the same way at the other schools where he was the Head Coach. Him saying they are able to field 65% of a playbook that includes 87 different offensive formations is pretty damned impressive.
As to the time between snaps… here is a direct quote from today’s Trib-Review:
What will be the ideal time between snaps for your offense?
“If we are 18 seconds, we would be excited about that. (But) I am not going to be satisfied. I would like it to be 15 seconds our first year. We were doing that early and slowed a little bit. But that is going to be the emphasis and the constant focus: Let’s get the tempo established because that is what sets us apart. I like it to be 15 seconds, but if we look back at this game it will be closer to 18. It was 12 seconds last year (at Tulsa), but that was in our fourth year. You have to find that happy medium. You can forget this is all new to these guys.”
Where you came up with 22 seconds I don’t know.
Sounds like your looking for problems where they don’t exist.
On another note Trey Anderson is the 2nd string QB going into the start of the season. This strongly suggests that Todd Graham is dedicated to running the offensive system that he has brought to PITT and wants the QB personnel on the field who can execute what the position in that system demands. Bringing a walk-on from Texas into camp and elevating him like that speaks volumes to the subject.
That’s a big departure from what we’ve seen in the past. Wannstedt would play a true freshman or transfer every once in a while but never put up a number of new players like this into the two-deep.
Even more impressive is that with the new offense and varied defensive formations these new guys will get playing time as Graham and staff are going to rotate at almost every position but QB and OL.
Next to you, I’m probably next in line with getting the hell out. I’ve always been….
1. Big Ten, where Pitt has a lot of history and where I feel they fit in best.
2. ACC, especially if WVU, Syracuse and UCONN came.
3. ACC if none of them came
4. Big East if they get to 12 teams in football
I just don’t see the Big 12 thing. Unless Notre Dame is in there also. Just WVU is not good enough for stability. Nothing against WVU, they are not an anchor though. If ND went and Texas and ND got the Big 12 stability with a 20 year 500 million dollar contract or something, then, ok.
Pitt with WVU or Pitt on its own, man, that Big 12 could bust at any given moment.
P.S. to others reading above comments who haven’t seen them before, those are just my wishes, we all know 25 reasons why they won’t happen, just basically agreeing with Mel, that we’ve been toyed around long enough by Providence, I just don’t see the Big 12.
Dr. Tom, you need a scotch brother!! Don’t worry, t-5days!!!
“Man, I am excited. I’m psyched. I looked at the October football schedule. We got Big Boys Kansas and Kansas State coming to Heinz. Then we go to Baylor and Texas Tech. My lady always wanted to explore the night life of Waco and Lubbock. Maybe we will fly down and make it a holiday. Then we got Iowa State and Missouri the next month. Wow!”
Understand your passion for Pitt football and its tradition. I think you can see from the posts that many of us have been following Pitt football for a long, long time. We all have that same passion.
However, I don’t understand your logic. If playing teams in and around Texas opens up that state for recruiting, why hasn’t that materialized in our recruiting in Florida? It’s either #1 or #2 in prospects every year along with Texas. Florida, Florida St. and Miami rank in the Top 10 recruiting classes nearly every year. Two of those school are in the “crappy” ACC. Texas is the only Big 12 school consistently on that list.
IMHO, recruiting is about three things for most kids in no particular order, because for each kid the order is different:
1. A path to the NFL
2. Playing close to home
3. Winning
Wanny did a pretty good job with the first two, but he failed on the third, particularly with respect to winning the conference. So we can’t win in the crappy Big East, but moving to the Big 12 automatically changes that? Hmm. I’m missing something in that logic.
That brings me back to my original point in all of this conference conversation. In the end, it doesn’t matter what conference you’re in. If you consistently win inside and outside of your conference, you’ll get noticed by the pollsters and the HS kids looking for a great place to play. That’s where Pitt succeeded in the Majors/Sherrill eras and has failed for the most part since.
In reality, it’s where all BE football schools have failed. No one has really dominated the conference, except for Miami in the early days, and most fall on their faces when playing quality teams outside the conference. You keep blaming the conference for failing the football teams, but maybe it’s the other way around. What’s that old saying, “a rising ship lifts all boats”? Maybe it’s time for one of the BE schools to rise up. I just hope it’s Pitt, and not WVU, TCU or some other school.
(As an aside: USF has beaten Florida St. and Miami on their own fields and gave Florida a pretty good game until Daniels started throwing INTs. You keep knocking them because they don’t have “tradition”. How many points do they spot you for tradition? Exactly.)
Myself, I like the teams of the Big 12, we’d just stick out like a sore thumb geographically. That’s just a personal thing of mine. I know geography has been thrown to the wind, just me.
As a matter of fact, I’m still holding out hope Kansas, KSU and Mizzou could be the three adds to the Big East if the Big 12 starts to crumble.
Certainly would beat Villanova, Memphis and E.Carolina!!
Plus, those three hoop teams added, comin’ to The Pete!!
I just don’t want Pitt being the oddball “Eastern” team in a Midwest/Southwest league, which it would be even if ND unexpectedly complies.
Today’s recruits weren’t even alive when TD and Danny Boy played at Pitt. Heck some of their parents weren’t alive. It’s about winning NOW, and we haven’t been in that mix for a while. I don’t think changing conferences changes that. Coaching and systems do.
Look at basketball. What “tradition” did the Big East have when it was formed? Not much when compared to the other conferences, but today it’s the best because several BE teams, like us, have won consistently. What “tradition” did we have in basketball? Perennial losers for the most part. Jamie and his system would win in ANY conference. Hopefully, TG does that for us in football.
I’d even be happy to see the football schools split off into a separate league, as some suggest, if that’s what it takes. You could still have “interleague” play in basketball and the top 6 teams from each league could meet in MSG for the BE Tourney.
If the BE expands though, it has to make sense IMHO. They already have a couple of “orphans” in USF and now TCU, so they need to figure out what teams bring them closer in some way – more schools in Florida and Texas or some teams in between. If they look to a fractured Big 12, they need to take a few as Dan suggests, not just one.
Now, if the Big East basketball-only schools continue to whine and demand an unequal say in things, I’m all in favor of bolting to another conference, with or without our traditional rivals.
That’s just an opinion and a problem I’m glad I don’t have to figure out.
Glad you remember Pitt’s ONLY ‘one & done’ basketball player in Pitt history. I’m thinking most didn’t.
Losing in the Elite 8 to National Champion NC State with the incomparable David Thompson & 7’4″ Tom Burleson. In what amounted to a Home Game for NC State. Yes we had to play NC State in North Carolina. Yes this kind of stuff has been going on for a long time.
Jack yes, Southern Comfort is way too sweet for me!
Actually I’m more of a bourbon man, just on the rocks and a good pour please ! Have a good time at the opener. Get us 60 on the Bulls.
“Actually, I don’t have a problem with the teams from the Big 12. I would be pumped to see Missouri, Kansas St. Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma at Heinz field, much more than I would be seeing Cincinnati, USF and UCONN!!!”
Agree totally Dan, that should be a no brainer.
TT, Oklahoma, Mizzou, Ok. State have had some of most prolific offenses over the last 10 years.
Texas, despite last year’s 5-7 is Texas, get real that was an anomaly. And Kansas did too when Mangini was there and ISU with Paul Rhoads as coach would be real fun to see a Pitt/ISU matchup.
We could still play WVU every year non-con and perhaps Syracuse every other year. The Cuse has never really drawn a large crowd to Heinz or Pitt Stadium from what I remember. But for tradition sake, for those who have to have Cuse on the schedule, OK
@ TampaT
I think the phrase is
‘A rising tide lifts all boats’
And I don’t consider BigEast football a rising tide, more like a somewhat stagnant pond, like the one in Schenley Park.
Also concerning Pitt’s recruiting in Florida compared to recruiting in Texas.
1) We never had a coach originally from Florida
2) We have a Coach now originally from Texas, was head coach at various high schools there as well as Rice U and he has Todd Dodge as a coach who was a high school coaching legend in Texas.
3) Kids in Texas that don’t like Texas, but might want to play against them can be recruited.
4)There are no kids in Florida who really hate USF, they’ve never been that good or around long enough to develop any kind of hatred.
5) The better kids in Florida want to play against/or for UF, FSU & Miami…..not USF. (know you don’t want to hear that, but there it is)
Anyway I appreciate the chance to share a few thoughts & ideas with you guys.
I’m not for the BE remaining as is. See my reply to FRANKCAN regarding that. I’m on your side there. I just don’t think a move to the Big 12 is the answer for Pitt, or its fans.
As far as your recruiting breakdown:
1) Florida, Florida St. and Miami don’t have coaches originally from Florida either. Again, it’s more about the three factors I mentioned – getting to the NFL, playing near home, and winning.
2) I hope you’re right about TG’s pull, but I think we’ll get mostly leftovers, until we start winning.
3) Way down the list on a reason to choose a school. Look at the ESPNU Top 150. The Texas kids are either staying close to home or going to a winning program. TCU has grabbed a few and they’re headed for the crappy BE.
4) USF didn’t even have a football program when Pitt was pulling top kids from Florida under Majors and Sherrill.
5) I agree. USF will only get the leftovers, until they start winning.
Again, it’s all about coaches and systems, not conferences. Florida was basically a doormat until Spurrier came along, and now he’s doing it at S. Carolina. Florida St. barely had a football program until Bowden left WVU. And Schnellenberger and Jimmy J. turned a small private school that almost dropped football altogether into “The U”.
http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1257714
Notre Dame’s AD has reiterated that ND wants to stay independent. And the article then suggests if ND is ‘off the table’ ,,,,,so is Pitt.
Well it was nice to know some conference other than the BigEast wanted us. We all want to be wanted. Back to reality & the BigEast….yippee!
Hail to Pitt ! Let’s win this crappy conf. this year!
Big 12 sources say if Notre Dame is off the table, then there’s probably no immediate chance of adding Pittsburgh, another school that had been discussed by Big 12 presidents on their conference call Saturday after Loftin got off the teleconference.
One Big 12 administrator said there continues to be interest in gauging Arkansas’ potential interest in joining the Big 12 – in what would essentially be a trade between the two leagues – and that BYU remains a potential target.
Nothing except a Jimmy’s hot dog compares.