Ryan Turnley has been outstanding at center for Pitt. When you consider how quickly he had to learn the position just this summer, he has been tremendous. Well, guess who else has been battling an injury?
Ryan Turnley – and this is something we obviously couldn’t report – didn’t practice much at all last week with that foot injury but he really sucked it up and played and I’d expect him to do the same this week. But say he re-injures that or something — what in the heck is this unit going to look like? You really have to give Spencer Leftwich a lot of credit for putting together a rag-tag bunch with a lot of injuries and youth and getting it to be somewhat cohesive and coherent.
Turnley was limping around out there and Coach Graham singled out Turnley for battling through last night.
I honestly don’t think the O-line can take one more injury. Behind Turnley at center are Greg Gaskins or Ryan Schlieper. Schlieper is probably going to start in place of Rotheram unless Nix is back soon. So, be afraid. Very afraid.
Good thing we have a week and a half before Cincy. Maybe that Wednesday night scheduling wasn’t such a bad deal after all.
..And by the way – I did some checking, it looks like Jacobson is going to get a sixth year as he meets the criteria so that is good news for Pitt.
My guess is that Ray Graham has an ACL tear and it will be confirmed by MRI in a few days. That is 9-12 months recovery and another year to hit your pre-injury form. He is a junior which means that he only has one year remaining (not eligible for medical redshirt given the timing of the injury being after the midway point). My guess is that he will redshirt next season to be at full strength in fall 2013 (he is definately out of spring training if it is an ACL). Tough loss for a kid with an extremely bright future.
Saddler is just as disappointing given how much he has already gone through (previous ACL’s I believe). At least he will be back in the spring and next season.
ND has the Gipper and we have the “Curse of Sarafino” (Foge Fazio). We have never recovered from the curse that fell on this program when he was hired. Top 10 program perennially prior to.
Adversity provides for opportunity. With Rushel Shell coming in next year, this could be the “grab my chance now” for one of the running backs buried on the depth chart. Guys like E.J. Banks, Malcolm Crockett and Steve Williams now might just as well pump up their resumes with some playing time this year while they have the opportunity. Sure they burn their redshirt but somebody has to step up now besides Corey Davis who has already done so, who wants it more is the question.
Whats more scarey now is the depth chart for the OL. Almost everybody on the roster who is ready to play has already seen the field except for Arthur Doakes, Shane Johnson and JC transfer Zenel Demhasaj. Demhasaj is recovering from an ACL knee injury from last year so I don’t even know if he is ready to play yet.
This very issue was the subject for extensive discussion during the preseason. I hoped that the injury bug would stay away from the OL because we were thin there to start with. Many didn’t see it that way and debated my fears in this regard but as I said then this IS now proving to be the Achilles heel of this team for sure presently.
Believe it or not, Pitt can overcome Graham’s loss, utilizing the players that are available in reserve,running the system Todd Graham has in place, but unless Nix gets healthy really fast we are in big trouble offensively because of the lack of quality numbers on the OL.
Ray Graham was good enough to overcome that issue with the OL and still cause major damage to opposing defenses but not so much with the guys behind him I fear.
I am very proud of how the team resonded to the early game injuries to Graham and Rotheram. They still brought home a victory and rallied over the adversity thrown at them. It will be interesting to see if this team has the potential to carry that forward and continue to win.
REPOST FROM PREVIOUS THREAD, CONFIRMS MORE BAD NEWS
This season is not yet lost by a long shot. Can the younger guys “bring it” and pick up the slack for their fallen teammates?
As always, that is why they play the games.
We have to start mining the D line to replenish the O line. I’m sure they played both ways in high school.
Best wishes, and here’s to a speedy and full recovery for all of the players out for the season. And Turnley, please be ok. Pretty please!?! You’ve turned out to be one hell of a center.
PittFaninAtlanta, actually the curse began when Foge got fired.
Very funny indeed.
Discouraging to see the Defense give up 20 1rst downs and lots of yardage to this horrid team.
That blown defense on their long TD pass was really embarrassing. Thankfully nobody was watching the game but the two of us at a local watering hole. And all those yellow seats, I don’t even want to talk about it.
Maybe the Shanahan tribe as well. haha
On a side note. Did Myers already use up his redshirt in a previous year? I assume he did as it would have been disappointing for him to lose it in the last 50 seconds of last nights game. Anyone know the answer?
Their wraps absorb and produce Far Infrared Rays that heal the natural healing process as well as much more. Hopefully all these injured athletes will be using their products not only to get healthy but to help prevent injuries. You’ll have to talk to the Hapad people about it.
I know it works because I’ve used it as have many others I know. I just with they could have been using it long before now.
Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio State, Oregon (to an extent), Auburn, LSU, Boise State, and others
They all share a common theme. They are all located in cites without an NFL presence (or one so poor it doesn’t matter), have a rabid fan base, huge stadiums, and money pouring in. That money goes into buying coaches, facilities, and the like. Those things in turn lure athlete, and the cycle continues. Only USC in recent years really bucks that trend a little, but when you think about it, what does LA have from an NFL perspective these days, they fit as well. Save for the occasional shooting star/statistical outlier, college football itself has become exceedingly predictable.
Obviously not every team that fits this mold is guaranteed success – you would think, for example, that PSU would be better than they are perennially, but they haven’t been able to master the formula like Ohio State.
Yes, I realize that this is “captain obvious” stuff to most, but the point is that if you haven’t figured it out by now, college football is a different game. Recruiting is national and the best of the best are siphoned off by the elite. Amazing athletes still surface at other schools, of course, but not in the numbers needed to create perpetual success. Pitt, along with a lot of others schools, is a victim of it’s demographic. You could argue that we suffer more than other programs seem to, but Pitt’s demographic is probably one of the absolute worst:
– Great NFL team (competitive almost every year – not many other cities can boast that)
– Great NHL team most of the time
– Weird geography – people don’t like to cross bridges or tunnels for entertainment purposes around here. I’ve lived here all my life and I can’t get seemingly normal people to go downtown for anything. Steelers and Penguins are the exception – they find a way.
– Shared stadium – I still think this makes a difference for people who want the college experience (although I argue that the ‘parking and traffic experience’ in Oakland should change minds)
– Apathetic fan base (after so much disappointment, it’s hard to hang on. Bandwagon fans (which help pad the numbers) are hard to come by around here – too many other bandwagons to hop on at any given time.
It’s going to take a LONG time to change things around here. Some of it is chicken/egg, but winning consistently is the only cure, and even if that happens, things will only change so much. I don’t think Pitt will ever stand at the top of the pile like they once did. Outside of the occasional “lightening in a bottle” season, it is what it is.
Again, pretty obvious stuff, but I think people forget some of the challenges Pitt has. We’re not alone, but it’s an uphill fight and has been for 30+ years.
In case your wondering what my expectations are:
– A competitive team in whatever conference they are a part of. A chance to win most games they play. Consistent effort and measurable improvement of the kids they get every year.
– A BCS bowl every so often (4-5 years ?)
– Top 25 every other year. A top 10/15 finish occasionally
– A stable coaching staff (or at least consistently competent)
These are things I would LIKE to have and may at least be obtainable. Setting the bar low? Perhaps, but I wonder if Pitt really does want to be Ohio State or Alabama or LSU. National Champion ship followed by scandal, embarrassment, sanctions, and shame. Constantly under scrutiny. I just don’t know if it’s worth it, but I’m pretty sure we don’t have to worry about it any time soon.
Regardless, Pitt is a tough gig. TG might not have realized it coming in, but he’s stuck with it now. If he blows this up, he’s not going to have a lot of other D1 options. He kind of needs to make this work.
But, that’s just, like, my opinion… man.
JACKIE was 50-9-1 at PITT, including back to back to back years at 11-1 and PITT was #2 in 1980 and #1 for most of 1981. Finished #2 in 1981.
Jackie was 52-28-1 at Texas A&M, his highest End of Season ranking was #6.
Jackie was 75-75-2 at Miss. State with one team that finished the season ranked # 12.
In conclusion Jackie had the best winning % at PITT since the great Jock Sutherland DDS of the 1920’s & 1930’s…. who was 111-20-12.
PITT has never won consistently from decade to decade, as I’ve mentioned before, we’ve had large periods of ineptitude which has certainly affected the program and most certainly the fan base.
FIN
Jock Sutherland also played on Pitt’s undefeated 1917 team. The 1917 team was known as “The Fighting Dentists” because on occasion every position was filled by dental students.[2] The dental students on the 1917 team included Sutherland,[3] Katy Easterday,[4] Skip Gougler,[5] “Tank” McLaren[6] and “Jake” Stahl.[7] Sutherland graduated from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Dentistry, where he also held a professorship in the instruction of bridge and crown.[3]
There you go Dr. Tom !
Too much competition in big cities. Nothing to do in Happy Valley, Tuscaloosa, or Ann Arbor.
Now you take a Florida or OSU (even PSU) that have what 40,000, 60,000, 70,000 students? I mean it takes us 3-5 years to graduate one year’s worth of students of other schools.
Combine that with all of the things you mentioned and you have a very challenging situation, to say the least.
I don’t think Pitt will ever capture the casual, local, fan/family crowd in Pittsburgh. Too much other stuff going on. Too many people scheduling and prioritizing their other weekend activities (and spending) around the Steelers game, which is totally understandable.
Do we swallow our pride and figure out a way to do build a smaller on campus stadium? 45,000? With good parking and tailgating options? 😮
1. Weeknight games suck because most people who can afford to go to games on a regular basis have to work the next day, even in a less working more touristy city like Miami.
2. Winning and entertaining football is everything to the casual fan. Like someone said about some of the Pitt students in a previous thread, they’re there for the party not the game. Miami would have packed the stadium regardless of the night of the week when they were a perennial Top 10 and “bad boy” football program.
This is smiliar to Pitt is its heyday when despite their good teams, the only gaurantee sellouts at Pitt Stadium were ND, WVU & PSU.
EMel, if you read this board, you would know why. For the past 70 years, Pitt has hired mediocre coaches where they are able to win only 8 or 9 games during a season and lose control of the program. (OK. Maybe once they will have a mediocre 10 win season.)
Although I think that TG is making a good effort, is reaching out to the alumni, and is saying the correct things, my fear is that TG, likewise, will prove to be mediocre and win only 8 or 9 games per year. He, too, will be shown the exit door.
In ’73, Pitt made a commitment to upgrade the football program by not only getting a qualified coach but lowering its standards for athletes and raising its recruiting budget to the tune of signig 85 FB recuits that year (allowed back then.)
Something like this reoccurred in ’96 with the hiring of Pederson who then hired Walt Harris and later Ben Howland, followed by the openeing of te Southside practice facility in ’01. (Note that there was allegedly some talk back in 96 about Pitt lowering its FB program to D2, but not sure how accurate that was.)
Pitt just made another commitment upgrade when hiring Graham and staff, since the previous staff was the lowest paid in the BE and the recruiting budget was slashed a few years back. (you may recall that Graham and others interviewed before the Heywood hire were too pricey.)
Thus, it seems that coaching hires thru the year may be a direct result of the intermittent support of the Pitt admin .. inclduing the recent Heywood hire.
And BTW, IMHO, when talking about fan support, Pitt football most definitely should NOT play down to the level of the fan interest in this team. If you’re a football player, 1st you play for yourself and your own self respect, secondly you play for your team, those guys should be considered your football brotherhood, third you play for your own family, lastly you play for your University and the current student body and alumni. After that who cares??? Piss on the marginal fan base that are at best fair weather fans in the best of times anyhow.
Hell, I love rooting for the underdog anyhow. Pitt is fitting that profile for me nicely once again this season with all the trials and tribulations that have occurred.
Play your hearts out Panthers, Play for your your own self respect, play for your fallen teammates, play for your University and as always Hail to Pitt!!
Sure for any big pro town college team, it’s tough to sell out a 75K+ stadium on a consistent basis unless you have an attractive opponent. I didn’t disagree with that point.
I guess you’re disagreeing with my “packed the house” comment, which is valid. But 20% more people in any stadium would make a big difference in the crowd appearance.
