Lots of things to like about that win. But a lot more that can really bring you down fast.
The obvious is that Ray Graham is injured. Still no official word, but seeing his knee buckle when he planted on it, and the way he went down does not make me optimistic. The pain he was in made me wince. The MRI is scheduled for today. I expect we will hear something around noon.
Unfortunately he was not the only loss. Cam Saddler was finally having a great game. There is no question the knee injuries in the past have completely sapped any burst or explosiveness, that he had coming out of high school. He still can be productive. Last night was the first time where he was catching passes in stride, allowing him to get yards after the catch. And then to suffer an apparent injury to his wrist. a fractured sternum.
Then there was redshirt freshman Matt Rotheram. Getting his first start, playing at Right Guard for this game. Rotheram had passed others on the depth chart in the previous weeks and was now starting. He went down with a leg injury, that would appear to be a season-ender. [UPDATE: fractured left ankle.]
If you are keeping track at home, that is 3 OL, 2 WR, 1 S, and 1 RB down for significant games.
Cory Jacobson — out for the season.
Lucas Nix — Has missed last 3 games plus all but 2 plays in the USF game — essentially half the season to this point.
Matt Rotheram –injured in UConn game, status TBA.
Salath Williams — out for the season, injured in Utah game.
Cam Saddler — left midway through UConn game, status TBA.
Jason Hendricks — out for the season, injured in Utah game.
Ray Graham — injured on 4th play of UConn game, status TBA (but grim).
That’s 5 starters from the beginning of the season depth chart and two more from the two-deep. But for Hendricks, all the losses are coming from the offense.
The Graham injury also pointed out how bad the offensive line is without a superlative back available. Zach Brown is a solid back-up and with his more punishing style, a great change of pace back. He also could only manage 30 yards on 12 carries — with 11 yards on 1 carry. He also had 5 carries for no gain or negative yards. I don’t put the blame on Brown, as much a very patchwork O-line that couldn’t open many holes. Many wondered during the liveblog why Pitt was passing on so many 3d and short plays. The inability to even get short yards with any consistency would seem to be a good reason.
Brown, though, was much more effective with any sort of space as evidenced by his 84 receiving yards on 9 catches. Expect to see a lot more quick screens and slants at this point. Not only will it force Sunseri getting rid of the ball faster, but with the state of the O-line it is a necessity.
This race is wide open.
I’m actually of two minds about this. On one hand, I’d love to finally win the conference outright before we leave, but on the other hand I don’t want to watch Oklahoma slaughter us on New Year’s Day by 45 points.
But we all can agree that beating the Hoopies one more time would be the bee’s knees.
I’m not expecting to win the Big East, especially without Graham because we still don’t have any downfield passing attack, but at least Tino threw the short balls well last night.
I’m hoping for a few more wins- enough to convince some more recruits to come here and get a solid season going next year.
Two years from now needs to be our time to start shining.
have a good team still, but TG and the rest of us want a championship team.
Or maybe our current linemen are “built” differently because they were recruited for a pro set versus the read option that TG runs.
You just cannot beat anyone good without completing a pass (in the air) over 12 yards…I like they took some downfield shots and Tino actually threw them pretty well, yet no completions. Its pretty simple, good teams will stack the line and pressure Tino, daring him to beat them downfield — hope he can do it but he’s never beat anyone that way.
As someone posted, UConn played a stupid game and let us off the hook on our short passes. HTP and hope for the best.
On the bright side, T.Graham is fixing the holes in this team. With the transfers and recuites things looking bright. The big fish is the OT Travon [not sure of his last name], he could step right in next year and solve some of the OL problems. T. Graham is going to turn this program around sooner that most think. Go Pitt!!!!
And yea, Matt N you are right. UConn didn’t have a great defensive game plan for us. IMHO we’ve yet to show we can beat press coverage combined with an aggressive blitz package.
I am sorry, but you are both ridiculous…2nd or 3rd tier bowl??? That is straight loser talk.
Big L on your forehead.
End of Story. Done Deal.
Win the effing Conference, shut up already.
I get that some of you guys are being realistic given that we may have half an offensive line and no Ray G. for the rest of the season. Selfishly, if they’re in the St. Petersburg bowl, it’s a short trip for me. But I’d rather go to Miami for the Orange Bowl any day.
You ALWAYS play to win, even if winning may get you embarrassed at the end of the year. Top recruits will pay more attention and guys with mindsets like Ray G. will think they can make the difference for you the next time around.
And, you know even if we do get slaughtered (ye of little faith), that means Pitt either won the Big East outright (for the first time ever) or won the tie breaker again. That means a BCS bowl game in a very good location on national TV. That can only help with recruits and a finicky fan base.
Bring it on!
Alan Faneca (all world OL for the Steelers) commented on all of these OL injuries last week (speaking about the Steelers)and said that O linemen must keep their legs moving at all times even when the play is over. He says that is one of the biggest mistakes he sees from the big men up front. It makes a lot of sense, it seems that most injuries take place when the feet are planted or legs are rolled up on when the play is over.
Seems like something that could easily be taught to maybe prevent some of these injuries.
If you think Pitt can beat a top five/ten team with Tino chucking 3 yard swing passes and taking stupid sacks all day, you got my vote for optimist of the year.
Ray, I hope to see you back in form and as good as ever next season. Good Luck.
We should be shooting to try to grab that championship, and BCS berth, even if we get slaughtered. Goal is to get there.
On the flip side, with the learning, rebuilding, and now, no one could call this an excuse, just a fact, the inordinate amount of injuries this team has suffered……….
people are being realistic, and hoping we can just get to a bowl game, get those 3 or 4 extra practice weeks, that I’ve seen every coach talk about, (like an extra spring ball), and not go in the tank and up 5-12 or 4-8.
This team is really on the edge, I believe, to become a half decent team, hopefully they are learning, or with the injuries and running the new offense, just treading water or losing a couple more games.
I believe, they are capable of either.
Losing Ray Graham really puts us in a pickle though. Not an excuse, just the way it is.
He has developed into a back, that you can’t just say, “just put someone else in”.
Nothing would suprise me, but, I believe we’re moving in the right direction.
Sincerely,
Santa Claus
You could through S.Fla, UCONN, Rutgers and Utah into a hat and pull one out. Are Rutgers and Utah better than UCONN and USF, ya, probably, but, it’s not some David and Goliath disparity.
I believe Pitt lost to Rutgers and Utah, because of Pitt!!
Also, this is not Johnny Majors II. They had Iowa and Notre Dame beat. Yes, we lost, and it’s on the coaching staff and players.
My point is, we’re not getting beat 70-0. It’s gonna take time, but, I’m starting to like what we are doing.
4-4, lets win the championship, I’m all for it!!!
If we get to a bowl game, I would be thrilled.
Burning redshirts is irresponsible when you are trying to build a program. Trust the coaches on this.
* acceptance of mediocrity
* self loathing
* negativity
* belief in being snake bitten
* one excuse after another
I’ll pay for the shipping costs. Appreciate the help.
Ray Graham, Matt Rotheram (broken left ankle) and Cam Saddler (fractured sternum) are out for the season
Next year we will have a lot of experienced playes becuse people had to play to cover the injerys think of the depth next year it should be really good.
Too bad so many missed a nice (but costly) win by the Panthers. The rain held off until the ride home and the temperature was pleasant enough.
I’m also looking for to see what some of the younger kids can do out there. Cory Davis has some time in, Malcolm Crockett and Isaac Bennett haven’t touched the ball yet and we could be looking at one of those who can contribute.
Of course, since everything is sequential to other things, if our OL sucks I take back all my comment.
* acceptance of mediocrity
* self loathing
* negativity
* belief in being snake bitten
* one excuse after another
I’ll pay for the shipping costs. Appreciate the help.”
TX, just dress as a Wall St. protestor.
Next year we will have a lot of experienced playes becuse people had to play to cover the injerys think of the depth next year it should be really good.
Comment by FRANKCAN 10.27.11 @ 3:01 pm
Yeah I’m think the depth at QB should be real good. lmao
