I meant it when I said I was scrambling to get things done before the game. Sick kids and wife only makes it more difficult. But, mostly there.
I just don’t trust that I’ll be able to go the entire game without having to pause along the way for some family issue. So, it’s an open thread. I’ll check in, and will be on Twitter tonight, at @chasrich27.
Let’s go Pitt!
No tradition either. Did anyone witness OSU getting their student sections involved in warm up drills immediately prior to kick-off. It is a gesture by the players and coaches to connect to the kids! Gets them worked up in a frenzy.
Okay, you all guessed it. I don’t like Steve P and he has not served the university well. Take a 1/2 hour and pull the bios from every school in the top 20 and compare. HE IS THE PROBLEM. $850k to try to get Holgorsen!! Idiot!
Were it not for basketball, our athletic department would still be stuck in the 1960’s. We are one of three teams over the last 30 years to have at least 3 losses in football.
Pederson is a fool. Fired by Nebraska for damn near ruining the brand and setting the entire program back 60 years, they gladly paid him his 2 million severance and kicked him out.
Then he returns to Pitt and all other candidates are screwed because he steps to the front of the line. That is on Nordy.
No need to re post the Pederson goals he stated shortly after assuming command part 2, but none of them have come to fruition. None. Who on earth gets to keep such a high level job without accomplishing their goals? Pederson is the obvious answer and we are taken for fools.
Haygood, Graham, Ricardo Montebalm at FIU were his choices. Callahan before them at Nebraska. WTF???
Football is THE REVENUE machine in college athletics. It damn well better make money or Title IX obligations will drive you to the basement.
Duke, Kansas, UNC, UCLA….all hoop legends still take a backseat to football. And who does Pitt have? Empty yellow seat Steve. Don’t blame Pitt fans for empty seats. Do you blame yourself when you refuse to return to a restaurant that served lousy food combined with lousy service? Of course not!
Pederson must go and if he doesn’t, Pitt fans will have their answer. Mediocrity? Don’t get your hopes up. Would you donate to Pitt based on Pederson or your love of Pitt? Pitt will always have loyal fans who will always be taken advantage of…but they will never achieve up to their level of talent if lead by Pederson.
I love Pitt enough to stop sending money. My rationale is much like the foundation community of a few years back when dealing with the Pittsburgh city schools..they held money back as they sensed an attitude of entitlement. Pitt athletics is undisciplined and unresponsive to failure.
That starts at the top. I fear the worst. PC is a very good coach….he will be offered better jobs in 3-4 years. If Pitt lives coach to coach…well, the last 30 years will continue in our own version of Groundhogs Day.
Fire the fool Pederson if you expect to be taken seriously.
I’m frustrated as hell, but what did you expect for this year? 10-2?? Come on. Let’s everyone get to the game Saturday and get loud and watch Pitt kick some ass.
17 against a D2 school
10 against Cincy (7 of those were mercy points)
35 against Va. Tech (gave up a ACC record (for them) 48 points to an average UNC team who has already lost to Wake Forest)
13 against Syracuse
For a Grand Total of…(drum roll) 75 points
Divided by 4 games (for our alumni who had to use a calculator or cell phone to divide with)
Equals 18.75 ppg
Going to throw out the 7 mercy points at the end of the Cincy game. New Total = 68 points
Again divide by 4 games = 17 ppg
We could go even farther and readjust based on the several gift TD’s that VT handed us, I think they fumbled once on their 10 yd line and threw a pick in their territory. So even the 35 points we scored against them is somewhat jaded.
But we’ll go with 17 ppg. We have two 6’4″ or taller WR’s with over 2 years experience. We have a senior TE who has good hands. We have a decent smaller senior slot receiver. We have a very good RB in the backfield who can turn a little into a lot, if you just get him the ball going forward.
And based on some of the bloggers who sometimes show up (most recently after the Huge win against Gardner Webb), we have a great QB. You know over 300 yards passing two weeks in a row now, and all that yardage and accuracy.
So what gives, why can’t this team score points.
They go from 30 to 30 pretty good. Oh yea, I forgot teams give you something between the 30’s, they tend to tighten up their defense and quit giving you the dinks and the dunks they gave you between the 30’s. Suddenly the WR’s aren’t so wide open. Suddenly they blitz you. But wait, we have a 5th year senior qb. Surely he can read a blitz by now, it is after all, only his 31rst start.
Hey but wait, my apologies. Everything is fine we’ll be good. Let’s go Pitt !
I actually didn’t mind the all white look, it would look better with a white helmet with Pitt script in blue outlined in gold.
They could still wear the gold helmets at home.
This version of the color scheme, etc, block PITT looked best when Shady was playing. They had more gold inserts in both the road and home jerseys. Plus PITT on the front.
Maybe they’ll look better when we get a new QB, haha 🙂
If they don’t want to go all white again, why not goldish/yellow bottoms. On the order of the Steelers road uniforms (which I like) and Georgia Tech’s road uniforms, UCLA’s and ND’s. The white with navy blue is not a good look, imo. It’s Akronlike. Is that a word? lol In other words they’re something you’d expect to see in the MAC.
Who exactly makes the decision on the uniforms anyway? I don’t know, so I’ll blame it on Stevie Cornhole. He was the genius that after a 80 years of calling PITT PITT, he says: nah, I have a better idea. Let’s schuck 80 years of tradition and history and start calling PITT… Pittsburgh.
And just for good measure, because I’m smarter than all you yinzers, let’s put a Groundhog/Beaver like thing on the helmet.
You stupid yinzers you, don’t you know you live in Pittsburgh, not PITT.
P.S. Mr Peterson was a very sucessful Erie Insurance Agent who contribute boo coo bucks to PITT. Henceforth it’s the Peterson Events Center, NOT the Pederson Events Centers. Cause if it would have been named after Stevie, it would be called the Cornhole Center for underperforming Athletic Directors. ha
My criticisms of Pederson have nothing to do with this years team in particular and I certainly have not stopped going to games.
BUT, I am going to take a long look at Pederson’s record as a football AD at both Pitt and Nebraska and I am betting that it ain’t good.
As ice is to Eskimo’s, so to is football to the budget of any big time athletic department and football had better be able to cut the mustard and pay the bills.
How many bills exactly are paid by the empty seats at heinz Field?
My verdict on Pederson is that he is guilty of gross incompetence.
link to washingtonpost.com
That being said, in the future we are going to be fine; this group of upper classmen need to move on and we need to do what many of us thought we were doing all along and rebuild with players that fit the mold of what Chryst will do. I don’t think we are going to see any more miserable losses like the ones we saw this year, but it still might be a rocky next 2 years. I love Pitt, but I can’t watch the product that they are putting on the field on Saturday nor do i like the fact that i get enjoyment everytime Tino is hit and find myself cringing when he gets up and comment about how tough he is. THat is not the fan I want to be, so instead I am going to hibernate until next season and hope that we don’t embarrass ourselves anymore and start anew next year.
Now Chryst ?
We have hired the same type of coach since 1982, isn’t Pitt football the definition of insanity when you do the same thing over and over with the same results?
This program needs an enema from the top down, Chryst is going to have a hard time selling recruits because of his personality and the enviroment of Pitt football.
I’m tired waiting
1) Tell me what program is consistently good sharing a city with a propular NFL team?
2) The commitment from the Pitt admin has been sporadic at best when supporting the FB program … this has never been more evident when Wanny was fired and the paltry salary offer that Steve was offering potential candidiates which wasn’t even in the neighborhood of attracting CUSA coaches.
3) the Western PA high school recruiting market continues to fade … heck, PA has more HS students than Ohio but Ohio puts out many more D1 prosepcts ever year (note that I am using OH as a comparison and not FL, TX, LA, AL, SC, etc)
4) Pitt’s enrollment is competitive with MAC schools not B10 or SEC schools (minor excuse) but Pitt fans (overall) are not as committed – Panther FB is just not that important (heck, Morgantown just had another ugly riot after their win vs Texas — which I agree is stupid but it shows just how they live and breathe the Eeers there)
HAIL TO PITT!
Louisville will stop the run at all costs and let Tino pass away. Pitt must adjust or lose.
Ohio State third-string quarterback Cardale Jones made his feelings about attending classes clear Friday on Twitter.
“Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain’t come to play SCHOOL classes are POINTLESS,” he wrote.
The tweet and Jones’ entire account have been deleted, but multiple media outlets captured Jones’ words before they vanished.
Big Ten Blog
ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg and Brian Bennett write about all things Big Ten in the conference blog.
• Blog network: College Football Nation
What’s your reaction going to be? Back on board, Chryst still stinks, etc.
Just curious.
Hopefully, the backup QB’s will get some playing time but not in a starting role. That said, I don’t see us winning more than six games this season.
Chryst is a fine coach. Given Pitt’s track record with head coaches, we should be lucky to get a coach willing to come here from a successful football program. Our problem will be keeping him. Remember 1976?
That being said I think we really should be pissed at smiley and push the administration all we can to get him out. I know some of you who come on here have leverage and could push for this. I don’t like seeing anyone losing their job, but at the same time money is being lost as well as local support. We all want for the best and I don’t think the best was considered until he left for ASU. I really think Chryst is the right guy, but don’t think our head athletic guy will give me the backing he needs. Keep in mind smiley as you my or my not know was pressured in hiring Chryst from the administration.
As far as today’s presser, what do you think he’d say (we didn’t have them prepared play? They through new stuff st us?)? They were ready to play, especially the D,they didn’t execute well, and given the lack of seniors on this team this will happen from time to time.Wait until next year!
When I was at Pitt there were starting football players in our engineering classes showing up just like everyone.
It was 7-5 pre-season, I’m going to flip that to 5-7. And that might be a stretch. Temple could be a loss too now, as they just beat USF and played Ped State tough.
Whatever momentum we had following the big win over a now 3-3 Va Tech and then the glorified scrimmage (GW) that actually had some people excited (really) is now lost. If we don’t right the ship this week, this could get real ugly.
The Buffalo game is not a gimme (they just scored 31 against Ohio, losing in Athens 31-38) and we all know our past failures against UConn(and this game is in Stohrs). Those are two other W’s I had penciled in.
If those two games becomes L’s, that would make us 3-9. With the remaining one Win against USF.
Since that game is the last game of the year in Florida, this might be our bowl trip this year.
Tampa/St.Pete in December!
Oy Vey ( I was hoping for Miami in December/Jan, not Tampa/St. Pete, as some suggested The Orange Bowl as a destination.)
I do agree on the very next play, you would think he would see the guy coming in time .. but once again, it seems for the 50th time in the past yeaqr and a half, a rusher is totally unchecked.
I’m starting to think that Chryst sahould replace Tino for humanitarian purposes
Pitt and Sunseri are the worst, I’m keeping my eyes sheltered for the rest of the football season, that being said I’ll still watch, but certainly not attend a game.
I’ll go with my 2nd home team, Go Gamecocks.
But he did throw it, it just wasn’t around anybody.
The KILLER on the Intentional Grounding is the loss of the 15 yards AND THE LOSS OF DOWN.
Basically the worst thing that could have happened ……..happened ! (other than a pick)
Didn’t see anyone in the media mention this.
Ok you’re down 13-14 and you only need a FG to take the lead. You know you have a QB that has a very difficult time converting TD’s in the RedZone. Redzone requires the QB to make a play occasionally. As the offense is compressed into a smaller area, the defense tightens ever more so on your WR’s and you’re more likely to get blitzed as the opposing DC wants to take you OUT of FG RANGE, with a sack.
And it’s not like Syracuse wasn’t having success rushing the passer with 5 sacks and more pressures up to that point. So you as HC & OC have to be expecting the blitz, as should the QB (but we’ll give him a pass, as everyone in the media does).
So game reset, you’re at the Syracuse 17, 1rst & 10 with about 6 minutes left. You as a college HC do what ? (and this is AFTER a TV timeout)
You call 2 passing plays in a row resulting taking your team OUT of FG range. Game Over !
Wouldn’t the prudent thing to have done at the 17 yd. line with over 6 minutes left and all the aforementioned things above, call for a running play and then another running play and then another running play.
You either get the 1rst down, all the while the clock is running down, or if you don’t get the 1rst down you kick the chip shot FG.
More bad things can happen to you when you pass, and it did.
1) The QB can be intercepted
2) O-Line can be called for holding and since PITT was having pass protection problems the whole game, the likelihood of this happening was greater.
3) The QB can be sacked, taking you COMPLETELY OUT of FG range or make it a lot longer attempt, which for Harper, anything over 40 yds is 50/50 at best.
***Also by calling a pass play on 1rst down and let’s say you do get sacked, that then means you HAVE TO PASS ON 2ND & 3RD DOWN now, to try to just get closer for the FG. And if it’s now 2nd & 20, that longer pass is alot more riskier to try and pick up the 1rst down. So calling a pass play on 1rst & 10 from the 17 is not the smart thing to do. (especially from coaches with so much experience)
4) The QB can be called for Intentional Grounding
(somebody mentioned he could have been called twice previously in the game for IG, therefore the
refs would not overlook a 3rd time, especially when it so obvious)
So I know, if Wanny was still here, they would have all been screaming for Cignetti’s head and DW’s, with a boneheaded pass call on 1rst & 10 on the Syracuse 17, ONLY needing a FG to take the lead.
I like the aggressive play calling… In college you have to go for TD’s. Plus, have you seen how inconsistent our kicker has been.
This simply isn’t a good team and there are going to be breakdowns. My only concern is still the recruiting. Not so much on offense because it seems like Chryst can “system” recruit. Defense needs some athletes though.
athletes, i bet they all do. the difference is the threshold. i once dated a female recruiter for yale who bemoaned the lowering of standards for athletes.
Ok, well you can still pickup the 1rst down running the ball, and then it’s 1rst & Goal at the Syracuse 7 yard line or better.
So PC is saying in his presser that he was going to put the game into the hands of Tino. lol
Cause there was too much time on the clock.
If that is what he said, that is very funny.
And if he said that, I am starting to have some doubts.
Has he not watched any of the last 2 years plus worth of game film of Tino.
Also with the way the defense had been playing up to that point, there was no indication that Syracuse could have scored at all, after we took the lead, 16-14, as they hadn’t crossed Pitt’s 42 yard since the very first drive of the game.
If Chryst really said that, I’m shocked.
Harper would have been kicking a FG, in what would have amounted to a Extra Point. Where he’s shakey is over 35-40 yds. Which is where he would have been kicking from after the Intentional Grounding had Tino not been sacked on the next play.
You don’t get aggressive, down 1 point, you play to take the lead. And then you make the other team beat you, by them making plays and alot of them.
And you certainly don’t play aggressive with a QB who can’t make plays and is known to freeze under pressure. You take the points and the lead.
I never called for Wanny’s head, until the 5th and 6th year.
Yep, poor coaching down there, but, I can’t call for Chryst’s head. For me, every coach gets 2 to 3 years to see what they can do, especially with their own recruits.
So, not calling for his head, but, still able to say about those calls, WTF???
I say that, about those calls, because of our qb situation and shaky “O” line. Yes, if we had Big Ben or Tom Brady, you do whatever you want, whenever you want, I myself, was saying out loud, “don’t blow the field goal”.
don’t laugh……again, just from what happens every Saturday……………
I wouldn’t be suprised if Pitt beat Louisville.
No, I have no reason, just because that’s the way it is!!!!!!! LOL
Seriously, wouldn’t suprise me at all. Then, it wouldn’t suprise me if we lost to Buffalo the following week!! LOL
Dan – I’m right on board with you regarding Wanny. I defended him for years but he never adapted and I became increasingly frustrated. I bought in with Graham and I still believe it would have eventually been successful. I understand why we went back to a “pro-style” coach because of that (still not my first choice but I get it) … I’m just glad Chryst has a college mentality.
Quick. Give me the name of WVU’s president. Now name their AD.
Nordy is not immune to egomania, if not to the degree of Gee at OSU. Pederson is doing Nordy’s work…but he is doing it poorly. Both are accountable and both are failing.
i still cant find any reason to belive in them any more.
i want to but i cant see a silver lineing any more and the fact that chas or reed have not posted i think they fell the same.
I was having a discussion today with a co-worker, and I suggested that, Dunkin Donuts donuts are only so-so.
Their coffee is fantastic.
For a national chain though, they have very little variety to choose from.
I also stated, their “munchkins” are always to “wet”. I actually know the reason for this, they don’t let the balls cool before they ice them, and it melts right into the donut.
Now, this is where I need help. I said, there used to be a chain, same colors pretty much, called Mister Donut. He did donuts right, and his munchins were much better.
People at work said, “no, you’re thinking of Dunkin years ago, then they left, now they’re back.”
I know I’m right, they even had a jingle “hey, Mister that’s a donut, hey Mister, that’s a Mister Donut donut”!!!
I could google it and find out for sure, but, I’m pretty sure on my own, and figured some on here could back me up.
Now, isn’t that better talk than what we’ve been discussing.
Anyone have a favorite donut place, bakery, etc. etc.
I used to pick a guy up from work in Elliott, Sheraden area, was only a donut shop period.
Could smell them coming up out of the West End when I got close. We’d stop sometimes, donuts were literally still hot, not just warm, hot.
Forget it’s name. Wasn’t a bakery, donuts only.
Have to disagree. As a head coach, you have to have a feel for the way things are going in each game. In this one, the defense was playing a better game than the offense.
I’m not criticizing a new head coach for the mistake. I think Chryst will be a good one. What scares me though is the Todd Graham approach to making a mistake. Say you blewit (next year) and move on.
I should say, at least the one in the S.Hills does it this way. I’ll often stop to get some to take to work, three, four times in a row now, always soggy and wet.
It’s almost time to go in and talk to the king donut maker and let him know what’s going on in his own store!! LOL
BTW – you gotta love his Three Stooges/getting up early on a Saturday comment about the 11 AM start.
But as we continue to look back at Syracuse, interesting to hear Chryst address the decision to throw at the 17 late in the game.
On one hand, you have Chryrst saying that the reason not to play it safe and go for the field goal was that there was too much time for Syracuse to pass its way downfield for a score.
Had some problem with this at first glance. The reason is that you’ve got to believe the defense was in a position to hold Syracues from scoring. Defense was the best thing Pitt had going for it in the game.
On the other hand, what was Chryst really doing. He was asking the offense to make a play. He was also trusting Tino with the game on the line… just like at the end of the half against Cincy.
Two decent arguments here but Chryst cannot be faulted for simply trying to execute a pass play from the 17 if you believe in your play call.
You also don’t count on your quarterback failing to read an obvious blitz from the weakside corner on the next play and completing shattering your strategy to win the game.
By the way, in his interview yesterday Shanahan was clear in affirming that the pass play on the sack was a right call that had him wide open in the endzone for the TD had the team executed the play as drawn up.
Bottom line, tough call whether to play for the field goal.
One thing is for certain… Wannstedt would have.
But nice to see a Pitt being coached by someone with some savvy and guts. In the long run, that wins a lot more games than it loses.
Watch out for the day when Chryst has a quarterback that can be counted on to make plays to win tight games.
Maybe Savage, maybe Voytik or even Anderson.
For sure we know Chryst thinks Chapman.
On to Louisville.
There were Mister Donut shops all over the area at one time and they competed with Dunkin Donuts. In fact I think some of them changed to Donut Connection and I think one of those is still on Rte. 8.
For the best donuts, Orams in Beaver Falls cannot be beat. I will be there at 6am this Sat. to get a doz. of their Cin. rolls for out tailgate.
This is better than talking about Tino!
Was worried you and Chas might have taken Syracuse a little too hard.
It was only a stumble. Nothing more.
If Pitt can keep it’s coaches for four or five years, it will be a leader in the ACC. Being a Pitt and GA Tech alum I could go on for hours about Tech’s problems. Today Tech fired its defensive coordinator. I don’t see Pitt doing anything that drastic, yet. HTP!
One thing you can’t do, is go backwards and take yourself out of field goal range.
The coach, the call, the qb, someone missing a block, whatever, that series was a debacle and inexcusable.
You may not play for the field goal, but you make sure you don’t give it away at all cost!
Personally, I liked the initial play call. When that went to hell, it changed the next play calls obviously.
I like talking about donuts much better than losses.
