A few topics from the game on Saturday that were probably debated with some heat.
I’ll start with the officiating since that is one of the more cut-and-dry things. I had no idea how bad the officiating was while at the game. Notre Dame still does not have a jumbotron so there are no replays. From our seats we had no angle on the phantom pass interference call on K’Wuan Williams. And we certainly couldn’t see that Notre Dame put two guys out there with the same uniform number.
The first inkling that the pass interference came on the drive back to Cleveland. We stopped for a coffee fix, as the drive back following a loss is always so very, very long. Some older Notre Dame fans saw us on the way out and after saying it was a good game, actually apologized for the call. Of course since we didn’t realize how bad the call was when it happened, and we were so mentally fried, Pauly P. and I really had no idea what they were talking about at that moment. We just acknowledged it, got back in the car and kept going.
Pauly P.: “What pass interference call?”
Me: “I — I have no idea. Maybe we will see it in the highlights later.”
And oh, god did I. Now that I’ve seen it. Ugh. A case where the official decided that something had to have happened even if he couldn’t see it.
As for the fact that Notre Dame had two players on the field during the 33-yard field goal attempt that could have salvaged the game for Pitt? It’s a dumb rule for a dumb rule that allows more than one player to wear the same number if they are on opposite sides of the ball. And it still should have been caught. Especially since it isn’t even the first time Notre Dame has screwed that up this season.
When Pitt’s Kevin Harper missed a 33-yard field goal in the second overtime that would have ended the game had it gone in, the Irish had Bennett Jackson and Chris Brown, both of whom wear No. 2, on the field together.
By rule, Notre Dame should have been penalized and the Panthers should have gotten a first down.
“No exception to [the rule],” coach Brian Kelly said during his Sunday teleconference. “It was a coaching mistake. … We’ve got to do a better job — an oversight that can’t happen.”
Kelly said he noticed the gaffe right after the play.
Pitt ended up kicking a field on its next drive to start the third overtime before Everett Golson rushed for the game-winning touchdown.
Notre Dame had been penalized for a similar mistake once earlier this season, when Dan McCarthy and Justin Ferguson, both No. 15, were on the kick return unit together in Week 2 against Purdue.
Can’t wait for the snappy apology from the Big East officials.
The most Chryst will get from the Big East is an apology, and he made clear that he didn’t single out either play as a reason for the loss.
“There were 200-something plays in that game,” Chryst said. “We had our opportunities to win that game and we didn’t. The biggest thing I think we can focus on is the things we can control.”
Odds are, they only apologize for the same number on the jersey gaffe. And Chryst is right that he can’t blame it on the officials missing that call. It would have given Pitt another chance — and probably would have won. But the penalty itself is for a technical error. It wasn’t because Notre Dame truly gained any advantage with two guys wearing the same number.
Still. F***.
And for those that are convinced that this was simply Big East officiating incompetence, and all will be better in the ACC. Please. Please watch some ACC games to gain some perspective. Or simply Google “Ron Cherry” (or review this).
There are three parts to Coach Paul Chryst’s work Saturday. The preparation, game plan and game management.
More so than even the Virginia Tech game, the preparation and game plan against Notre Dame was his best yet. Pitt came out ready to play in both halfs. The first time we’ve seen that all year. The third quarter has been Pitt’s worst, and they controlled the quarter. The only regret from the 3d quarter was having 1st and goal from the 2, but having to settle for the field goal.
He kept Notre Dame off-guard with just enough passing, while Ray Graham made the game his stage.
Then came the 4th quarter…
There was the pass interference call that salvaged a drive when Pitt had them stopped on 4th and 4. At the same time, you could see the Pitt defense wearing down. And the Notre Dame team feeling the urgency on both sides of the ball.
And this quarter was where the inexperience of Chryst cost the team.
Let me make this point right away, so there is no confusion. I still have plenty of optimism for Paul Chryst as Pitt’s head coach. His player development this year is highly encouraging. His game planning has been solid. There are questions about recruiting, but it isn’t anything that can’t be adjusted as the coaching staff evolves. So this isn’t some panic declaration that, “Oh, my god we hired the wrong guy! Doomed! Doomed, I say!”
That said, there is a reason athletic directors have a general preference to hire guys with previous head coaching experience. To minimize the exposure to mistakes on the learning curve.
Three key things that Chryst didn’t recognize or ignored:
1. Offensive line wearing down.
2. Tino Sunseri’s propensity to hold the ball too long.
3. The clock needed to keep running.
In the first half, Sunseri was 10-12 and only sacked once. It was a clean half. Especially with Ray Graham running well. The third quarter saw more of that. Sunseri started off hitting 4-6 passes and another sack at the start of the second half.
Then he missed two straight throws from the 4 yard line and Pitt had to settle for the field goal to go up 20-6. On Pitt’s next two possessions, Ray Graham rushed the ball all of two times. Sunseri tried to throw six times — and was sacked twice. That’s some Andy Reid level foolishness there.
In addition, as the game is getting tight, you are putting a game manager QB out there to make plays. A QB with a bad history late in tight games, and holds the ball too long, behind a weakening O-line. While ignoring the amazing game being had by an outstanding running back. To say nothing of possibly changing things up style-wise on the ground with Rushel Shell.
Then came the mind-blowingly glaring stupidity after K’Wuan Williams got the endzone interception with under 4 minutes left.
Instead of grinding out the game on the ground, Pitt coach Paul Chryst opted to stay aggressive, passing on first down. The Panthers ended up going three-and-out on that drive, giving the ball back to Notre Dame with enough time for the Irish to put together a tying drive.
“You want to be smart, but aggressive,” Chryst said of the late playcalling. “The whole mindset the whole game was to go win this thing.”
That wasn’t “agressive.” That wasn’t “smart.” That was just dumb. For all the talk about playing to the strength of the team and the players, that wasn’t it. It was the arrogance of the coach thinking his playcalling was just that much smarter than the athletes and emotions on the other side of the ball.
Even with the O-line grinding down, you have to run the ball just to run the clock and at least force ND to use timeouts. The Irish are not exactly the quick strike offense. Plus, the defense needed some breather after that nearly 6 minute drive. Instead Chryst comes out throwing. Forcing a 2d and long, and dropping back — and Sunseri getting sacked.
Bad late game and bad clock management by Chryst. He thought like an offensive coordinator, not like the head coach. He didn’t manage his players. He did not think about their strengths and weaknesses in moments like that. He just called plays.
Even despite all of that, Pitt still nearly came away with the win. If only.
Well, Coach Chyrst now has to do more than get the Pitt team ready for Friday. He has to look at his own decisionmaking. There’s going to be be a hell of a lot more for him to learn.
“Dec. 29 Pinstripe: Pittsburgh (Big East No. 4) vs. TCU (Big 12 No. 7)”. This of course assumes Pitt wins its last 3 games and finishes 4th in the BE. What is interesting is the Hoopies are curr No. 7 in the Big 12. It would add holiday cheer to an otherwise dismal yr to wrap it all up with the Backyard Brawl North in NYC. stay tuned.
That is why HC’s with experience are at such a premium.
So, I completely disagree concerning the play calling after the INT. Yes, you’d like to be able to grind it out and depend on your defense if you give them the ball back, and if PC was still with Wisconsin, I guarantee you that’s how he plays it. However, we simply weren’t going to be able pull that off with this team.
There were 4 minutes left and Pitt’s run game was being stuffed on every play at that point. So, chances are its still 3 and out you still give ND the ball back with 2 or 3 minutes and time outs. It was clear that Pitt’s slow and porous defense wasn’t going to stop them from scoring in that time, as they easily did. The only way we put that one away is to move the ball down the field through the air and hope to get at least 3 more points, and PC realized that.
Yes, there were many missed opportunities in this game, however, there was no choice but to be aggressive and try to score at the end. I hope that after some more recruiting we are in a position to grind out the clock on the ground in every game, or be able to trust the defense to pull out the win, but it wasn’t going to happen at the end of this game, at least not the one that I was watching.
I don’t understand all the people here who want to go back to the uber-conservative Wannstedt days of letting games slip away because he insisted on blindly running the power play over and over again even when it clearly wasn’t working. Having watched Wisconin play the last few years, I have no doubt PC would rather win on the ground, but unlike Wanny, he’s smart enough to see the writing on the wall and adapt. You might disagree with it, but thinking that it was “dumb” playcalling is way off-base.
disagree. i don’t think PC has an arrogant bone in his body. like i said yesterday, i would’ve been fine handing the ball to ray graham 3 straight times b/c he’s pitt’s best player but if PC calls 3 running plays in a row and graham gets stuffed on all 3, people would be screaming that PC pulled a wanny, too conservative, played not to lose, etc. a valid criticism is PC’s apparently trusting tino to execute properly in that situation.
I live in DC and people who know that I’m a rabid Pitt fan have been mentioning to me since the game how much fun that game was for them to watch. I had a couple people mention that they were simply channel surfing to the Pitt-ND game during commercials of the game they actually wanted to watch and got pulled into watching the Pitt game instead just because we were playing the underdog role so well.
So this end of game failure sure beats the hell out of looking like a bad high school team and being out right embarrassed by the ineptitude of the team as we have seen all too much of in the past on national TV.
You crawl before you walk, and you walk before you run, and if you can run then why not run fast. We have to stick with Chryst for the future of the program. The coaching turmoil that Pitt has gone through would be the kiss of death for many another programs. That hasn’t happened this season with Pitt,,,,,yet.
8-5 with a bowl victory is there for the taking, or we could collapse after the ND game into a death spiral to end up 4-8 and be wondering WFT happened? That will be up to the guys who are doing the heavy lifting to determine where we go from here. I agree that Chryst is a work in progress but everyone should have figured that out going into this season. Hell, Chryst even admitted the same himself in fall training camp.
I liked what I saw on Saturday,,,,mostly. This team strikes me as one that wants to win and will do what it takes to get there. What we do in the next month and how Chryst closes out his recruiting class is going to have a huge influence on what kind of team we field when we move to the ACC. But Saturday’s loss didn’t hurt Pitt’s reputation or our recruiting efforts, not unless we allow it to, by giving away our final three games.
Objectively, from what I saw against ND, if I was a recruit who wanted to see early playing time on my chosen team, I’d be committing to Pitt. There’s potential that’s just waiting to be realized. I hope that Chyst can bring it to the surface and end the season with three wins. If that happens, IMO that would be a successful season. We’ll see.
Dr. Tom – I agree that the ND game will have a positive effect on recruiting. Pitt needs to keep it going by winning enough to be bowl eligible.
In regards to recruiting, I think it was someone in here who posted that Foster tweeted during the Pitt-ND game using the word ‘We’ for Pitt. Any other news on the Foster front? I checked Scouts yesterday and there were no recent updates.
Recruiting is the answer to this problem, they need a boatload of talent on the OL or this problem will not get resolved.
Secondly, although I loved what Joe Trebitz gave the team, there’s no question that Mason would have been better equiped to deal with the running by ND’s QB. Mason was hurt on a called run play by Temple that he smelled out and stopped single-handedly, and I believe he would have done the same thing, smelling out Ghoulson’s runs which were ND’s go-to play in the 4th qtr.
The officiating was disgraceful obviously. I said to my friend sitting in the stands when ND scored right after the 4th and 4yd interference call,that this could be the difference. Hate being right.
I agree with you Chas on PC’s lack of clock management however the example I use is not the same as yours. PC was dumb lucky that ND missed the FG at the end of the 1st half otherwise the game is over without overtimes all because he goes for it on 4th down with a lead instead of pinning ND in their end. Decision made no sense at all.
Its all about the mo, man.
that would be great..
PC lost 3 players for the season last game, linebackers are thin.. Oline has been thin. Lets give the man sometime !
If he can get this team to play like that consistency… hopefully all that other stuff falls into place… recruiting, play calling.. etc.
Lets WIN out. See ya’ll @ Yankee stadium.
Hurt the Huskies! and Hail to Pitt!
Given instant replay and reviews in the press box, the only way games can be “fixed” are through penalties called at strategic times. Look at the Nebraska/Michigan State game as an example. It appears that the TV gods wanted Nebraska to win. Then there was poor Stanford v ND. Lastly, Pitt… Is football fixed?
As days have passed, and rationality comes back, let us all remember, from three weeks ago,
WVU fans talking about who they were going to play in the National Championship game, and what Geno Smith should wear to pick up his Heisman.
Oh, they were having fun, as I would too as a fan, however, when reality sets in, and you lose three in a row, what many of us said before, WVU, you’re isolated on an island, 1300 miles from Iowa State, and a couple thousand from Texas.
Don’t hear a lot of rah, rah, Big 12 talk anymore!!!
The ND game being the kick in the groirn!!!
And, sincerely, all kidding aside, any thoughts on what WVU will do, if say, they play at Texas Tech on Tuesday, and Texas on Saturday.
Seriously, not even making fun, just thinking about it.
Will they stay in Texas all week??? I mean, they’re not gonna fly to Lubbock on Monday night, back to Pgh Int. on Tuesday night, back to Austin of Friday night, back to Pit Int. on Sat night.
That’s gotta be a nightmare.
With a game a week in football, and home games sprinkled in, I can see it being done. At lot of traveling, but, doable.
Hoops, couple away games a week?? I know all teams travel, but taking a puddle jumper for 50 minutes one day and an 1hr later in the week, has got to be different than flying to Waco and Lubbock in the same week.
Frequent flyers, no big deal??? Or a tiring mess???
What does Pitt have to lose in playing a new QB? Chryst look at the following. 1. Tino never won a game coming from behind. 2. He has no respect from teammates and throws them under the bus. 3. He can’t complete a throw over 20 yards. 4. He’s a 5th year senior and still bad. 5. You NEED to get a underclass man some reps to see what they are capable of on the field. 6. It would give a instant spark to the team. 7. If anyone things playing in a shitty bowl is more important than getting a underclass man live game reps they are mistaken. Lastly, I think some of these kids may give Pitt a better chance than our 37 year old QB.
Comment by Upittbaseball 11.06.12 @ 1:04 pm
Good points Upitt. There is no logical reason with 5 losses now and 1-3 in the BigEast NOT to play someone else, ANYONE ELSE. The only reason is what I’ve been talking about for 3 seasons now.
A return trip to bumf*ck, alabama or where-ever for a 4rth rate bowl game, yes the BBVA Gyrocompass thing is a 4rth rate bowl as is the Pinstripe thing, that probably won’t even exist after Syracuse moves with us to the ACC. And who in the hell wants to watch us get beat by some C-USA team again with Sir Tino at the helm. I barely watched that garbage last year.
PC is pinning our hopes in 2013 ENTIRELY on a young man who will have not stepped onto the playing field in a real game for 3 years. Now, while I hope Savage plays lights out, it’s totally foolhardy by the HC, NOT to have one of his underclassmen ready WITH SOME GAME EXPERIENCE AND MAYBE A FEW WINS UNDER HIS BELT for next year!
For our big move and inaugural season in our new conference, the ACC.
You all (or some of you) say, well let’s wait to next year and so forth as PC is in his 1rst year. OK, well let’s PLAN for NEXT YEAR as WELL !!
GRP !
Comment by Emel 11.06.12 @ 9:11 p
Spot on Chas, I have lived down here in the heart of ACC country for 20 years and ACC people moan, complain and b8tch about the officiating on a regular basis. This could just be a sign of the times, as the games are more high stakes now, with $10 million dollar trips to BCS games and such on the line.
And with us being a “new kid on the block” so to speak in the ACC, we could see some home cooking for the locals. As long as they reciprocate at Heinz Field for us, as they did for BC and VT when they first came in, I have no problem with it I guess. Time will tell.
Another excellent point Chas, as this has happened now in several games. You don’t want to be aggressive and dumb. You want to pick your spots where to be aggressive. The act of being aggressive as I show below, is not in itself a trait that makes any action successful (and in fact the results can be disastrous). As I’ve pointed out before, PC has a tendency to coach as an OC and not an HC. Any OC worth his beans, ALWAYS believes his next play is going to work and always wants to go on 4rth and short yardage.
However an HC needs to temper the enthusiasm and aggressiveness of his OC with the game situation (field position & clock mgmt) and knowing his personal of how a HC thinks. PC clearly is still making HC decisions in OC think.
And while it certainly is aggressive, it is most certainly dumb as well. Sort of like the aggressiveness of the Light Brigade at Balaclava or Napoleon’s Old Guard at Waterloo. Aggressive, certainly, dumb and totally futile. Most assuredly.
VEV !
No, Pitt is playing IN Oakland that night – they play every home game there.
I’m just not sure who is the opponent…
ME 2001
Not all, or even most, prized recruits are leaders. They are talented, but still most are followers.
My point of view is this about the remaining recruits; if you want to come to Pitt because you think you are the dude who will push Pitt over the top, then SIGN Now!! We need leaders like you,
If you prefer some other school because they are already in play and don’t need your leadership skills or you don’t have those types of skills, then you should sign elsewhere and let someone else be the man.
Talent is great to have. Talent without heart is what Limas Sweed WAS to the wide out position. Great on paper, but soon out of football and out of the newspapers.
Mason up and kick ass!
You are officially the first person in either Pennsylvania or back in Wisconsin to imply anything remotely connected with “arrogance” to Paul Chryst.
Arrogance is just the wrong word here to describe what happened after the interception and with three minutes on the clock.
As I’ve said before, all Chryst and Rudolph were doing was asking Tino and the rest of the Offense to EXECUTE the same type of sequence of plays at the end of the game as they had done successfully more than once earlier in the game.
Howeve, if you want to critize Chryst, in my opinion the mistake he made was no different than the end of the half at Cincy and the end of the game at Syracuse. It is his apparent continued reluctance to recognize Tino’s tendency to lose focus and make mistakes at critical moments when games are on the line.
Maybe that’s what you’re implying by pointing out Chryst’s stated commitment to play to the strengths of his players. If so, then obviously I agree.
But I don’t think many would see it as arrogance.
Let me suggest a different description you might consider for Chryst. That is “Gambler.” Now that would be more on the mark.
Unfortunately, with Tino, Chryst doesn’t have a quarterback with enough ice in his veins to pull it off.
But someday he will. Then WATCHOUT!
I just saw the word Oakland, and thought we were playing that team from Michigan, that we’ve played a few times, and have seen them in March Madness a few times.
LOL
I see, we are opening up with Mount St. Mary’s. Going to the game, had no idea who we were playing. LOL
1. Lead by example from the front of the formation. Take your performance personally—if you are proud to be average, so too will be your troops.
2. A leader must provide vision—clear and achievable “big ideas” combined in a strategic concept—and communicate those ideas throughout the entire organization and to all other stakeholders.
3. A leader needs to give energy; don’t be an oxygen thief.
4. There is an exception to every rule, standard operating procedure, and policy; it is up to leaders to determine when exceptions should be made and to explain why they made them.
5. We all will make mistakes. The key is to recognize them and admit them, to learn from them, and to take off the rear view mirrors—drive on and avoid making them again.
6. Be humble. The people you’ll be leading already have on-the-ground conflict experience. “Listen and learn.”
7. Be a team player. “Your team’s triumphs and failures will, obviously, be yours.” Take ownership of both.
8. Don’t rely on rank. If you rely on rank, rather than on the persuasiveness of your logic, the problem could be you and either your thinking or your communication skills. Likewise, sometimes the best ideas come from bottom-up information sharing (i.e., “Need to share” not “Need to know”). Use “directed telescopes” to improve situational awareness.
9. Leaders should be thoughtful but decisive. Listen to subordinates’ input, evaluate courses of action and second- and third-order effects, but be OK with an “80 percent solution.” “There will be many moments when all eyes turn to you for a decision. Be prepared for them. Don’t shrink from them. Embrace them.” Sometimes the best move is the bold move.
10. Stay fit to fight. Your body is your ultimate weapons system. Physical fitness for your body is essential for mental fitness.
11. The only thing better than a little competition is a lot of competition. Set challenges for your subordinates to encourage them to excel.
12. Everyone on the team is mission critical. Instill in your team members a sense of great self-worth—that each, at any given time, can be the most important on the battlefield.
Absolutely agree on bringing in Shell as a change of pace and maybe provide a spark in 4th qtr. think it would have fired up the Oline too having Shell breaking tackles and moving the pile.
i know this is a pipe dream but I would love to see our other QB’s playing at this point, particularly Voytik. I don’t care about burning a redshirt when we have a bunch of quality QB’s coming in. Many teams are turning to true freshman QB’s right now. All we need is for the kid to manage a game and not fumble 3 snaps in a half.
If the archives go back far enough, you will see that I made the same argument when he was selected over Bostick. Why? Bostick didn’t look good, no strong arm, poor mechanics etc. All he did was beat WVU and ND at their house. He had intangibles, he did not choke. He was screwed when Fraud was selected and was smart enough to quit. If you listen to his broadcast, you recognize his knowledge of the game and incredible maturity. He would have won more games than Tino. He might have saved Wanny’s job.
Only Chryst knows if Tino is still his “man”, I suspect he is. Let’s just hope we don’t have to come from behind.
A let down would not surprise me this week after the emotion of Saturday. If they can win out it will be respectable. Will it salvage Tino’s legacy? Probably not but it is all we can hope for.
I forgive him for his unfortunate comment, he knows better, he is a coaches son, I am sure he was frustrated. He has worked hard, his football life has been tough, he has not quit. It’s time we give him a break.
Just a generalization
Way, way after the penalty. A couple bullets to get a first down, a scamper to seal the deal, it was all there on the table for him.
Escape the rush and roll out and loft a floater.
Something, anything.
It was there. He didn’t pounce on it.
As for bashing him, I’ve actually said he played half-decently this year. Yes, I bashed his first two years. Up until the 4th quarter of the ND game, thought he had played well. The 4th quarter of ND, had the yips again and that far away look.
Regardless, whether you call it bashing, discussing it, or talking about it, if he quarterbacks the last 3 games and hopefully a bowl game, there will be discussion of him.
I mean the qb is the first guy that usually comes up in a football discussion.
Chas and I were with a Michigan fan and a ND fan– and afterwards I said to them that the eye test didn’t reveal much difference in talent. They agreed. Excpet for QB. And, we all know that Tiny is pretty much is what he is…a game manager.
We still had time though, 2 or 3 more possesions. One friggin’ first down!!!
Ughhhh, is right, no matter how you look at it!!
It’s like a girlfriend that just broke up with you.
You move on and think about positive things, what lies ahead in the future, all the positives, but, once in awhile you think back to her, and that cringe of emotion comes over you!!! LOL
I love how Chryst plays to win. I hope he never loses that mentality.
I would suggest to some of you, to listen to the Paul Chryst show on the fan, Tuesday evenings.
He talks more like he’s bs’ing with you.
A couple things I liked he said tonight.
“hey, I’m like a fan, I want to win, yes, I like to have some calls back. Who wouldn’t, something doesn’t work, you wish you would have done something else”.
“well, they were firing gaps, had we run, we would have got nothing. yes, we would have kept the clock moving, but, that particular drive, they had some time outs. ”
“just because it’s a pass, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pick up 4 or 5 yards, hit the check down receiver or what not”.
The best one of all, which I thought was refreshing, instead of the one game at a time stuff…….
“yes, I have talked to them about a bowl game, several times. It’s our goal, to win the next three, and go on a trip together, and enjoy a bowl game. the seniors deserve it, I talk about it, and I let them know, it’s our goal”.
I particulary liked that.
He also said he has some learning to do.
When you listen to him talk in that arena, you realize, especially myself the past couple of weeks, the guy, ABSOLUTELY knows football, without question.
I’m on his wagon, lets win some, and get to a bowl game.
“absolutely I put it out there, that’s what we’re shooting for”.
REFRESHING AND HONEST.
Did I just read what I thought I read. Asking Tino to EXECUTE the same type of sequence of plays at the end of the game as they done previously (end a nutshell. I think somebody hasn’t been watching PITT football much the last 3 years. SIR TINO DOES NOT EXECUTE AT ALL IN THE 4RTH QUARTER, AND ASKING HIM TO IS FOOLHARDY BEYOND BELIEF.
AGAIN WHEN THE GAME IS ON THE LINE, PITT SHOULD NOT WANT THE GAME IN SIR TINO’S HANDS. ABT
WE HAD A MUCH BETTER CHANCE GIVING THE BALL 3 TIMES IN A ROW TO RAY RAY. CAUSE THEY WAS OUR only CHANCE !
CAUSE THAT WAS OUR ONLY CHANCE !
Comment by PittofDreams 11.07.12 @ 10:21 am
Good recognition. He has no “ice” in his veins.
Or 90% of the time when he gets in the Redzone.
If you and I and a lot of people on this board can recognize this and tens of thousands of people in Pittsburgh can recognize it…..
WHY OH WHY CAN’T THESE SUPPOSED PROFESSIONALS, (IE. PAID WITH $ COACHES) !
You would have to get this deja vu feeling,
Here we Go again.
And after 3 seasons, this has got be a downright dreadful feeling for anybody who has had to play on this team led by such a lackluster, willing to blame anyone but himself, qb.
In one regard, he should thank his lucky stars we’ve had 3 HC’s in 3 years. Because the last 2 would have certainly had him riding the pine the next year.
At least we’re going to the right conference ! lol
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/parity-hurting-accs-hunt-bowl-184042093–ncaaf.html
Too late, but, if you read into his comment….
“you know, just because you pass, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get 4 or 5 yards, YOU KNOW, THE CHECKDOWN or WHATNOT”
That comment says a lot. Too late to burn Voytik’s redshirt. Right when I thought, throw Voytik in there, they won a couple games.
For 3 games, no way. You wanna try Anderson, I don’t know, he looks like a midget. Sorry, little person.
He may have come into the season saying, “we’re not burning a kid’s redshirt, that just came off of a high school field.”
So, Voytik may have been a moot point all year.
I’m not making excuses, he’s made some mistakes, he admits it.
I think the above comment is telling on his thoughts about Tino, without saying so, or even knowing what he was saying!!!!
Yes, we could have run, but, I’ll be the first to admit. If we would have run three times, and gained nothing and ND used their timeouts, I would have been cussing up and down my living room to as
“why would you do that, the whole ND team knew you were gonna do that. Why in God’s name didn’t you do a play action and catch them off guard”
If we would have hit one for a first down, he would have been declared a genius!!!
Hopw you are well EMEL!!!
Point is… it’s not arrogance.
Chryst is asking Tino and the rest to rise to the opportunty.
Chryst really believes what he says when he talks about players “growing” and “learning from their mistakes” and “getting better.”
Need to refocus the energy toward the Huskies.
A lot of satisfaction to be salvaged from this season with wins the next three weeks and possible renewal of the Backyard Brawl at the Pinstripe.
Personally, I would love a trip to Manhattan for the Holidays and can think of no better reason to take it!
Uconn’s defense is ranked #1 in the BigLeast.
Uconn’s defense is ranked #9 nationally.
Bad news for Sir Tino.
Good news for PITT, Uconn has not scored a point in the 4rth Quarter in 4 of the last 5 games.
Then there’s this:
• Connecticut’s offense has been self-destructive nearly every game, but has been particularly ineffective in the fourth quarter. It has just 33 points over its last four losses (all in Big East play), with just three coming in the second half.
So the part of being self-destructive is good news as that played a huge part in the Va TEch win. And this team has trouble scoring.
So if Pitt scores 20 points it should win.
Are you listening Sir Tino, maybe Harper will kick 7 FG’s for you to win. And this should be a good game to accumulate yardage for your stats between the 30′s. Maybe…as long as the wind isn’t blowing to hard for your arm. And if the O-line isn’t too pissed off and wants to block for you.
If we have zero or 3 points at the half, Sir Tino should be yanked. Cause we know, the team knows and PC should know it won’t happen in the 2nd half, coming from behind.
Storrs has not been a very good place for us to play either. And this series is tied at 4 wins & 4 losses. Don’t see us playing them again, so let’s end this putrid series with a win, instead of the losses we did with ending series with Cincy & L-Ville and the wretched last BigLeast series loss to Syracuse.
I wouldn’t feel so terribly disappointed with the ND loss had we been 6-2 going into the game and now at 6-3. And we should have been 6-2 for sure.
That would have set us up for a 8 or 9 win season.
Which is what most of you thought pre-season.
Veritas et Virtus !
Agree that Tino “The Infallible” needs to put on a solid performance.
Problem is… the game is set up with the expectation that Tino should play well… and you know what that means?
Absolutely deplorable.
The author jumps to conclusions to manufacture a depiction of the alleged incident to fit neatly with a storyline.
Really makes the players and the University look bad.
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http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/football-stars-accused-in-racial-knockout-game/
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It would go a long way, seeing another complete game come out of this team like the one that they played against Temple.
I really feel everybody would give Chryst a pass on his first year and his slow start with this squad if he can get them to win out in the regular season and get to a minor bowl. Considering the mood of Panther nation after the Cincy game that would have to be considered a successful initial season, don’t you think?
Put a “W” in the win column in a bowl game especially if it is against a team like WVU as the rumor mill has picked up on, would just be icing on the cake. But we’re way ahead of ourselves. Let’s just not sh!t the bed tomorrow night on national TV and lose the game and the goodwill Pitt’s effort against ND earned us.
In the first instance, the statement is factually true–although there were other reasons and missed opportunities that could be–less directly–said to have caused or contributed to the loss.
But, more importantly Tino did not say Pitt lost because “Kevin Harper missed a field goal.” By not saying that he surely meant that the “team” missed the field goal, not just Harper. In fact, one could see that in fact there were at least 3 errors that caused the missed field goal (not running the ball to place it in the center of the field on the preceding play; a high snap; Harpers miss). You can also add, I suppose, that the refs missing the 2–number twos on the field also contributed to the miss.
Bottom line, the criticism of Tino is purely the result of media trying to cause a stir!
Are there wackos in Waco ?
Just wondering ?
And my oh my what was PittofDreams doing on that website.
Do any of our current Pitt student bloggers know anything about this game of Knockout ?
However, he pretty much nails it with his column on Tino.
Sounds like Cook may have been reading this blog.
Sunseri didn’t lose the ND ballgame by himself no matter how many fingers point at him. When you go into the 4th quarter with a 14 point lead you should expect to win. The ND defense had their way with us in the second half.
That wasn’t a PI call on the Holtz drop, yes – I said drop – in the endzone. In college you can cover that way. The ball hit Holtz right in the hands and the DB did NOT knock it out. It was dropped.
Our special teams let us down. It wasn’t just Harper missing that FG attempt – it was, as stated above, things that happened leading up to it. Graham could have centered that ball also.
As far as Paul Chryst goes the only thing I really question is how he hasn’t realized by now how Tino Sunseri folds in the 4th quarter of games and play called accordingly.
I too am looking forward to 2013 under Chryst. I expected a 6-6 season anyway based on all factors so I’m not too upset about a 4-5 record at this point. I think we’ll win against UCONN tonight and then go into the last two games on a bit of a roll.
Here’s hoping that this team is who I think they are and that they come out really, really angry about how they let the ND game slip through their fingers. They performed well last week. Now they have to follow it up with a convincing pounding of UCONN to demonstrate that that performance wasn’t just a flash in the pan. These last three games will tell the story of where Pitt is and where they are heading under the coaching guidance of PC.
Also read that Chapman is intending to enroll in Jan. and will be available for Spring ball. That should really make for a heated competition for the QB starting spot come fall camp. What a pleasant problem for Pitt fans to ponder, what QB to start?, with a solid group of four contenders in the mix, and not one of them named Sunseri.
What the writers don’t understand is that they will never be accepted on the national scene for their coverage and writing, if Pitt doesn’t succeed on the field or on the court. The media is their own worst enemy and they are not smart enough to figure that out.
Pitt should take care of business tonight but it will be a tough game.As far as the article is concerned, it shouldn’t have taken five years for cook to figure out what tino’s teammates have thought of him since he got here. Tino is only worried about tino. There is an “I” in tino, albeit a small case “i”.
I will personally be disappointed if he is not sat down for the first series or first quarter tonight in favor of Trey. Paul Chryst must put the team first and risks losing some of the program changers if he doesn’t do something that they can see as punishment. I am not worried about whether they win or lose. It is all about setting precedence for the future of your program. If you ain’t a team guy, there is the bench or perhaps, there goes your scholly!
At this point, Tino is and has been a known entity. To sit him now for a stupid remark that in the larger scheme of things only reflected poorly on Tino himself would be dumb coaching IMO.
The real business at hand is to win these last three games with the girl you brought to the dance, no matter how ugly she has turned out to be as the evening has progressed. Tino is Tino, in a couple months from now we all will have turned the page on this segment of Panther football history and will be looking forward to hopefully better days in the ACC.
Priority one? Focus, Focus, Focus, control the controlables and just win tonight.
BTW, I was surprised to learn of how well UCONN’s defense has performed this season. But then you scratch your head trying to figure out how Syracuse hangs 40 points on them.
I’m not sure why, but I’m feeling a Pitt blowout coming tonight, especially if we get a quick start out of the gates. I think that Chryst finds the soft under belly of their defense that let Syracuse roll and exploits it to our advantage, then the Pitt defense feeds off of that success to snuff out UCONN’s offensive effort. Then the momentum keeps on rolling Pitt’s way.
The thing that could even out things however is the special teams. However, this could go Pitt’s way too with a Pitt run back for a TD. Both L. Pitts and Saddler have looked like they have been one block away from breaking open for a score on multiple returns this season.
We’ll see, come on Pitt make Panther Nation proud of your showing on national TV tonight. It would be a pleasant change of pace to what we’ve become accustomed to.
HAIL TO PITT!
Who in their right mind does find him to be credible.
Only EJ and now Bostick have cred.
So when a strong or persuasive AD is needed, ours limps to the corner.
At the pre-game against Temple, Pederson was milling around near the open end on the Pitt sidelines. No one wanted to be near him: as if he carried a disease or something.
Contrast that to other ADs. They are magnets.
Ours hides. He should.
