Finally.. some good news…

Welcome DJ! Pitt is It! H2P!

And remember…Penn State SUCKS!!!

A good get for Pitt might even see playing time first year

Let’s get Boyd and Foster! Let’s reload next year with a youth movement

This is the SECOND-most exciting news about Pitt football in 2012. In fact, a distant second.

The MOST exciting? Finally seeing ABT under center at QB, which I’ve been awaiting for 3 loooong years.

With ABT at QB, maybe I can finally find all the shoes I’ve thrown at the TV watching coach killer “Wanny’s Revenge” playing QB, ruin the brand. I’m kinda tired of the dirt & frostbite from walking around with only one shoe for the past 3 years….

Oops, I meant news about 2013, not 2012… Altho my annual donations would jump if I could see ABT under center this year.

But that scatter-armed dolt has strong juju, cast a spell over all who dare serve as Pitt’s head football coach, unbreakable by anything except for graduation.

Welcome to Pitt. Enjoy your time. Work hard,study hard, play hard.

Give a lot of credit to the Zoo and a great come from behind win.

Excellent news!!! Welcome to Pitt Mr. Johnson! Hopefully he will anchor our line for 3 or 4 years as a starter.

Word

Great development!
Fingers crossed on the other two guys who visited this weekend.

Urban Meyer never gives up but maybe I am paranoid.

Great commit by Chryst.

Welcome to the Pitt family, Dorian! (But I 2nd Frank MD’s concerns)

Imma Man! – “scatter-armed dolt” – priceless. Best laugh on here in a while.

Hate to turn this into yet another thread of QB bashing, but Imma Man’s comment reminded me of an article I read yesterday: Bruce Feldman wrote about how exciting — and successful — a handful of freshman QBs are this year. (Stanford, UCLA and of course Texas A&M’s QBs.) Yet, here we have been, stuck with the mediocrity of a third-year starting, redshirt senior. Just really intensified my excitement for ABT’s time next year!

Has anyone heard of the start/tip-off of Wednesday’s Michigan game ? Been looking forward to this matchup for weeks ! What a start to the holiday season !

@ROCKY20: The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 PM. I’ll be there rooting hard for our Pitt Panthers. Should be a comfortable setting for the Panthers (MSG is always good to us) but there’s a ton of Michigan alum here in the NYC area… so we’ll see how the turnout favors one team or another..

This news is HHHHUUUUGGGGEEEE!!!!!!!

Come on in Foster and Boyd, the water is fine!

I could see Johnson with significant playing time in a back up roll next season if the injury bug makes an appearance due to our lack of depth at tackle. It would be ideal however to see him redshirted so that he could concentrate on his development without having to learn as he goes on the field.

Just great news. This should help quiet some of us, me included, that have been clammering for Chryst to step it up on the recruiting trail.

The Michigan game is scheduled for a 9:30 tip, per the University website. Heard the same on the Fan Saturday night.

@Dinosaur You’re right. I’m shocked they just went and changed the tip time without even giving ticket holders any notice. Thank you for pointing that out!!

The Pitt/Michigan game is the 2nd end of a double header that starts at 7 so the aproximate tip time is 9:30 hence the conflicting start times. I think they wanted to see what teams advanced to MSG before deciding which teams played first.

Can we talk about LaRod Stephens-Howling??? I didn’t think he would make anything but the practice squad because of how small he is…damn I was wrong!

My feeling is that MD will vote to go to B10 (B14).
So Pitt needs new BB rival and that could be CT as they probably get ACC bid.

This money thing is a mess and schools need to wake up just like WVU who in my mind could have been undefeated in old BE.

Great news on the recruiting front! Looks like this past weeks visit went well. Welcome to Pitt Dorian!

@ WC Steve…no offense to LSH, but he is starting there because AZ’s #1 and #2 are hurt. I hope that he continues to take advantage showing his talents and can continue to be a solid contributor there or somewhere else in the
future!

H2P

MD to b10 confirmed..Stupid move on there part.

Saw the recruits at the game during half time. All looked glad to be there except Foster. He looked like he was above all this attention. Might not mean anything but didn’t look good.

Maryland would of been crazy to stay in ACC…the money difference between ACC and Big Ten is just too big to pass up.

Like Beano always said the more money you make the more money you spend.

Several big MD alumni have stated that they will not contribute money to MD because of this move.

There is one thing to move from a failing conference like Pitt did with the Big East, but it is another thing to move from a stable conference where you have rivals to a new conference for some more money. Last I checked we are talking about college sports. This whole obsession with money is absurd. It is even more absurd that there is the money grab going around and the players don’t get paid even when the university is selling the players jersey.

I know this is a longshot, but this is ND’s opportunity to do what it wouldn’t with the Big East. ND should join for all sports in the ACC and save the conference. We need them.

If not, Pitt should be on the phone with B1G officials once they watch FSU and Clemson bolt. You know its gonna happen. The ACC and Big East will become dead conferences.

Andy Katz says that Maryland’s feelings were hurt because they feel they were overlooked in the ACC because of North Carolina and Duke I think that’s actually funny. They will be EVEN lower on the totem pole in the Big Ten. Now they be in a conference dominated by Ohio State and Michigan.

AMEN Frank MD and Wardapalooza! we also were looking forward to playing MD in the ACC and are disappointed in this turn of events. for the love of money….

How does Maryland to the B1G affect Pitt’s crossover ‘rival’ status?

I don’t think the ACC is in danger. Maryland is able to pay the $50 million fee because it has a crazy Alumnus who will supposedly pay it.

I was reading in a few places that the $50 million isn’t a huge stumbling block because these exit fees get negotiated down. I really doubt that happens in the case of the ACC because you can’t let FSU or Clemson think they can leave for on the cheap.

The exit fees from the B1G can’t be as much as the ACC right? So I think the play is use the $50 million to get PSU into the ACC. I think once you get PSU in you can get ND to join completely for football because an ACC TV deal with ND and PSU would be huge.

It really sucks that conference alignment is so widespread. It really is a long game of musical chairs.

from espn’s foster page: 6’3”, 190 lbs. | 40: 4.82

is that 40 time right??? geez, that’s awful.

I wouldn’t pop the bottle yet. He is going to the Ohio State vs. Michigan Game in a week at OSU. A verbal is only a verbal. Urban Meyer is going to work on this kid bigtime. Hope he stays with Pitt but man oh man.

mikepitt

pitt and maryland were to be crossover rivals in bb.

keep calm

hail to pitt

he cancelled the trip to osu, hes a solid verbal

Read where the B1G is so desperate after losing Notre Dame, they are going to front some of the $50 Million exit fee for the Twerps.

They are going to be more of an afterthought in the Little 11 than are now in the ACC.

And less alumni will even care, as they all grew up on MD vs UNC, MD vs Clemson. MD vs NC STATE, MD vs UNC, MD vs GT. etc. I remember all the classic games with Lefty Dreisell then Gary Williams as Coach with Tom McMillan, John Lucas, Len Elmore, Buck Williams, Len Bias and lots more against all the great teams of the ACC.

Somehow MD vs Illinois, MD vs Minnesota, MD vs Indiana, MD vs Iowa, MD vs Northwestern, etc. ain’t going to cut it.

MD staying in the ACC and cutting the acrobatic & tumbling team forever, as well as these other nobody goes to, nobody cares about supposed sports would make more sense. But sense seems to be thrown out the window these days.

This is all sort of where Title IX has gotten a lot of institutions. Financially strapped and having to abide by Gov’t regulations.

So all tradition & decades of history and rivalry is trashed. So that we have equal numbers of non-revenue producing sports. Some how I don’t think we need badminton and tumbling teams.

P.S. don’t be such a wet blanket Upittbaseball, it’s the only good news we’ve had for weeks on the football side. lol

So this guy (DJ) has already backed out of his commitment to PSU, but he’s going to stay w/Pitt even after visiting OSU on OSU-Mich wkend? I’m not counting on this unhatched chick.

Jim Delany was pissed off that Notre Dame spurned the Big Ten’s advances, and Maryland was hurt because the ACC was all about Duke and North Carolina. Good, they DESERVE each other.

If Foster runs a 4.82 then Devin Street runs a 5 flat

WC Steve, Ara Parsegian thought Tony Dorsett was too small to play big time college football. I was at the game at Pitt Stadium when he ran for over 300 yards against Notre Dame. There were a lot of skeptics about his being durable enough for pro football. If I’m not mistaken, he did ok. I love seeing Stevens-Howlings doing so well.

Ask Colorado about the PAC 12 move…it must be a ton of fun getting your ass kicked royally every week and cashing a check to do it.
Listen….the Big Ten is a family business and if you aint part of the family, you aint part of teh business. Ask PSU twenty years later and MD ain’t got PSU’s clout or money (obviously).
MD will get eatin alive…but they suck in football anyway…Randy Edsell and the people who hired him in with the Blue Bloods of Ohio State and Michigan…
Bend over girls!
Maryland, isn’t that a suburb of DC?
Rutgers? Ok, seriously, they are being whored by the BiG Ten. Will they succeed? I put them below Iowa and above Indiana on the food chain…ass kick city.
When you do things for money alone you tend to regret it. Money as a priority? Hell yes, but not the only reason.
ACC goodbye note was gracious and to the point….we can use the money to buy PSU.

Big Ten football is so overrated. Take away Ohio State and what is left. Some solid but not any elite programs. Wisconsin is as close as it comes to have another really good program in the Big Ten but that is mostly due to recent success. I always find it amusing when people just assume that any new school will just get thrashed in the Big Ten.

Let us see how the 50 million is spent by the ACC. Maybe start ACC cable channel. Delany pissed by ND to ACC. These big ego personalities ruining things.

@Floyd, you are correct certainly.

I think the couple posters probably weren’t even taking the Big 10 teams into account. Maryland football is so bad and pathetic right now, (see Pitt Johnny Majors II), that they will be bottom feeder wherever they go for quite awhile, and certainly, initially.

I’d put Nebraska in with some recent success, too, and an elite team. Doesn’t Michigan have the most wins all time? Look, it’s not the SEC or even the Big XII of late, but they have solid programs and huge crowds. It’s a pretty big deal to get in on that business.

Dorian Johnson was down to Pitt or PSU before. And picked PSU and was a very strong PSU verbal. The only reason he decommitted from PSU was the bowl sanctions. He then took his time and picked Pitt. So it’s not like he is chronic waffler change commitments often. I’d be very surprised if he decommitted.

Hah. Maryland lost to UConn in football this year. Oh wait, Pitt lost to UConn.

My early money is on UConn and … surprise, Navy to replace the two departeds. Navy covers the beltway vacated by the Tweripans, so why not. Of course I don’t have a shred of evidence to support this…

Maryland will get anniliated in the Big 13. Edsel already has one foot out the door as alums hate him as a coach.

Maryland will find a hard lesson in economics like PSU did…all your teams, Girls BB, Lacross, track, field hockey etc…have to travel to the “ends of the earth” to play Minnesota, Iowa (good luck with that travel in Winter) etc.

It’s time for Notre Dame to go all in with ACC and then have Penn State and WVU follow.Then we can have the Eastern Eight…a Joe PA dream.

Finally, we landed a REALLY GIFTED OT so now we have a formidle line potentially for next year. I;m inclding of course the redshirt frosh to be.Congrats to Pitt and Dorian. But, Panther boosters must be careful of Urban Meyer. He is relentless and his ambition clouds his ethics. Be wary! Rev. George from Columbus

@Dan 72
The ACC is hardly in a position to make ND go all in. The ACC is fortunate that ND is in at all at this point. Love or hate ND it doesn’t matter, they are the biggest name in college football. The Big Ten would welcome an ND partial membership with open arms. All of this public bravado by the Big Ten about not accepting partial membership was a bunch of crap. Please, you are going to invite the likes of a bankrupt Maryland and lowly Rutgers but won’t accept the partial membership of the biggest prize in college football. One that you have been courting for years. ND is going to be all in at some point and the ACC knows this. This is biggest card that the ACC has in its hand right now.

The OTHER GIFTED OFFENSIVE TACKLE IS,of course, Adam Bisnowaty of Fox Chapel. He is red shirting this season and from what I’ve learned is doing quite well. Add Tom Ricketts yo yje mix and it seems the sun is beginning to shine on the Burg gridders. Rev. George

Just heard Tyler Palko mentioned as a possible stand-in for Big Ben with the Steelers. No, seriously, it was on KDKA-TV news. Wouldn’t that be an intersting development? But I won’t be holding my breath waiting for it.

Pitt had no choice but to leave a dying BE, MD is doing it only for the money and that makes them a “what” boys and girls. The only fear is whether this means that Clemson and FSU are back in play. I would have thought getting a regular crack at ND for both of these schools (who don’t have any tradition with either) would make them think twice.

However, I still say the ACC got fleeced by ND. At a minimum the ACC should have demanded at least 50% of all ND games be played against ACC opponents and if the schedule was an odd number, they would round up to the nearest whole number every year, and ND should have had to kick in 25%-50% of its own TV revenue on all games played against the ACC.

The ACC had ND over a barrel and didn’t realize it. ND never wanted any part of the BIG because they never were going to be allowed to sit at the adult table with MU and OSU. Just as PSU who never got anything they wanted even when they were not a humiliated, abjectly hated, and ethically immoral institution that sold young men’s souls for the sake of football success and money.

MD’s baseball and girls lacrosse team will enjoy Ames, Iowa, and Lincoln Neb. Good riddance.

Now who do you replace MD with if your the ACC, Purdue anyone? ND will likely play them every year if they are in the ACC or not and that gives the ACC a 6 game committment with ND which they should have demanded in the first place. Purdue is also a much better academic fit and much more impressive facilities than UConn and $50 million can buy you alot of consideration. How sweet would this be if the BIG simply traded MD for Purdue.

Taking PSU from the BIG eliminates one of their biggest headaches, leave them with the horrible mess that is PSU.

taxinbg matters – nobody wants purdue in the acc. huge step down from MD and no tv market.

With Maryland’s history and tradition in the ACC and going against the wishes of their alumni and fans they are foolish to leave a stable conference. And don’t tell me that is about the Big Ten academic consortium.

This reminds me of the guy who asks a good looking girl, if she would sleep with him for a million dollars. “For that much money, of course,” she replies. Then he asks if she would sleep with him for twenty dollars. Offended she replies,”What do you think I am. To which he answers, “We’ve already established that. We’re just haggling over the price.”

Also if Maryland thinks they were outsiders in ACC. Just wait until they are in the Big Ten. After all these years, Penn State is still looked at as the ugly step sister. They have traded a conference inwhich they were a charter member and where Duke and North Carolina wielded the power, to join a conference where they will be bottom feeders and where Ohio State and Michigan wield the power.

I think ACC asks CT even though BC dislikes CT.

MD brings some DC/MD fans but most follow Pro teams (MD has poor attendance for football). COMCAST carries B10 net in area at an extra cost to subscribers.

UConn or who knows, maybe Penn State, Rutgers, or the Little Sisters of the Poor. I wouldn’t know what to believe anymore. Connecticut really wants out of the Big East and I’m told, they do have a men’s basketball team.

Louisville is my pick. The ACC’s WILL be UConn (my second pick)

The ACC must think bigger and go after one of the Big 10′s own. That is Penn State. Then head West and ask the Horns. They have already made inquiries and need the east coast time zone and media markets. Bring Baylor as a traveling partner. Then pick up Vandy from the SEC since they are a misfit in that conference. Louisville and UConn would round things out. Don’t touch Cincy or South Florida. Purdue actually does make some sense if you want the Domers all in. WVU would be plan D.

I’m done worrying about this BS. Cause WE as PITT people don’t have too !

It will all sort out. I’m not concerned.

And I do want to apologize, as on the other thread I suggested the ACC go after Penn State. That was sort of an emotional response for which I am ashamed of myself. (I am a vulcan and I am in control of my emotions, lol )

I don’t really want to be associated and I hope my alma mater doesn’t want to be associated with anything to do with Ped State and I certainly don’t want to be in a conf. with them.

Let the Little 11 have them and their dysfunctional, misguided, delusional fan base !

Veritas et Virtus !

How long before the floor drops out in the ACC?

Big XII has 4 spots. FSU, GT, Clemson, Miami?

I present to you the proverbial potential nail in the coffin:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8653727/boise-state-broncos-sdsu-aztecs-byu-cougars-talk-mwc-return-sources-say

first of taxing matters, best comment on here I may have ever seen. If Pitt gets screwed again in this conference realignment bs i’ll be so pissed. Like everything I blame norte dame. Now the ACC’s job now is to add UCONN and make the teams Chris mentioned above me, happy. GT, FSU, Miami, and Clemson.

Does the last team left in the Big East get to keep all the exit fee money?

I guess Seton Hall, St. Johns, Providence, Georgetown etc. will be a basketball conference once more. Who else will be left other than the former Conferance USA teams?

Never thought I’d be rooting for Georgetown.

I’ve muted Dickey, what a jerk.

Conference realignment? The Big East will end up as a Catholic basketball conference.

The recruiting good news helped counter the downer of Maryland’s defection, strictly for the money. I was working up a pretty good rant: it doesn’t matter what your politics are or who won the election, its all about the money: gargantuan banks, likewise investment houses and other corporations not to mention that healthcare and much of the nonprofit sector has headed down the same road and now college sports!!! The idealism is gone! What happened to giving your all for your alma mater and for your conference/region??? The idealism is gone! In everything! Where have you gone Abraham, Martin and John and my old friend Bob? For that matter where have you gone Teddy Roosevelt the trust buster! ESPN, Fox Sports and the 3 networks are in charge of college sports now!

Ok it is a stretch and borderline disrespectful to mention Abraham, Martin and John and my old friend Bob (and Teddy even though he doesn’t get much respect in the Presidents races at the Nats games) in the same paragraph as those controlling, money mad, very successful and entertaining media organizations. However it helped to vent all that.

I agree with the various comments that Maryland will find it hard to feel significant in the Big 10, particularly if PSU does when they can still pull 90,000+ to a game while they are still reeling from the scandal and when they could pull 100,000+ regularly before the scandal. First question, is PSU really uncomfortable in the Big 10? If so and while they are at the bottom in their whole sad experience and being jolted into a huge cultural change it would be the time to poach them from the Big 10 and to help them on the path to being a much better, more open and more realistic institution than they were before. They would not immediately but would ultimately be a valuable addition to the ACC. Immediately they would help the ACC’s attractiveness and dollar value to those money driven sports networks. Personally I’d like to get back to playing Penn State regularly and to being usually able to root for them when they weren’t playing Pitt like in the Rip Engle and early Joe Pa days. Hopefully nobody much beyond Franco and his band want to go back to the destructive closed culture that enveloped the university in the later Joe Pa days. The nit family and fans still do want to win a lot of football games which is fine as long as they work to do it the right way. And who knows, with the Big 10 not really leaving a space for Notre Dame, ND might decide that full membership in the ACC looks pretty good if their money is going to be stabilized. The existing members of the ACC would want to see their revenue stabilized and enhanced. A tough nut but it could happen. Oops, poaching the nits would open that B10 space for ND. Oh well even when dreaming we can’t have everything.

Finally I’ve decided to believe the recruiting good news and not those who wring their hands and fret about Urban Meyer poaching Johnson. Thanks for reading this rambling but cathartic (for me) vent. HTP!

Triblive confirms Johnson blew off OSU: http://triblive.com/sports/college/pitt/2991283-85/johnson-pitt-state-belle-chose-committed-earlier-including-linemen-offensive#axzz2CYJi3tmW

I’m surprised to see so many delusional Pitt fans here. We’re smarter than this. Penn State is not joining. Notre Dame is not joining. No good school is joining.

The ACC is in trouble. The Big XII was in the exact same situation, caught between several more stable, better paid conferences. It only depends on what the top teams in the conference decide. Texas and Oklahoma decided to save the Big XII. Florida State will drive a stake through the ACC’s heart as soon as a court deems that exit fee illegal or unnecessarily harsh.

This is not good. The ACC is in very deep shit. We are lucky this happened after the Orange Bowl deal and ND joining for basketball.

The Big XII will go to 14. The map is shrinking and if the Big Ten was spooked enough to go after two crappy programs because of their location, you know that the Big XII is eyeing the remaining feasible candidates, Louisville, Cincy, FSU, GT, Clemson, VT, and Pitt. If the Big XII offers a spot to go along with another three of those targets, Pitt should take it without blinking.

So, basically the Big East became Conference USA, and the ACC is becoming the Big East (BC, Syr, Pitt, VaTech, Miami and probably UConn).

Still, I can possibly see the BigXII wanting FSU, but probably not Clemson; GaTech is a more logical target for poaching, given it’s Atlanta presence – trouble is Atlanta is Bulldog country moreso than Yellow Jacket.

You paint a grim picture Chris. And the rest of you claim the sky is falling. Here’s the bottom line: Pitt football isn’t even remotely close to competing for a national championship or a BCS berth, and as much as I hate to say it, they probably won’t be for the next five years and if Pederson stays at the school they may NEVER be in that position. So what does it really matter?

Maryland made a huge mistake for money. The Big 10 has always been the Big 2 and the little 8, even mighty PSU could not make a dent. Maryland is all about Lacrosse, where does that fit in.

They just gave up their southern roots and have to travel to the midwest. All because of the UnderArmour Guy and Fox sports.

They won’t be competitive in Football and they just left the premier Basketball conference and have to travel to Northwestern and Iowa and Nebraska in the middle of winter, now there is something to sell those recruits.

I agree with AP, Pitt has not been relevant in football in years, we will be fine in the ACC.

Look at WVU getting crushed, Maryland will experience the same. The ACC will be fine.