It’s been a while since I wrote anything about the football team (okay, it’s been a while since I had some time to write much of anything). So, time to hit the links.
Cam Saddler is back with the team and down in Birmingham. Arthur Doakes, however, is not.
Pitt redshirt sophomore Arthur Doakes , who started the final four games of the regular season at right guard, was suspended for at least one game for violating team policy, a university spokesman said Wednesday. Doakes won‘t play in the BBVA Compass Bowl on Saturday against Ole Miss, but coach Paul Chryst hasn‘t named a replacement. Redshirt sophomore Shane Johnson , who never has started a game in three seasons at Pitt, is listed behind Doakes on the team‘s two-man depth chart. Doakes, 6-foot-6, 340 pounds, had replaced regular starting right guard Ryan Schlieper , who suffered a season-ending ankle injury Oct. 27 against Temple. Doakes is the second Pitt offensive lineman suspended this season. Redshirt junior Juantez Hollins was suspended for the season before the start of training camp.
Nothing to worry about there. Why the last time there was a last-minute loss of an offensive lineman before a bowl game with little to no help behind him it was only the Sun Bowl. No reason to panic. None at all.
In other comings and goings, Pitt has two more players leaving the team.
Pitt running back Corey Davis and tight end Brendan Carozzoni have left the team and will not accompany the Panthers on Tuesday when they travel to Birmingham, Ala., for the BBVA Compass Bowl.
Davis, a sophomore from Gladewater, Texas, who was recruited by former coach Todd Graham, was fifth on the depth chart at running back and had no carries or receptions. Last season, he rushed for 48 yards on 17 carries and caught five passes for 64 yards as a freshman. He also averaged 21.1 yards on 17 kickoff returns.
Davis‘ departure leaves Pitt with only 12 players from Graham‘s 21-man recruiting class of 2011.
Carozzoni, a redshirt sophomore from Rocky River, Ohio, had no receptions this season after making four catches for 43 yards last season.
That leaves 12 players from the Wannstedt-Graham class of 2011. That, of course, opens up two more scholarships. By remarkable coincidence, both Tyler Boyd and Jaleel Hytchye are planning to announce their verbals this Saturday.
The standard storyline for the bowl games is always about seniors getting ready to finish their college careers. The usual stuff about leaving it all on the field, no regrets, all that. Well, maybe just one…
Sunseri and Turnley each said they had no regrets about their time as Panthers, but Sunseri said he often questioned what would’ve happened if Pitt had hired Paul Chryst in 2010, rather than Todd Graham.
Sunseri would have another year of comfort in Chryst’s pro-style offense, and there would have been no failed “high-octane” experiment.
“Things happen for a reason. It builds character,” Sunseri said. “We understand what it’s like to be left, we understand now what it’s like to have a coach and have somebody there for you that wants to see you succeed.”
Safe to bet that Tino Sunseri would probably have heard a little less criticism if Todd Graham had never happened. Here’s a puff piece on Sunseri in the Birmingham paper.
On the flip side to a miserable 2011 performance, Ray Graham admits he started to give thoughts about going pro last year (until he got hurt).
“Old Ray” would have been hard enough to duplicate. When he went down, Graham was Division I-A’s second-leading rusher with 958 yards through eight games. Things were going so well, Graham admitted the thought of leaving school early for the NFL draft crossed his mind.
“The way I was going, the way everything was going, it definitely would have been a decision me and my family would’ve made,” he said. “Who knows? I don’t know. It would’ve been a tough decision I would’ve had to make.”
Now he’s got one final game (and the East-West Shrine game) to help raise his stock for the NFL Draft.
Well, the good news (I guess) about the BBVA Bowl. There’s a certain familiarity with everything.
It might not make a big difference, but every little edge matters, especially in a game between two teams as apparently evenly matched as Pitt and Mississippi.
“We understand the field, we understand the locker rooms, I don’t think there’s anything new to you,” Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri said.
“I think the biggest thing about bowl games is you just have to make sure you get as much preparation up here as you possibly can. Because whenever you’re down at the bowl site, there’s so much stuff going on.”
Pitt certainly will have its hands full with extracurricular bowl events once they arrive. Mornings will be spent practicing at Hoover High School – the same location the Panthers practiced last year – and afternoons and evenings will feature events like a trip to the Civil Rights Institute, visits to a children’s hospital, a comedy club and a bowling night.
Kind of reminds me of an annual grade school field trip to the local historical site. Been there. Seen it enough times. Know the place. Nothing new, but it sure beats being stuck in the classroom all day.
If Ole Miss doesn’t like the cold, maybe it helps Pitt. But, they don’t seem too bothered to practice in it at the moment.
Ole Miss players endured temperatures in the upper 30s and overcast skies on Wednesday for their first off-campus practice in preparation for Saturday’s BBVA Compass Bowl at Legion Field.
Most of the Rebels’ workouts in Oxford, before a week-long Christmas break and after, were inside their indoor facility.
The last workout, on New Year’s Eve, was in the stadium.
“It’s good for us to get out and get a practice in this type of weather. It’s a little colder here than it was the other day at Vaught-Hemingway. It’s different on the quarterbacks and receivers, the specialists especially,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said.
Practicing in the cold means the Ole Miss defense looks sharper than the offense. Since the defense doesn’t have to worry about handling the ball. At the same time, the gameday temp is expected to be in the low 50s. Not the 30s they are practicing in at the moment.
Just about every team member wore compression gear from head-to-toe during the practice, held on the campus at Birmingham-Southern, and more than a few huddled for warmth.
It made for a cute scene, unless you’re a quarterback trying to get ready for Saturday’s BBVA Compass Bowl (noon, ESPN).
“Bo (Wallace) was not himself today, Barry (Brunetti) and all the quarterbacks,” coach Hugh Freeze said. “The ball is a little harder, slicker and for receivers and specialists it certainly was a different game.”
The Rebels are gutting it out with Bo Wallace at QB. Wallace has a hamstring problem and a bum shoulder that may require off-season surgery.
HTP
We have a freshman center who could use some help there.
But Penn State’s locker rooms are darker and spookier.
I hope that PC’s recruits understand the English language, can read the rules laid out for them, and most importantly are not selfish idiots who don’t care that their actions negatively impact their teammates.
Having a new OG with no experience and a QB who has never handled pressure resulting in stupid mistakes is not a recipe for winning.
(fingers crossed “Please Win Please Win Please Win”)
I hope we hit hard and knock the snot from their runny noses.
Last point.
Will someone, anyone, please tell the Yinzer on 93.7 that the name is Ole Miss; not Old Miss?
1/ 11 / 13
the ACC share will be 27.5 million.
unless it is a year ND plays in it then the ACC
will make more money and ND share will be less.
when 2 teams playin a bowl they each get money
for there conference.
on the years that the acc plays say a big 10
school the acc gets 27.5 million
the big 10 a little less than that.
on the year that the acc plays ND the acc gets more and ND gets only 13 million or close to that.
but the money is from espn for playing in the bowl
That will really bury their program and id every second of it.
Comment by FRANKCAN
Billionaire owners keep 9 million in their socks. lol
he will stay. he is a prick.
i think he will commit at end of vist just a hunch
I have this bad feeling that he and Hackenburg are going to end up being pretty successfull and coming out of the sanctions they might be even better..
i truly hope im wrong
This could be an ominous sign.
I must remember this factor from now on when I pick teams to bet on.
When’s the last time either of them wrote an article that long about Pitt, or that well.
And I don’t remember either EVER having an article about Pitt with SIXTEEN (16) accompanying photos. And I mean EVER !
That’s how horrendous the two local rag sheets cover dear old PITT.
That is unless O’brien’s wife is like Sandusky’s crazy wife. Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
I just don’t understand why Jerry sleeps in the basement with 10 yr olds and not with me.
But no, he’s not a pedophile.
Louisville’s football program has now been to both the Orange Bowl and won and impressively won against a supposed great SEC team in the Sugar Bowl last night.
So in effect they’ve lapped PITT twice. For their football program fell on hard times after Motorcycle boy (Petrino)left after winning the Orange Bowl and were rebuilt by Strong who promptly takes them to a BCS bowl and huge win in only YEAR 3 of his tenure.
Question:
Why is it seemingly so easy for schools like Louisville and Cincinnati to get to BCS bowls and in L-Ville’s case actually win them ?
When it seems, and it is, such a huge mountain to climb for PITT ??
Something my friends is amiss here. Something just doesn’t add up. There is more than meets the eye here.
Something is rotten in the state of Pennsylvania.
But da ville proves it doesn’t take long to get back on top. Pitt should accept no less. Demand it and throw away anyone who trys to obstruct.
For every Louisville there are 50 schools like Pitt that keep trying. There are more that fail than succeed by far.
We all like to think a local big QB recruit is the answer but sometimes maybe not. Next year will be different with no local QB in the mix.
This year’s version of the Panthers might be the slowest in history… especially considering that Trebitz will be in at MLB again as Gordon won’t start.
Will Tino overcome the odds and go out on a winning note, not likely. This is our first game on the road and the RAC is a tough place to start.
After Foster, I am gunshy.
Maybe Dr. Tom or the Good Reverend can talk me off the ledge.
Louisville Timeline:
1946 fields first football team
1957 Plays in first Bowl game winning Sun Bowl
1963 Joins Missouri Valley Conference
1970 Lee Corso leads L-Ville to 2nd Bowl Game
the Pasadena Bowl ???
1972 First End of Season ranking #18
1975 Becomes Independent again
1977 wins 3rd bowl, Independence Bowl
1990 Schnellenberger leads them to Fiesta Bowl win
1990 2nd end of Season ranking #14
1993 win Liberty Bowl ending #24
1996 join Conf. USA
1998-2006 play in a Bowl Game every year
2003 Petrino takes over for John L Smith
2005 lose Gator Bowl ending #19
2006 win Orange Bowl ending #6
2007-2009 Regress under Kragthorpe
2010 Charlie Strong leads them to winning season and Bowl win in 1rst season
2012 In only 3rd season defeat Florida in the Sugar Bowl, will finish in Top 15
Also the way they modeled their football stadium is something Pitt needs to look at. (other than the stupid name)
The Louisville Cardinals football team plays its home games at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. The stadium was constructed with a capacity of 42,000 in 1998 for $63 million. However, the university completed a major expansion and renovation for the 2010 season. The $72 million project, which began in December 2008, features an elevated south-end terrace connecting the east and west sides of the stadium, 33 additional suites, 1,725 additional club seats, a second 100-yard-long club room, and 13,000 more chairback seats, bringing the total capacity to 55,000-plus.
L-Ville in 2005 & 2006(Gator & Orange Bowl) had a local Louisville kid starring for them at QB. That being the Brian Brohm.
Only difference was, he had talent.
If your idiot governor (and I know idiot governors being from Texas), sues the NCAA because the sanctions were too severe, that is a perfect example of politicians going places where they should never tread. Mind you, they still get to play football so I don’t see how the state is damaged economically and State Penn agreed to these sanctions voluntarilly and unconditionally. Corbett should be suing the NHL instead if he has the lawsuit itch.
But seriously, as strange as this season has been for Pitt, losing out of the gate to YSU, winning the VT game after the awful 0-2 start, playing ND into triple OT, and getting tough at the end of the season to sneak into this bowl game, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tino provides the cherry on top of this wacky season and does the unimaginable and actually brings us back from a late game deficit and gets the MVP for the game in the process.
This crazy concept would be so fitting for Sunseri’s last game, considering his past track record of always coming up short in the clutch. A completely out of character performance, just so he could have the eternal luxury of thumbing his nose at all of his detractors from that point forward, wouldn’t it be the perfect ending to the Tino era of Pitt football????
Stranger things have happened. Keep the faith gc, no matter what transpires tomorrow, better times for Pitt football are on the horizon. As us Pitt fans like to say, “wait until next year”.
Hail to Pitt! May the Rebels RIP.
Thanks for the info. So it did take Louisville 5 years to recover from Petrino.
I think a coach gets 3 or 4 years to show serious improvement unless the first couple are a disaster. If it isn’t there you have to move on. Pitt has to improve each year under Chryst.
I am sure we can all name teams that keep trying to produce that winning formula. NC State, NC, Maryland, Miami, Virginia come to mind quickly.
@ rhyno527, Jaleel Hytchye is a **** according to ESPN and has ONLY officially visited Pitt, and that was just recently. On top of that, a couple of assistant Pitt coaches went to Cincy to visit him at his own school just this week. This kid would be a fine get for the defensive secondary if he goes with Pitt. The feel I have is that he saw all he needed to make a decision to commit to Pitt after his visit. He actually has moved up this announcement a couple of weeks from a previously planned announcement date that was later this month.
Hope we get him, he would be a prime addition to this recruiting class. I have good vibes with Boyd coming to Pitt as well. I think that Boyd “wants” to be “da man” at Pitt, unlike Foster, who seemed to shy away from that immediate limelight, IMO. Boyd also, probably won’t have the same issues with qualifying academically that was a question mark with Foster. We’ll know soon enough come Saturday on both of these guys
I keep thinking the same thing as I remember those years and as we cover different issues here… stadium, recruiting, player mentality, fans…
The killer with Pitt for years… decades?… has been that the football has been “unpleasant” to watch… just not enjoyable. And this goes beyond win/loss. Even when they would “win” a game how many times did you just sit there in unease and with a constant sense of dread… even the “winning” seasons…. the same feeling you have an hour after eating a Big Mac…
… and just when was the last season when Pitt ‘won’ as !expected!… and closed out the season right (win bowl game!)… Sugar Bowl and Marino??? other?
How many games have left us feeling the way we did in WVU in 2007… Notre Dame few years ago? Too much the exception to the rule… think Utah, Cincinnati here… etc, etc.
Pitt needs to offer ‘enjoyable’ football to watch. That means winning… but as importantly it means a physically dominating football team in the best of WPA style/mentality of football that can get a lead, keep a lead… and do it by impose its will on other teams at key moments in most games.
Everyone… leadership, staff, players,fans, are conditioned by these years of underachievement — always disappointing at the perfectly wrong moment — and just being disheartening to watch. (And it would start with Wannstadt’s preseason press conferences where he would low ball expectations and never dare commit to wins or championships.)
Typical for this dark period of Pitt football… sound and look good in all settings except where it counts most… game day on the gridiron! Remember opening day vs. Notre Dame… the big tadoo-coming out party! ugh!
The most obvious symptom of this malaise is the infamous statement… that can only be heard in WPA at a Pitt football game… “hey, sit down… I can’t see the field”. Pathetic.
“Enjoyable” and winning football — for 1 good season — will cure all manner of ills… poor stadium attendance, top recruiting, national relevance, regional interest in Pitt football… and just getting freak’n fired up!!
And it starts NOW, tomorrow. Pitt has to win and win “well” – “enjoyably”. So that the doubters, even here, can start to believe, and people get FIRED UP about Pitt Football!!!
And there is another big reason why this MUST happen –all the new ACC members just earned their street cred’last week… beating Big 12 and SEC members “enjoyably”… now Pitt needs to physically kick Ole Miss’ ASS and show why it was offered an invitation!!
Chryst is the MAN to get this done… and the time is NOW!
Pitt WILL win tomorrow because we finally have the right coach to set a winning/dominant mentality… finally Pitt paid enough money, and for the right guy.
Rather than saying “Hail Pitt”…. I scream…
F#@$ing kill Ole Miss!!!
I no… I won’t sit the f%*& down!! 
Also, both Cincy and Louisville have made a definitive commitment to their athletics and have ADs that draw praise from their fan bases, the media, and their peers. Leadership and $$$ are a winning combo.
So the way I see it, Pitt just needs to keep that two game win streak (that was responsible for getting us into the bowl game in the first place) alive and well, by just keeping that momentum going.
At the start of the season, after the USF and Cincy beat downs, even I was discouraged about the immediate future of Pitt football. So much so that I didn’t even make the trip from DC to watch the VT game in person (sold them to some VT fans). If you remember, both you and I predicted in the preseason that the Pitt-VT game was going to surprise a lot of people, when Pitt brought home the win. Well, of course they did, but only after receiving two bad a$$ whoopins themselves to start it off.
My point is, after the Cincy game, things look very dire for Pitt this season. At that critical juncture, who would have imagined that Chryst could have turned that bad karma around and gotten us to even this point, where we are at 500 and playing in a bowl game?
I agree with you, Chryst has potential, but Iron Duke speaks the truth. The future of every successful program is the recruiting, especially these days when the best of the best are usually gone to the NFL after 3 years. The question on how Chyrst and Company are going to bring in the next generation of Pitt players still remains to be seen. However so far, I’m liking what I’m seeing, with him stocking up on OL players, especially snagging Johnson so far in this year’s recruiting class. If he pulls in a couple more stars like that and he’ll have a great class. Boyd and Hytchye would be amazing gets to add to this class.
Tomorrow could be a fantastic trifecta for Pitt, if we beat Rutgers in BB, Ole Miss in FB and then Boyd decides to play as a Panther. Lets get er Done!
Hail to Pitt! Lets play tomorrow as if we expect to kick some a$$ and just Dis on Ole Miss!
HTP
Let’s go Pitt! May tomorrow be a landmark day for us.
The speed of the game is amazing.
If we don’t…. then I think this recruiting class is just like almost every other PITT recruiting class and that isn’t good IMO.
I understand completely the factors that have led some of the better targets to choose other schools – RB Jojo Kemp just picked Toledo over us yesterday – and that Paul Chryst has had an uphill battle in the recruiting front this season.
I’ll give him a pass on this season for all of that. However, I truly think that Chryst MUST do better than this if he wants to succeed at PITT. With a program like ours it isn’t enough to get one blue chip player a year… our talent level across the board hasn’t been good or deep enough for one player to put us over the top into conference championship seasons.
Didn’t happen with Fitzgerald, Palko, McCoy, Lewis or Ray Graham… and those are some excellent football players. We need solid starting talent out of each and every recruiting class. It isn’t enough that players turn into starters, that really isn’t an indication of their talent as someone has to be that.
In essence we need more Ryan Turnleys and less Shane Hales.
I’d love to say that I think this recruiting turn around will begin with a win in this bowl game but I’m not optimistic that we’ll match Ole Miss’s team speed. A loss today sets recruiting back again with two 6-7 seasons in a row. That isn’t good either.
So – let me be wrong and let PITT get both a win and Tyler Boyd and then go into the offseason on a very positive note…
JoJo Kemp (Rivals – 3 star/ESPN – 4 Star) the rb from FL is still in play. Kareem Hunt out of OH picked Toledo over us. He had offers from Minnesota, Cincy, Akron, Ball State, Eastern Michigan. Rivals has him unranked, Scout a 2 star.
1 incompetent and alienating AD
2 lack of elite quarterback
3 not enough star recruits
4 no pipeline to Florida
5 instability of the Big East
6 coaching turnover
7 poor game day coaching
8 no sincere desire by the administration to be excellent and win championships
9 limited booster money and influence
10 pro city with a small core of true fans
I could go on with a few more but these are the main reasons and not in any order of importanance. I think Pitt is making progress in many of these areas so I believe the future looks bright.
Nonetheless, there is no doubt that it is tougher to recruit for Pitt than most of you think. Western PA still has quality but not nearly the quantity it used to have. It is in an NFL city with a beloved team where even Pitt alums prefer Sundays at heinz than Satudays … and it has been playing in the least exposed of all BCS conferences.
Unless Pitt is able to establish a recruiting presence in FL, even if it doesn’t get the 4 and 5 stars, then it will be tough to compete every year in the ACC.
However, just look this past decade as to how good the Florida recruits (ALL who have been passed over by SEC, Miami and FSU) have been. Antonio Bryant, Greg Lee, Torrie Cox, Clint Session, HB Blades, Jameel Brady, Gus Mustkas, Greg Romeus, Shane Gordon were all passed over by the bigger southeastern schools … and these guys are just from the top of my head … I’ll guarantee there arejust as many I have forgotten.
I disagree with you on the current class NOT being good, Right now it is NOT great but it IS good in the sense that it addresses the #1 glaring weak position that has hindered Pitt historically as of late and that is at the offensive line position. Besides Dorian Johnson, Chryst has 3 other quality OL recruits on board already. Another 3 star recruit out of Philly, Jaryd Jones-Smith is another uncommitted OT that has visited Pitt and is still on the radar too.
Now with Chryst also moving TJ Clemmings over to the offensive tackle position for the Spring, this reoccuring issue of being thin on the OL seems to have been adequately addressed in Chryst’s first recruiting class.
Now I’m not real big on recruiting site star ratings for HS kids but our entire class so far are solid 3 stars across the board,,, almost. Considering guys like Tra’von Chapman, Zach Challingworth, Chris Blewitt and Titus Howard, these guys have already proven their worth at the HS level and could bloom into stars at Pitt.
Chris Blewitt is a local kid from my area down here in Washington DC and I can tell you from his play at Potomac HS, this kid is going to be money in the kicking dept for us. He has already kicked clutch 50 yard field goals when needed for his HS team. So pardon me for disagreeing with you, but this class has potential right now as it stands, even if we don’t bring in one more quality recruit.
And in considering Tyler Boyd’s situation, we already have one good Clairton player in Titus Howard a 6’2″ CB. We also have another guy, Terrish Webb from Clairton, seriously considering Pitt as well because of Howard already coming on board with Pitt. Webb is also a WR and the only reason he is a little under the radar is that he was playing in the shadow of Boyd during his HS career. So who knows, we could end up with a trifecta from Clairton in this class when it is all said and done.
There is another guy a DT that is leaning towards Pitt too, Kenton Gibbs out of Detroit, he is definitely in play at this point. So this recruiting game is far from over. Come LOI signing day Pitt could be flush with 25 or more recruits, all with good potential.
So lighen up Reed, especially if we snag both Boyd and Hytchye, this class should pan out just fine.
An excerpt of the 1989 academic change:
Pitt will require prospective student-athletes to have a 2.3 grade-point average and a minimum 750 Scholastic Aptitude Test score. The NCAA requires a 2.0 average and a 700 score.
Really? That’s pretty daunting stuff.
Pitt’s last relatively significant bowl victory was in the 2010 Meineke Car Care Bowl. They beat a stacked North Carolina team that included Hakeem Nicks. NC ended up vacating wins due to academic cheating and improper benefits. That bowl victory was after Pitt essentially lost the Big East Championship at Heinz Field to Cincinnati (coached by Brian Kelly) 45-44 in the most exciting game that I have personally witnessed. Pitt effectively lost because they couldn’t cover two Mardy Gilyard kickoff returns and Pitt’s holder botched a good snap on a PAT after Pitt’s final TD. We can argue about Dave Wannstedt’s culpability in those failures, but let’s not revise history too much. Let the crap fall on that one too.
I certainly hope that a new QB will make evrything better for Pitt FB next year …. athough my bet it would be more because of 9 starters returning on defense (note that Pitt started this year with 8 defensive starters who had very little experience.)
Today goes a long way to solidifying the foundation but you guys are right about the bottom line… need the players.
@Panther94…. yeah you are right there… I was exaggerating a little bit to make the point.
Now I understand the history from the above posts! thanks, I was watching games for 2-3 yrs before Majors turned things around… dark days indeed!
Today is the day Pitt earns its invitation to the ACC and shows everyone a new day has dawned! Good “enjoyable” football and a WIN.
Hail Pitt… Kick $$…
Must admit, I am concerned about what Pitt team we will see on Saturday.
It’s widely understood now that the problem plaguing this team all season was motivation or lack thereof.
Would like to think the team really did learn its lesson following UConn.
But then again there’s no Huxtable. And from what we’ve heard he more than any other coach could be counted on to get players’ attention.
The degree to which the team is ready to play will be a good test to see how far Chryst has come in his first year as HC.