Being 3-1 is within the expected area before the season started. The over the moon optimist dreamed of 4-0. The complete pessimist said 1-3. There’s a lot of work needed with this team. Everyone knew that going into the season. There’s a lot that won’t get fixed this year, because of the players in place or the coaching. That’s reality.

What I find strange is complaining about being 3-1, because the last two wins highlighted many of the problems even as Pitt managed to win. Does Pitt “deserve” to be 3-1? Yes. Not because they are a Florida or Georgia-level 3-1 team. But because they were better than the three teams they beat.

If Virginia won yesterday, they would be a 3-1 team. If Pitt had lost to Duke last week, Duke would be a 4-1 team. Would they “deserve” that record?

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My dog decided he wasn’t going to let me sleep in so I can post a few thoughts before I resume moving. As always, a win is a win is a win. I can’t emphasize this enough. This was Pitt’s first 3 game winning streak since 2010. If you told a Pitt fan that they’d start the season 3-1 and the loss was to FSU, I can’t imagine a fan who wouldn’t be happy. Have the past 2 wins been ugly? Absolutely. Last season, we lost pretty to Notre Dame. I’d prefer an ugly win. (more…)

Still have to drive back tonight, but stopping at the Monterey Pub for a beer, bite and to use their wi-fi to post.

It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win. Where last week it was the offense that did everything and the defense hung on by its fingertips. This week it was the defense playing well and the offense barely doing enough. As Coach Paul Chryst put it in his post-game comments, the script was flipped from one week to the next.

The Pitt O-line did not have a good day. They struggled against a much better and more disciplined Virginia D-line. Compounding that problem was a poor effort at blocking by the running backs and tight ends. It was almost as if they were trying to get Tom Savage killed.

Let’s put it this way, the running game had only 8 yards because Savage accounted for -57. And that includes a 12 yard run he did have. He took an absolute beating. If I have it correct, he was sacked 6 times and knocked down more times than I could count. Even if you think he sometimes holds the ball too long at times (like me), that was no where near the reason he took such a beating. As if that wasn’t enough he took a helmet to helmet hit when he slid. Somehow that was not flagged as a flagrant targeting penalty despite the defender diving at him leading with his head. (And yes, Ray Vinopal got away with what sure looked like a targeting play as well, but it wasn’t nearly so flagrant.)

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It really sucks that it took until the end of the month before I could get to my first game of the season. But, I made it and it is predictably deserted in the press box 2 1/2 hours before the game. On the bright side, with nobody really here the wi-fi is probably stronger than it will be once the place fills up.

It’s weird to be at the stadium and not to have a bourbon in hand. Unnatural.

The game is on ROOT locally. If you are local, why the hell aren’t you at the game? For everyone else, this is the list of channels carrying the game, including YES.

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First off, there’s going to be a giant rubber ducky floating around the Point this weekend. If that alone doesn’t make you want to come to the game, then something is wrong with you. But seriously, who isn’t excited for a 40ft rubber duck, LASER PANTHER, and HOMECOMING!!!???!!! For those who don’t get the laser panther reference, during Friday’s fireworks off of the Cathedral, there will be a laser panther crawling around.

On to football!!!!! (more…)

Morning Madness tomorrow. Local press conference/interviews yesterday.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Pitt plans to be more up-tempo on offense and try to score more in transition.

“I definitely think we can do more in transition this year,” point guard James Robinson said.

“We have a lot of great athletes on the team, a lot of guys who are interchangeable at times. But you look at Talib Zanna, he is one of, if not the, fastest player on the team.

“I don’t know how many teams can say their big man is that fast, so with Talib’s ability to get out and run with our guys on the wing we should definitely be running the floor and out running the lanes.”

Zanna added: “I think we are more athletic. People say we are small, but I don’t think that is going to be an issue because everybody is running up and down the court. Even when we play bigger, we can run and we have good point guards who push the ball and have good court vision.”

Those sentiments were echoed by just about every player Thursday at Petersen Event Center, strange talk from a team that historically has been defensive minded.

It’s not that I don’t believe them…

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It’s been a while since there was one of these. Kris Wright of TheSabre.com and I did and exchange of Q&A to prepare for Saturday’s game. You can find my answers to his questions over at their site.

If you looked at the Virginia schedule, you would notice a surprising 8 home games this year. The reason according to Kris is that while UVa was supposed to give a return game to Penn State this year, they bumped them (or possibly bought the game out) in favor of doing starting a home-and-home with Oregon. And any school that blows off Penn State can’t be all bad.

1. Like Pitt you have faced a patsy (blown them out), a top-10 team (blown out) and a somewhere-in-the-middle of the 1-A level major conference team (get by with a 3-point win). What do you know? What do you think you know? What don’t you know about this Virginia team, at this point?

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Both their own, and Pitt’s.

Yesterday I was asking about whether Virginia was going to use Watford a little more as a mobile QB. I’m not the only one.

Ever since spring drills, we’ve heard how fast afoot Watford is when he breaks into the open, that he’s a blur. But so far, the Cavaliers’ potentially best weapon has been more of a secret weapon. Not by design.

UVa offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild has been encouraging Watford to take off. On Monday, Watford said he is overthinking the situation instead of relying on instinct.

“I was just watching film with my coach about that (running the ball),” Watford told sportswriters. “Coach told me to trust my speed just like in high school when I used to split defenders, make people miss, and just run. Now, I’m trying to find holes and lanes instead of just running. Coach said, ‘Just run. You’re fast for a reason.’”
…
In Fairchild’s offense, Watford has had to learn to read the defensive end’s eyes, his body language, which they have repped continuously since training camp. Now, it’s time to just do it.

Virginia wants to run the ball. Whether it’s running backs or the QB, they will look to do so. Pitt has handled running backs mostly. It’s the QBs that have been the problem.

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Virginia QB David Watford has more interceptions (6) than touchdowns (3). His total passing yardage is only 57 yards more than what Tom Savage threw in the Duke game. At the same time he hasn’t had to do too much. The BYU affair was a wet, downpour of a mess. Oregon destroyed them and against VMI there was limited point in passing when you are rolling up over 300 yards on the ground.

Still, this passing game from Virginia has been conservative to say the least.

David Watford completed 47 passes in Virginia’s first two games this season, versus Brigham Young and Oregon. None gained more than 20 yards, a conservative approach that left fans, and perhaps players and coaches, far too cranky by September standards.

Which explains Watford’s reaction to his 38-yard touchdown connection to Tim Smith in last week’s 49-0 pasting of VMI.

“A breath of fresh air,” Watford said Monday at Scott Stadium as the Cavaliers continued preparations for their ACC opener Saturday at Pittsburgh.

And guess what people are thinking about for Saturday.

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In the world of Pitt Athletics, there are two dueling factions: those who look for the silver lining and those who think the sky is falling. This is their column.

*insert Law&Order dun dun here*

This week’s topic is the defense; a defense that has been quite offensive this season. When FSU tore them a new one, it was easy to justify because of how immensely talented FSU is. They could end up the national champion this season. When the starters played a good game against New Mexico, things stated to look better. A great start to the Duke game looked like this: interception, interception, touchdown allowed, punt. After that punt, the offense scored and with a 27-7 score, it looked like Pitt would cruise to an easy victory.

Then, the defense fell apart. (more…)

New game notes are out with the depth chart (PDF, p. 3). The only change is flipping Kevin Weatherspoon to primary kick returner over K’Wuan Willians. Nothing else has changed. Ray Vinopal is still the starting free safety. Cullen Christian is the back-up.

Could someone tell me what happened to Ryan Lewis? In presesaon, he was listed as the first back-up at both safety positions. Now he’s no where to be found on the depth chart. Haven’t heard about an injury. Was he that bad when he did get a chance (did he get a chance)?Is Vinopal really the best available? The man leading for the  2013 Pitt Fan’s Scapegoat Award — awarded to the starter who isn’t good, but gets ascribed for everything that goes wrong — breaking the 3-year reign of Tino Sunseri.

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Not sure how to handle this one.

The offense was fantastic. The O-line gave Savage plenty of time and opened up holes for the running game. James Conner now appears to be the primary running back — even if not listed as the starter. Tom Savage had an absolutely brilliant game. Accurate throws. Looking off his receivers a lot more. Devin Street and Tyler Boyd are possibly the best 1-2 WR combo in the ACC. And Kevin Weatherspoon’s abrupt and clutch emergence as the 3d WR. The playcalling was aggressive and smart for most of the game.

It feels like that doesn’t begin to do their performance justice.

And that’s because…

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As many of you know, Savage was awarded the Walter Camp Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Duke. It’s a pretty impressive achievement and his stat line certainly warrants it. 23/33 (69.6%) for 424 yards and 6 touchdowns is video game-like and the best QB stat line we’ve seen in a long time. There’s another opportunity to make sure he earns more praise.

That’s the ESPN Capital One Cup which is awarded to the best impact performance of the week. He’s currently second behind a PR from Iowa who had 2 returns for touchdowns in a blowout. If he trips and falls on his face on both returns, his team still wins easily, so I fail to see his impact.  So vote early and vote often (I don’t know if you can vote multiple times, but I’m sure Iowa’s fans are) and get our players some more praise! (more…)

This one was ugly; like Wannstedt’s mustache full of fish sammich ugly. I don’t know if I have the stomach to watch the defense and give you guys a review. If you really, really want it (post in comments what your opinion is) I’ll do it, but only because you guys are the best. I say that earnestly, not sarcastically. Here are a few quick thoughts. (more…)

Throw your rants and anger in the comment section, just try to keep it PG-13. I’ll be tweeting throughout the game from my couch and joining in here. If the game gets out of hand, my tweets may be slurred, but it’s not because I’m drunk. It’s because I’m drinking, drunk implies I may have stopped.