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October 19, 2015

When Sports Can Be Fun

Filed under: Coaches,Football,Media,Narduzzi — Chas @ 3:25 pm

Winning definitely helps make it possible. When you are losing or just .500 you get the people who grumble about needing to do better before you can have a sense of humor or be a little goofy.

Right now, Pitt football is fun. And Head Coach Pat Narduzzi is having fun as well. While we should be getting ready for the Battle for the Kiwi, Narduzzi chose to blow-up Pitt and Penn State twitter.

At his weekly press conference to start the week. Narduzzi was asked about Nate Peterman’s accuracy. And well, it seems he gave some credit to the playcalling in an interesting way.

The exact quote:

“You could have a talented quarterback with a bad play caller and make him look bad. You see that around the country, some closer than others.”

Yeah, that could possibly be taken as a shot at Penn State and the utilization of Christian Hackenberg. If you are so inclined to see it that way.

This got picked up beyond the Pitt and Pittsburgh media.

Penn State media went with it. National media saw it and wanted clarification.

What makes it extra amusing, Penn State fans can’t even muster full-on outrage.

Just 11 months.





I just love this coach!!!

Comment by Pittastic 10.19.15 @ 3:35 pm

The only problem is now that Pitt is in the top 25 for the first time in a while, you go to the rankings on ESPN, click on PItt, and get a f’ing picture of Hackenburg!! FU ESPN

Comment by Hank the Tank 10.19.15 @ 3:39 pm

I also love how Cal lost their last game, has a bye week this week, and moves up 2, 3, & 4 spots in the 3 polls. smh

Comment by Hank the Tank 10.19.15 @ 3:40 pm

Temple is being televised prime time on ABC vs ND … good for the Owls, give them their 15 minutes.

Barring a collapse, wouldn’t be surprised if Pitt-ND also is prime time

Comment by wbb 10.19.15 @ 4:59 pm

Maybe he was talking about Ohio St. and Cardale…

Comment by Iron Duke 10.19.15 @ 5:03 pm

In addition to ruining their QB… they also played the injured guy well after the outcome was decided… along with the RB who looks like a stud and the only hope they have… even Ped Staters were questioning that as well.

F#$%’n love it. This guy is our poop pants and I hope he creates a legacy and stays around long enough to have poop pants… lol…

Still can’t believe the negative crap I read here about the QB, OC… blah blah blah….

… man if you can’t have fun being a Pitt fan now then you never will be.

Comment by Pittscript 10.19.15 @ 5:06 pm

Jamie Dixon picks up a JUCO player this evening. Crishawn Clark, a shooting guard from California (originally from Ohio) will be a part of the 2016 class. Joins PG Justice Kithcart and PF Corey Manigault. Also had offers from Oregon and Saint Mary’s.

Comment by Mailman 10.19.15 @ 5:33 pm

Spelled that wrong. It’s Crisshawn Clark.

Comment by Mailman 10.19.15 @ 5:36 pm

Twitter war II. Pretty funny stuff.

What’s up with Cardale, he looks awful.

Comment by gc 10.19.15 @ 5:41 pm

@Mailman

You’re always all over recruiting. So what happened with Pugh announcing on KDKA. I guess there was some kind of issue coordinating it?

Comment by Pap76 10.19.15 @ 6:07 pm

Narduzzi will have this team on point for the Syracuse game. Love his reference to away games being viewed as business trips. ” we get on a plane fly up there, take care of business and fly back to continue the process”. Gotta love this guy’s perspective. One game at a time, focus, prepare, go take care of business in Syracuse, sing Pitt fight song. Good routine!

Comment by Dr. Tom 10.19.15 @ 6:17 pm

Pat Signal just popped up. Pugh, perhaps?

Comment by Mailman 10.19.15 @ 6:20 pm

Pat Signal confirmed!

Comment by Yeti 10.19.15 @ 6:20 pm

Never heard of Pugh announcing on KDKA. Only heard that he was committing on October 19th.

Comment by Mailman 10.19.15 @ 6:22 pm

great story on Dion Lewis

link to bleacherreport.com

Comment by wbb 10.19.15 @ 6:27 pm

Chris Peak assumes Pugh, but not certain. Whatever, Pitt gets a BB and FB commit the same day

Comment by wbb 10.19.15 @ 6:30 pm

I hope the quote applied to both OSU and PSU-time Pitt starts to push back instead of being pushovers. Love the Nard-Dog now go get win #6 and keep this train rolling!

Comment by John 10.19.15 @ 6:36 pm

Chris Peak confirms it is Pugh

Comment by Yeti 10.19.15 @ 6:40 pm

Well I’ll be! I thought Pugh was destined for Morganhole. Nice to see that Aliquippa-to-Pitt pipeline has returned.

Chris Peak ?@PantherLair 57 seconds ago
Just confirmed with Aliquippa LB Kaezon Pugh: He committed to #Pitt tonight.

Comment by Mailman 10.19.15 @ 6:40 pm

link to pittsburgh.rivals.com

many attractive offers

Comment by wbb 10.19.15 @ 6:47 pm

The realization of how much further along this Pitt program is will be extremely evident when we play UNC in our Thursday night game this season and compare it with the Thursday night game last year against VT. Between the atmosphere, the attendance, the energy surrounding the program, the on-field product, and the recruits, the transformation of this program is undeniable. Thats about 1 year of progress and this is just the start.

Comment by Timmeh 10.19.15 @ 6:49 pm

Outstanding! Welcome to the Pitt family Kaezon Pugh. We’re glad you chose the fine University of your home town.

Building for the future while entertaining our fans now.

HTP!

Comment by Erie Express 10.19.15 @ 6:51 pm

All the best Quips should be Panthers. It’s just right. Welcome Kaezon Pugh.

Comment by Iron Duke 10.19.15 @ 6:57 pm

agree with mailman … need to keep the fertile pipelines (Aliquippa, Woody high, Clairton, Central Catholic, etc … Penn Hills, Mt Leb, USC, NA .. and hopefully Pine Richland in 2 years)

Comment by wbb 10.19.15 @ 7:00 pm

Hope he has as much success as most of our Alliquippa guys.

HTP!

Comment by gc 10.19.15 @ 7:06 pm

2580 tickets for sale on stubhub for the thursday night game, and very affordable (cheap)

Comment by gc 10.19.15 @ 7:10 pm

And the next domino falls into Narduzzi’s lap. This trickle of highly coveted recruits will continue, soon to become a torrent of the 412Crew to Pitt. I experienced “a major change in Pitt football some 40+ years ago, when I was a Pitt student. This feels kind of the same, but Pitt now never was close to how bad they stunk back in the early 70s before Majors showed up, so that’s a big difference.

No matter, this time around so many positive changes have occurred with the University that it’s obvious that soon once again that “PITT” will definitely be “IT”. Welcome aboard Mr. Pugh, how bout inviting some other of your football friends to join you here at Pitt? It’s going to be an exciting ride!

Hail to Pitt! The movement is becoming palpable!

Comment by Dr. Tom 10.19.15 @ 7:15 pm

agree, would have to think the 5-1 start and the aggressive style of defense were major factors here … wonder if we lose him to Hoopies otherwise

Comment by wbb 10.19.15 @ 7:18 pm

Thursday night crowds are never real great because you have a bunch of out of towners who can’t make it in. I still expect a good crowd that is very amped up & loud.

Comment by Nick 10.19.15 @ 7:23 pm

Dr. T – you should be in advertising… at least back in the 1950’s when optimism ruled the land. I agree with your sentiments, but you crack me up every time.

I saw on Rivals.com that Pugh had these offers:

“Pugh chose Pitt over offers from across the country, including Akron, Arizona, Arkansas, Auburn, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Indiana, Kent State, Kentucky, Maimi, Mississippi State, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Purdue, Syracuse, Temple, Toledo, Virginia and Virginia Tech. But his final decision came down to Pitt, West Virginia and Maryland.”

I wonder if Miami offered also.

Comment by Reed 10.19.15 @ 7:25 pm

Dr. Tom – isn’t it great seeing our preseason excitement catch fire with others on the board? There was a handful of us trying to tell everyone it was okay to believe.

Pitt’s serving up Orange Kool Aid this weekend. It’s the best kind.

I’m all in on Peterman too …

link to 33.media.tumblr.com

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 10.19.15 @ 7:28 pm

I have never been this excited for Pitt football, all these changes and the culture is moving in a forward motion in 5th gear!!

I love it

H2P

Comment by Keith 10.19.15 @ 7:35 pm

My Jets and my Panthers are really making this fall much less suicidal.

Comment by Chris 10.19.15 @ 7:52 pm

This Defense is going to be sick. It will kill opposing offenses. I literally mean that.

Comment by TX Panther 10.19.15 @ 7:56 pm

Glad that I crack you up Reed, but you know Pitt football is a collegiate dynasty historically that has just been down for a few decades. You just gotta keep the faith, be patient and for heavens sake DON’T STOP BELIEVING!

link to m.youtube.com

Comment by Dr. Tom 10.19.15 @ 7:57 pm

Need to think of name much like the Steel Curtain. Maybe the Panther Pain. This D will crush your bones and make you hurt so bad.

Comment by TX Panther 10.19.15 @ 7:58 pm

I believe in the Nard Dog. He brings balance to the Force and will defeat Darth Franklin. God said let there be Light. And Panther Nation arose from a long slumber. The future is bright indeed.

Comment by TX Panther 10.19.15 @ 8:05 pm

How about the Panther Punishers?

Comment by Dr. Tom 10.19.15 @ 8:13 pm

I like the Punishers.

I would like to Punish the entire ACC
Punish Pedo State
Punish the Hoopies
Punish Cornhole
Punish Fraud
Punish the 18 year old lass on my lap 🙂

Comment by TX Panther 10.19.15 @ 8:26 pm

Fitz gets a present from Narduzzi..

link to twitter.com

Comment by Jackagain 10.19.15 @ 9:58 pm

Here’s a little Pitt FB history fact to read while you sip your orange Kool-aid this morning:

Pitt FB is ranked in the top 25 for the first time, in a year after which the team was not ranked, whose team is coached by a first year HC (at Pitt) – since 1973.

That coach was Johnny Majors. Then in 1976, Majors lead the Panthers to their 9th National Championship.

I’ve read from some posters on the Blather who were in school at Pitt when Majors arrived and began building his team. You refer to “there was something different”.

I remember & rooted for the great Pitt teams of the mid to late 70’s, but I don’t remember nor did I experience the “buzz” from 1973. I was too young.

But today, in my world and circle of Pitt fans, there is something different.

Right now, Pitt FB and fans need to be focused on one game, one team and that is Cuse.

Spice up the Kool-aid this weekend with some CRUSHED ORANGES.

HTP!

Comment by Erie Express 10.20.15 @ 5:11 am

Considering Narduzzi gives out a bone to the best defensive hit I guess we could call the defense the Boners–maybe not.

Comment by Caw Miller 10.20.15 @ 6:21 am

Erie: I was just starting college(CCAC – getting grades up, took HS off) and it was a similar buzz. They had a new chancellor, AD, Majors and a staff with people like Sherrill, Jimmy Johnson (sherrill), Avenzano etc. Pitt in the 60’s was horrible, like 1-11 horrible, Temple was better. Here we have a whole change from top to bottom. After Sherrill, Bozick and Billick took over and deemphasized football, settling ultimately on Pederson as the man who hired coach after coach but when you play on the cheap the program suffers. Now, top to bottom, all in. H2P

Comment by rkb 10.20.15 @ 8:02 am

LOVE NARD DOG!!! Recruiting must be heating up.

Comment by rkb 10.20.15 @ 8:04 am

How about the “Pain Gang”

Comment by palm beach panther 10.20.15 @ 10:20 am

How about the ‘Pitt Bulls’?

Comment by pghFred 10.20.15 @ 12:53 pm

Hail to PITT

Comment by 63 Team 10.20.15 @ 1:47 pm

Last December I was soundly criticized here for suggesting we should send Barry Alvarez a case of scotch. Less than a year later we are in the top 25 despite losing our best player. We are no longer subjected to an idiot athletic director and actually have the Ped State crowd nervous about playing us next fall. Meanwhile HCPC now wears a red sweatshirt and is in the process of turning a great Wisconsin program into a B10 also ran. At least he and Mr. Franklin can fight it out for mid conference honors. If it were not for Barry Alvarez we would still be no where in football and smiling Pete would still be charting our path to Moronicville via Idiotcity. Wait until Narduzzi starts to have recruiting success. The next few years should see us spending a lot of time in the top 25. Anybody prefer Wisconsin’s chances? Franklin has been recruiting top 5 classes but it is becoming very obvious he can’t coach. How do you think that will work out in Nitanyworld? They can’t blame the sanctions so my guess is they are going to get tired of his big contract this season or next. Maybe Barry Alvarez can bail them out too. If we can retire the jersey of Larry Fitzgerald who is about to get his mail order degree from the University of Pheonix, then we should at least do something to recognize one of the programs greatest contributors. Narduzzi is great but his efforts pale compared to the accomplishments in our behalf, of one Mr. Barry “thank you so much you dumb S.O.B.”, Alverez.

Comment by spiritofsection22 10.20.15 @ 4:32 pm

“Sack U”

Comment by Jackagain 10.20.15 @ 5:15 pm

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