Syracuse has never played with a deep bench. They have always relied heavily on a starting five, with maybe two — three if lucky — players off the bench. This year, Syracuse only goes about seven deep after Moustapha Diagne failed to qualify academically (Pitt is now actively pursuing the power forward).

Pitt forgot for large swaths of the game to exploit the lack of depth, and especially the soft gooey center of the zone, but came back to it late in the second half to retake control of the game and get the win, 72-61.

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ESPN2 at 9pm. Probably. Given the way games run over, this one might not begin until a few minutes later and on ESPNews (hopefully not on ESPN3).

So, football season is over. I mean, aside from waiting to find out about the next OC and how recruiting ends. Details.

Attention shifts to basketball.

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Before we get into the actual game information and facts, all of which you readers have been addressing in your comments since Navy’s 10 play 75 yard drive in the  beginning of the 1^st quarter, allow me to talk about some other aspects of Pitt football and The Pitt Blather.

First off, except for the game itself, the last two days were about as great as college football can be. The atmosphere surrounding the bowl from noon on Sunday (when I checked into a hotel in Annapolis) through the pre-game tailgates until the end of the game was top-notch and everyone was happy and glad to be there.

The evening pub crawl was the most fun I have had in many years and I mean that literally.  At each stop the bars and restaurants were jammed with Pitt fans that were chanting, singing and talking, loudly, about the 2015 season and our new head coach.

It really made me, and others I’m sure, very proud of the university and the team.

There were some funny things going on – for some reason just because I did that article on here about Annapolis and the Pub Crawl, which was also pasted up on Facebook by a Pitt fan group, whenever I was introduced to anyone they always asked “Hey, where are we supposed to go next?” like I was a tour guide or something.

I honestly didn’t remember the exact things I wrote and had to ask my friend to look that article up on his phone.

Also, I met about 50+ fans who ‘read the Blather but don’t post on it’.  It always surprises me a bit when someone says that and when I asked why they mostly said that they felt like an outsider because of all the regular commenters we have on here.

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I had plans once, man. Dreams. I was going to the Military Bowl. An old friend and I were going to drive to the game today, with our kids. Then drive back the same night. Two middle-aged dads, four kids ranging from 7 to 13.  What could go wrong?

Well, both of us getting the requisite time off from work had some fits and starts. By the time we got it worked out, the tickets had been sold out through Pitt a few times over. Looking into aftermarket options to get a block of six tickets proved more than a little cost prohibitive.

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It is now T-27h 30m until Military Pub Crawl muster and we Blatherites better get serious about where we want to meet on both Sunday and then again on gameday Monday for the guys who aren’t getting to Annapolis until the day of the game.  Here is the weather report as of this writing.

Sunday:  69º/44 º   Cloudy    20% Rain    13 mph wind    89% Humidity

Sunday:  46º/39 º   Cloudy    10% Rain    13 mph wind    62% Humidity

On Sunday I’ll be checking into the O’Gallagher Hotel at around noon and will probably take it easy, have a big lunch and watch the Steelers-Ravens game that afternoon.  That game should end around 4:00 so… I suggest that we Blatherites meet at the Ram’s Head Tavern at 4:00 for the official “Pitt Blather Meet & Greet” and get a bit of a head start on all the other 7000+ Pitt fans who will be crawling in Annapolis that evening also.

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When I was watching Ejuan Price get his ten tackles, six tackles for loss and his five sacks in  the win over Louisville last month I started to cast my mind back and was wondering when was the last time Pitt had games totally taken over by a single defensive player. I mean the type of dominance that offensive coordinators dread and that makes a ballgame lopsided in our favor.

Of course Aaron Donald came to mind, he being the winner of almost every defensive and lineman award possible in college ball.  He was certainly wonderful for Pitt and has continued his great play into his career in the NFL.  Plus he’s in modern times and that means all of us on The Blather have seen him play either live or on TV.  So he’s a big favorite Panther of ours.

However, in my mind the #1 “Disrupter” in my book has always been our shining DE/OLB/MLB/Every Defensive Position Hugh Green.

He was and still is legend in college football and his name is very much in the conversation when talking about the greatest college football players, both on offense and defense, who ever played the game.  For good reason – as you’ll hear in this audio clip of the Sport’s Illustrated article titled “Green Light for the Panthers”

Enjoy…

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I always thought Michigan owned the monopoly on directional schools, but it seems that North Carolina is a special place. I mean a state with direction already in its name throws in not only East Carolina U, but Western Carolina as well. To say nothing of Coastal Carolina. There is a Central Carolina Technical College, but that is in South Carolina, and that is a whole other can of worms.

Still, ’tis the season for playing Western Carolina as one of their notable alum is author of “The SantaLand Diaries,” David Sedaris. Oh, hey, and Eric Rudolph is an alum. Swell.

7pm start time. This one has some decent distribution on RSNs.

FOX Sports South
FOX Sports Carolinas
FOX Sports Sun
FOX Sports Midwest Plus
FOX Sports Indiana Plus
Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus
MSG Plus
NESN
ROOT Sports Pittsburgh
SportsTime Ohio
FOX Sports Detroit Plus
FOX Sports Southwest Plus
FOX Sports San Diego
FOX Sports Prime Ticket
ROOT Sports Northwest

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In a fast and furious nine day blitz Pat Narduzzi and Pitt have landed five of our more highly targeted recruits giving us a successful stretch of commitments that we haven’t seen since the DW years. Four are HS seniors who could fill immediate needs and the fifth is a JUCO transfer who had some troubles at his first school.  They are as follows (rankings by Rivals.com).

4* WR Juwann Winfree a speed demon late of the university of Maryland and Coffeyville, KS Junior College.  Winfree had his share of problems at the University of Maryland and was twice suspended by who may be one of the most incompetent D1 coaches in Randy Edsall.  Reading between the lines it seems that Winfree’s suspensions were due to poor behavior (not criminal or drug related) and poor academics.  He’ll have two years of eligibility left starting next season and we’ll need him to contend for the open WR1 vacancy due to Boyd’s departure.

4* ATH George Hill who had some very nice offers including Nebraska, MSU, OSU and Michigan;

3* CB Henry Miller with offers from a lot of D1 Power 5 schools;

3* OL Zack Williams who had to choose between WVU, UL, Miami and NC State

3* ATH Patrick Campbell with offers from six old-BE schools and Temple.

We also landed 2* OL Harry  Morgan.

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It’s easy to look at many of the final scores of half the Pitt games this year: 100-47, 93-49, 96-75, 95-79 and yesterday’s thrashing of Davidson 94-69; and conclude that Pitt is really upping its tempo. It is moving up and down the court to score that way.

Eh, somewhat.

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Pitt has added another member to the 2016 class, in Juwann Winfree. Winfree had been a highly sought after WR coming out of New Jersey, who chose Maryland in 2014. The very talented receiver showed lots of talent as a freshman, but also had the dreaded “off-the-field” issues.

He was suspended for the final two games of the 2014 season for “violating the school’s student athlete code of conduct.” In June of 2015 he was suspended indefinitely for the same nebulous standards. A little more than a week after the suspension, he left Maryland.

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**** Breaking News – ex-Terp WR Juwann Winfree has committed to Pitt this afternoon.****

My friends at Facebook’s Pitt Panther Fanatics asked me to draw up an offensive game plan for the Marine Bowl Pub Crawl on Sunday the 27^th… the pre-game day festivities for our Panthers matchup with the Navy Midshipman.

I live about 30 minutes away from downtown Annapolis and we go there regularly for events and meals and such so here is what I recommend for maximizing the cheap drinks hosted by the listed bars (below) from 4:00-9:00 pm… along with some good food

One thing to note is that Annapolis is on the side of a hill and I’m going to list the places to go from the top of the hill down toward the waterfront and the City Dock.

If you look at a map of the Downtown area you see two large traffic circles and then a smaller one down at the waterfront.  The two larger ones are the “Church Circle” that is the western one and the other is the “State Circle” (State Capitol bldgs) a bit larger and to the east.

We don’t want to mess with the State Circle so we’ll begin our tour at the Rams Head Tavern which is on West Street (MD-450) just before getting to Church Circle. Do not be put off by the road name, MD – 450 is really just a big street.

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Going to be a little tight getting back for the start of this game. The wife has insisted that we have to see The Force Awakens this weekend so she doesn’t have to keep avoiding doing anything on the internet. Not so worked up about spoilers and such, so I would have been fine waiting a few weeks and a not as crowded theater. So, to compromise we are taking the kids to a 9:30 am showing. Double bonus, no Pokemon on the tv this morning and no candy at the movies.

Anyways, the game is at noon on ESPNU.

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PITTSBURGH (8-4) vs. #21/22 NAVY (10-2)

MILITARY BOWL PRESENTED BY NORTHROP GRUMMAN

December 28, 2015 • 2:30 p.m., ET

Annapolis, Md. • Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (34,000/FieldTurf)

PITT BOWL GUIDE LINK (PDF): Pitt Military Bowl Media Guide

Pitt’s ‘pump-up’ for this season…

Here is “The Journey “- the “pump-up’ to Navy’s  2015 season…

GAME STORYLINES

*  Pitt makes its 32nd all-time postseason appearance when it faces nationally ranked Navy in the Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman.

*  Led by first-year head coach Pat Narduzzi, the Panthers finished the regular season with an 8-4 record, their best 12-game mark since 2009. A bowl victory would give Pitt nine wins, its most since that 2009 edition finished with a 10-3 mark.

*  The Panthers and Midshipmen are not unfamiliar foes. In a series that dates back to 1912, Pitt leads, 22-14-3. The teams split the past four meetings, the most recent occurring in 2013 when host Navy defeated Pitt, 24-21, on a field goal as time expired.

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Henry Miller in Florida was supposed to announce his decision at 7 pm tonight. George Hill in Ohio was going to be at 2 pm. Instead, both made it known at about the same time.

Unexpected?? pic.twitter.com/X9O2WHAmB7

— Dab Daddy?? #15K (@_HJMII) December 18, 2015

George Hill did it with an announcement at his school.

George Hill just committed to #Pitt

— Chris Peak (@PantherLair) December 18, 2015

New #Pitt commit George Hill pic.twitter.com/QAaXOThbFq

— Chris Peak (@PantherLair) December 18, 2015

Good times. Good day.

A couple potential additions to the 2016 class are announcing today.

Henry Miller will be announcing sometime around 7pm on Twitter his decision. Miller is a cornerback out of Florida. Measurables (being what they are worth) have him as a 6-3, 193 pound player. A 3-star recruit by all sites.

He’s reportedly down to Pitt and NC State (thankfully it is Dave Doeren recruiting him and not Mark Gottfried).

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