We all saw it coming. Most of us cannot bother with even a semblance of outrage any longer. I’m hoping not to have to talk about it other then in the context of the two remaining games.
Pitt AD Heather Lyke made it clear that Pitt wanted to continue the series with Penn State in football. Lyke also made it clear that Pitt wasn’t going to bend over backwards to make it happen or keep waiting. For all intents and purposes, making it very public that Penn State was the one keeping it from happening.
Penn State AD Sandy Barbour, this week made it known that Pitt and Penn State were not going to see each other again until at least 2030.
If you wish to be angsty about the offense, go right ahead. There wasn’t much at all. To large degree, though, that is not surprising.
The play calling was always going to be safe and vanilla for this game. Two of the likely starting offensive linemen did not play. One due to minor injury and the other because he isn’t on campus yet.
We expected the defense to be ahead of the offense, and by all appearances has better talent. But if you went, were you really there for the football?
Stunned. Genuinely stunned. Followed by really, really happy. September can’t roll around fast enough.
Some potential college football news dropped by the Pirates just now: Bucs move their Sept. 8 game vs. Marlins from 7:05 to 1:05 ET "to allow the University of Pittsburgh to schedule its gridiron clash with Penn State University at night."
Does it help that the Pirates are still trying to generate some positive publicity after an offseason of giving away their best players, going cheap and pleading poverty… again? Probably. Do I care? No.
I’m not sure how AD Heather Lyke did it, I just like it.
In the past 5 years or so, the spring game in college football has become a pissing match to see which program gets the biggest fan support for a glorified scrimmage. Attendance is taken. Memes are made to mock schools that don’t get their stadiums packed.
What was once a nice little thing for the die-hard fans and to try and build some enthusiasm has become its own thing. So much so, that programs don’t want to be embarrassed by poor turnouts.
The weather has been slow to become pleasant this “spring.” And nothing kills attendance for these things like bad weather. All you have to do is flash back to the Blue-Gold game in Fraud’s first year — it still haunts me — and with that horrid weather the stands were barren.
Let’s take a moment from the grim-and-gritty world of Pitt basketball. The buyout skulduggery. The intrigue of who the next coach should be and/or will be.
A little lighter and breezier thing. Spring football practices. A time where about 4/5 of the fall roster is on-hand. Depth charts are theorized. Historic futures are projected. Optimism is rampant. And hopefully nobody gets hurt.
Remember the Pitt-Syracuse football game this past year? The one where Kenny Pickett had his redshirt blown for one play because Ben DiNucci couldn’t keep his helmet on? Lots of frustration at that point since there was no indication that Pickett was going to get much of a chance to play that season. Obviously that changed with the Miami game. One of the expected changes to the redshirting rule would have let Pickett stay redshirted.
If a new rule proposal goes through, that decision could be a lot easier and not cost anyone anything. The Atlantic Coast Conference has submitted a proposal to allow all players to participate in any four games without losing a redshirt, the designated term for a player who practices with the team but does not participate in game competition, thus preserving a season of playing eligibility. The proposal will be voted on by the NCAA Division I Council in April. If passed, it could go into effect as early as this fall but would not be retroactive to past seasons.
So, no it wouldn’t give Pickett back another year of eligibility, but this is a very exciting thought going forward.
Hill, who played defensive back for the Dolphins from 2006 to 2008, has joined Miami’s coaching staff in an unspecified capacity.
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He started 38 games during his time in Miami, picking off six passes and recording 152 tackles.
He joins Adam Gase’s revamped coaching staff, which has this offseason had changes at offensive coordinator, the offensive and defensive lines, running back and secondary.
Not quite the same excitement, but some likely good news today.
I’ve been sick since Sunday. I watched the Eagles win the Superbowl in a non-alcohol induced haze. My wife thought I was just being very restrained during the game. I didn’t tell her until sometime in the 4th quarter. Anytime a member of the family starts to run a fever, my wife immediately starts acting like the black plague is about to descend on the house. Especially this time of the year, as the stories of “worse flu season, ever” hit. I’m better now, thanks for asking.
Been quite a bit of stuff for Pitt football with some coaching changes and the final signing day looming. Not going to get to them all, but I’ll touch on yesterday’s news.
Pitt grabbed a new assistant and a grad transfer from MAC schools yesterday. Both seem like good additions.
The race to get those faxes in first is amusing. They started rolling in right away at the 7 am Eastern starting time. A little more then an hour later and over half the verbals have made it official.
The first early signing period in college football is only a couple days away. December 20 is the day Pitt and most other programs (that haven’t been through a major spin on the coaching carousel) look to have 90% or so of their recruiting class complete.
The last couple weeks have brought a bit of shake-up to the expected 2018 roster. Some expected. Some not.
Extensions. Contract lengths. Those are all vague concepts when it comes to contracts for college coaches. The buyout is the thing, and a new contract/extension for 7 years (or a 2 year extension if you prefer) certainly will up the buyout.
Sorry, burying the lead. During the basketball game last night, there were tweets coming out of an extension in the works for Coach Pat Narduzzi. Along with increasing the salary pool for assistants.
I can’t stop thinking about the Tennessee-Schiano stuff. It has been absolutely fascinating in so many ways. Whether seeing the stuff play out like an alternate dimension Pitt-Stallings hire. To the media aspect. To use of a highly questionable narrative to torpedo the hire. So much stuff is there.
