In early August, I had the following comment on RB Brandon Miree after pointing out a puff piece on him.

Miree is one of the keys to Pitt having a great year. If he goes down to injury, or doesn’t play well, Pitt’s BCS hopes are shot.

As we’ve seen from the running game since he’s gone down to a calf injury back in the Toledo loss, Pitt has none. Even I didn’t know/think there would be such a drop-off in talent at the running back position.

More bad news, looks like he’ll miss the Syracuse game this weekend.

No one has really paid attention to this, in explaining how Pitt has been so disappointing and inconsistent. Partially,I think it’s because when you speak of Pitt’s offense it really seems to come down to Fitzgerald and Rutherford. The other part is that this was an injury that hasn’t gone away and lingered so there is no timetable for his return. It was thought that he would play at Texas A&M, but now it’s a month later and he’s still out.

Even when he comes back, it will likely take a game or so to get close to normal. Unfortunately, Pitt doesn’t have the time.