Like Chas, I’m a little too frustrated to do a decent post on the UConn fiasco yet. However, I can’t help but mention what I thought was the clear highlight of the game: Mark May practically calling Walt Harris a pussy for not going for the end zone on third down just before halftime. For those of you who didn’t see it, May made his commentary from the ESPN studio just after the teams left the field. I guess what I liked about May so much was the look of genuine embarrassment and anger in his eyes. For a moment, he wasn’t just another allegedly impartial analyst. He was a frustrated Pitt alumnus and Panther fan, just like me.
Despite our allegedly having much better talent than UConn, we deservedly got crushed last night. We had no presence on the line on either side of the ball. Palko ran for his life for most of the night, while we got literally no pressure on Orlovsky. Our receivers rarely fought for balls, and often just tried to avoid getting hit. Sooner or later all of this is Harris’s responsibility. At the very least, there ARE plays out there for offenses with weak lines. I mean, has Harris ever heard of play action? Even though the refs did repeatedly hose us, enough real penalties were committed to question our team discipline. Our game preparation was wanting. Our in-game adjustments were non-existent. Based on his comments from last Saturday’s College Gameday Final show on ESPN, I’m pretty sure that Mark May has about had it with Walt. I’m starting to agree…
…not that “JFC” didn’t make some good points in the comments under this post from earlier this week…
“I still get back to the issue of who are you going to replace harris
with??? Its easy to run the guy out of town but not so easy to find a better
replacement. Granted most of us probably dont buy into Harris being an offensive
genius but it is a reputation thats out there… His reputation still works
for him. We are not getting people like Urban Myer. So who does that leave? Who
is going to bring a reptation for something to Pitt??”
Good point. Harris does have that reputation on the national level (although I doubt he’ll keep it for much longer), and it has kind of worked for him in the past. And although Pitt has allegedly great facilities, it clearly isn’t the best job in the country either. We’re not going to get Bob Stoops sniffing around Oakland. I guess my only response to JFC’s point would be to ask how much longer we can afford to have our program wondering aimlessly — losing like it did last night — with a coach at the helm who has alienated his recruiting base, refused to take responsibility for anything that’s gone wrong, repeatedly attacked his players in public, and shown no ability to call plays, make any halftime adjustments, or worst of all, improve. At this point, a decent coach from the WPIAL might even be an improvement.
This is a tough (and very serious) issue. Hail to some decent discussion on this.
