I usually do these with the opinion columns last, but not today. In fact, I’m starting with the harshest blast from Joe Starkey who writes of the return of the “Not My Fault” Walt Harris view of the game.

It was easy to hurt for Pitt coach Walt Harris on Saturday, right up to the point where he criticized his kicker for missing a 51-yard field goal attempt that would have won the game.

Never mind that Pitt left two timeouts on the table during the drive that preceded the kick.

Harris failed to call a timeout on the eight-play, 46-yard drive that began with 1:11 remaining in regulation. Maybe Pitt could have moved closer. A 51-yard field goal isn’t exactly a chip shot.

Yet, Harris fell just short of saying that junior-college transfer Josh Cummings choked on his kick, which went wide left.

“I think he flinched a little bit, and it hurt his timing,” Harris said. “Obviously, it was noisy. I think his inexperience showed.”
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Earlier in his post-game media session, Harris let slip another shot at his players while speaking of Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni, who, by the way, pulled a timeout caper of his own.

Pasqualoni left all three timeouts on the board at the end of the first half, allowing the Panthers to run off the final 33 seconds by kneeling at their 13.

“Congratulations to Paul,” said Harris, who wasn’t referring to Pasqualoni’s hording of timeouts. “They’re in the same kind of challenging situation, and their kids made the plays more than our kids.”

Their kids made the plays more than our kids.

Maybe Harris could take a lesson from quarterback Tyler Palko, who shouldered responsibility for Pitt’s final play call in double overtime, a weakside toss to Raymond Kirkley on fourth-and-1 at the 16.

It would have been nice to see wide receiver Greg Lee on the field there, but he was watching. All he did was catch nine passes for 188 yards. The ball did not come his way on Pitt’s final series.

Pitt called timeout to strategize before the final play, on which Kirkley was stopped cold.

“Coach had asked me what play I liked,” Palko said. “I told him I liked that play. So, I guess I called the wrong play at the wrong time.”

Said Harris: “We had a group decision on what to call.”

Once again, we’re left scratching our heads. Who called the play?

Isn’t Harris the head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach? If he did not make the call, he should have — and the ball should have been in Palko’s hands.
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Yesterday, their luck ran out against a Syracuse team that practically begged to lose.

Playing before a surprisingly small and dispassionate home crowd, the Orangemen dropped seven passes, missed a 32-yard field goal attempt and committed the game’s only two turnovers.

But their two backs, Walter Reyes and Damien Rhodes, each ran for more yards than Pitt’s total of 101 on 39 attempts.

It was an all-too-familiar script in big games under Harris. For one reason or another, the Panthers always seem to fall short. This time, they might have cost themselves a chance at $14 million-plus in a BCS bowl game.

Maybe their chronic failures at crunch time have something to do with the coach.

Nah, couldn’t be him.

Even the papers in Syracuse seemed more than a little stunned that Harris blamed the final play on a “committee” decision. They also noticed that “they made plays” comment. The way he acted after this loss tells you that he knows he blew a key game to stay on as a head coach.

“We had a timeout, and we had a group decision of what to call,” Harris said. “We came up with a play we felt would give us a chance to make the yard.”

The play was a weakside pitch to tailback Raymond Kirkley.

Never mind that the Panthers had gained only 30 yards rushing over the game’s final two quarters of regulation and two overtimes. And never mind that sophomore wide receiver Greg Lee had caught a career-high nine passes for 188 yards and a score, and sophomore quarterback Tyler Palko had completed 28 of 42 passes for 342 yards and three TDs, without an interception.

Lee was standing on the Pitt sideline watching Palko take the snap from center, and Palko was in the backfield watching as Kirkley was met at the line of scrimmage by a horde of defenders led by strong safety Diamond Ferri and linebacker Tommy Harris.

A play that needed to gain 36 inches to keep alive Pitt’s dream of a league crown and a BCS bowl berth gained perhaps 35 inches.

“I thought we had it,” said Lee, who had a good vantage point from the sideline, “but the chains told a different story. I couldn’t believe it.”

Neither could Palko, who admitted afterward that he had played a major role in the decision to call the pitch.

“Coach had asked me what play I liked,” Palko said, “and I told him I liked that play. So I guess I called the wrong play at the wrong time. I’m in there. I know what’s working and what’s not. We just came up a little short. They made a play and we didn’t.”

In addition to taking responsibility for the call, Palko refused to question where the ball was placed by the officials, something several of his teammates did afterward and an issue Harris ducked.
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The extra sessions were a repeat of the first half, as SU’s dominant running game, which finished with 239 yards, drove through the Panthers for two scores even without star back Walter Reyes, who left the game with an injury in the third quarter.

“It was assignments,” linebacker H.B. Blades said. “You do your assignments, as we did in the third quarter, and you shut them down. You leave one gap open, and backs like Reyes and (Damien) Rhodes are going to find it. You give them a crease and they’re through it.”

“We squandered opportunities,” Harris said. “Whether we didn’t make it happen on offense, or we miss a field goal, or we get a field goal instead of a touchdown. We had the opportunities and just didn’t convert.”

That was never more evident than on the final play of the game. It needed to gain 36 inches. It gained 35. So much for committee meetings.

You know, when the other team’s papers are wondering “what were you thinking?” it’s bad. The wondering about why the best receiver on the team isn’t getting a look at the key time is not a new question. I mean if you forgot to use Larry Fitzgerald, why would you remember Greg Lee? So Palko is more willing to take the blame for the final play call and the loss than the head coach? Words fail me.

Ron Cook sees a total team effort to lose the game. Special teams, kicking, defense, O-line. Bad scene, man. It all had a very familiar feeling.

But fans of the Pitt Panthers must have felt like yesterday was Feb. 2, and they were stuck in their own version of “Groundhog Day,” the Bill Murray movie from the late 1990s about a weatherman trapped in a time warp in Punxsutawney, Pa.

No, there wasn’t any snow on the ground yesterday, nor was there a pesky little rodent searching for his shadow, but the Panthers’ 38-31 double-overtime loss to Syracuse in the Carrier Dome felt like a rewind of many of the team’s biggest flops in big games over the past two years.

Sure, there were some exciting twists and interesting turns, but, once again, in a big game with everything — including perhaps the fate of the coach — riding on the outcome, Pitt failed to get the job done for two simple reasons: It couldn’t stop the opponent from running and couldn’t run the football.

There was ample precedent for this in the Notre Dame game last season or the West Virginia game last year or the Miami game in 2003 or the Nebraska game this year. Those opponents did not wear orange uniforms like Syracuse did yesterday, but those games were very much the same and went something like this …

When Pitt needed a big stop of the opponent’s running game, the Panthers couldn’t make it. When they needed a yard, the Panthers couldn’t make it. In other words, the day and opponent may have changed, but the Panthers’ shortcomings have not.

I don’t know. It just seems that Walt Harris has put his mark on this team. When up against it, they seem to deliver the needed win, when it looks bad, they get something. But give them choices. Let them have control of the situation, or dare I say — destiny. And they just fall on their face.

Both teams really did their best to give the game away. In the first half, Syracuse receivers dropped some key passes and they missed a field goal. Pitt also missed its opportunities in the 2nd half to really open things up. And of course the key penalties on the final Syracuse drive in regulation and the 1st OT.

In upstate NY, they saw the game coming down to the final play and the inch or so that kept Pitt from getting the first down in the second OT.

In the midst of another bad Pitt loss, was a career day for WR Greg Lee.

Positives for Harris and Pitt. Another big Steeler win probably ends much talk about the game and much interest in discussing Harris’ replacement.

Positives for Pitt (maybe). Dave Wannstedt and the Dolphins lost again. To the Arizona Cardinals where former Pitt star, Larry Fitzgerald had the game winning TD catch. Assuming Wannstedt is the guy Pitt will want, this just makes it more likely he will be available.

Little sidebar venting. Since the wife told me her mom and step-dad were coming up today, I didn’t buy a month’s worth of Pitt/Yahoo! internet radio to listen to the game. Instead, I got roped into running a couple errands and we got back a little before 1pm. Around 4 pm, and still no in-laws, she realizes she goofed. They aren’t coming up until tomorrow. Arrrggghhh!!!!

Anyhow, once I got home I popped back to the computer. Go to ESPN.com to check the game cast activity. Pitt’s already down 13-6. Reyes already has 115 yards rushing. I’m starting to scroll backwards to see what happened when the phone rings. Caller ID tells me it’s Lee.

“Hey, Lee, what the hell is happening in this game?”

“Fire. Harris. Now.”

“That bad?” Then I look up at the computer screen and see why. The score is now 20-6, then quickly 21-6.

“What the fu–”

Lee cuts me off, “We can’t stop the run for s–t. They’re running on us at will.”

The conversation became more animated after that. Lee eventually went back to his attempts to watch that game, the OSU-Mich. St. game and Penn St.-N’western (his wife is a PSU alum) all at once.

We spoke several more times after that. I was basically glued to the computer the rest of the game. Waiting for little blue and orange lines on a football field to tell me what was happening.

So, my view of the game feels very simulated.

If the first half was all about why Harris needs to go, then the 3rd quarter and most of the 4th was all about why Syracuse fans want to throw Pasqualoni out in the snow.

Pitt showed no ability to stop the run in the first half. Syracuse compiled over 300 yards in the first half. Reyes and Damien Rhodes ran for over half of it. Rhodes has already shown he is a capable back in his own right, so when Reyes hurt his back early in the 3rd quarter, you expect to see Rhodes take over the load. Not with Pasqualoni in charge. Time to have the young QB, Patterson, shoulder the load.

This led to the Patterson fumble that led to the Pitt score to tie the game. Following a 45 yard kickoff return — by the way, when did Pitt become incapable of tackling and covering on kickoffs and punts ? I’m just wondering — they go 3 and out. Pitt gets another field goal (missing a big opportunity) and again, a huge kickoff return (by Rhodes). So, time to run the ball. Chew some clock, take advantage of the bad run defense. No. 3 straight pass attempts. The last being intercepted.

Pitt failed to get a 45 yard field goal. I understand Cummings had the distance on his misses, but… Was he just hooking them? Were they even close? Anyone care to fill me in?

You look at the play-by-play list, and you see that when they do run Rhodes, they get yardage, but then inexplicably they have Patterson throwing 2-3 times in a row. Leading to punts.

Of course, Pitt can’t put the game away. Kirkley and Murphy seemed to be running well enough, but Furman couldn’t do anything unless it was via catching the ball.

Finally someone must have smacked Pasqualoni, because the final Syracuse drive of the 4th quarter was all Damien Rhodes. 35 yards running and 5 more on a pass. Helped set up the game tying fieldgoal. Pitt doesn’t have enough time. Forced to take a 51 yard field goal that misses.

Leads to OT.

Pitt with the ball first, and scores quickly. Furman is the big weapon — by catching the ball. I get it. He has the best hands in the backfield to make him a versatile weapon. At least in theory. The problem is, going into OT he had 3 carries for 5 yards. Not a great yds/carry avg. That makes his usefulness, somewhat limited. If he is handed the ball, there isn’t much gained.

Unfortunately Pitt can’t stop Syracuse now. Lee told me after the game that the D just looked gassed. Sad since Pitt actually won the time of possession battle. New questions about their conditioning? Rhodes ran for 36 yards in the two OTs. Including all 25 yards on 3 carries in the 2nd OT. Pitt just couldn’t stop the run. Again. Same as last year.

Pitt’s D was embarrassed. They allowed two players to run for over 100 yards against them in the game. They allowed more running yards than passing yards. Plus a key penalty in the Syracuse drive to tie the game and in the 1st OT.

The offense had its problems. It failed to capitalize on some opportunities, and got off to a sluggish start. Obviously the running game was less than stellar. But the passing game was working, and Pitt still put up 24 points in regulation. The defense and special teams, though, hurt the team in a big way.

Well, now Syracuse has a good chance to make a bowl. They just need to beat BC or Temple. I wouldn’t be totally surprised to see them run the table. I kind of want them to. Take out BC.

Harris and Pitt lost the lame duck bowl. I’m guessing Harris won’t be taking calls on his radio show this week. Notre Dame, fresh off it’s big upset win in Tennessee is next. Anyone feeling real optimistic?