“Go Paul!”
–Walt Harris, referring to Syracuse Head Coach Paul Pasqualoni, after Pitt upset West Virginia 16-13 just minutes ago…
Well, as usual, Chas will be back with some more thorough and well-reasoned analysis tomorrow (we just spoke over the phone). But for now, my first impression of the Backyard Brawl that we just won is to thank Rich Rodriguez and his West Virginia Mountaineers for self-destructing tonight. Very Virginia Tech of you, really…
As has been the case all year, the Hoopies played like a very talented yet undisciplined and often flat-out stupid team tonight. Ten typically dumb penalties (minus the phantom personal foul call for roughing Graessle) for eighty-nine yards is just the beginning. Far worse is that Rich Rodriguez seemed to come down with a little Tom O’Brien Syndrome (TOBS) and forget the flagrantly obvious fact that the way to beat Pitt is to RUN the damn ball. Every time that Rasheed Marshall stepped back into the shotgun, I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell Rodriguez was thinking. Perhaps the Hoopie tailbacks were in worse shape than I had imagined.
Yeah, and the two missed field goals didn’t help either.
Mind you, I don’t mean to infer that the better team didn’t win tonight. Actually, I think that it did. It’s just that Tyler Palko had a terrible game (only 14 of 38 for 165 yards), partially due to that strange 3-3-5 mountaineer defensive scheme that I can’t help but think is nothing more than a cheesy card trick (I mean, yeah, it confuses people who have never seen it before, but only for a little while). I’m just saying that although I think Pitt is the better team, we didn’t earn the win tonight as much as Rich Rodriguez handed it to us. Rasheed Marshall certainly outplayed Palko, in any case.
ESPN’s coverage of the event was tolerable. I genuinely like Kirk Herbstreit, and I especially appreciated his seemingly heartfelt praise of Pitt’s facilities (“I mean… just look at this!”). But there certainly was a lot of yaking about crap completely unrelated to the Backyard Brawl. The stands certainly looked full on TV, although they did mention that there were a lot of Hoopies present.
Now, as Walt Harris noted, all we have to do is root for Syracuse to upset Boston College this Saturday (1:00 PM on ABC regional — most of Pennsylvania and West Virginia will get that game, except for Harrisburg) and we’re likely headed to a freakin’ BCS bowl… well, that and we have to, of course, beat South Florida next Saturday…
And yes, I’m on the brink of issuing one massive apology to Walt Harris. But I’m going to wait to see if he drops the ball against USF (again) before I drop to my begging knees to keep him from leaving Pitt.
Hail to a long, cold, miserable winter in West Virginia. You trash-talking inbreds deserve it.
