This will be the last post from me until sometime after the Backyard Brawl. Getting up early tomorrow to go to the in-laws and they only have dial-up and there is competition for even that. The P-G hasn’t updated as I start typing. I’ll add any stories that might come up before I finish.
The Trib. is just loaded for this game. Five different writers doing six stories on the game. No consensus from the material as to who will win.
Story skipper: a piece on recent fighting in sports and how Coach Harris is dealing with it and his players. The concern with the Backyard Brawl, is more the likelihood of competing fans getting after each other.
Sam Ross has a piece that neatly summarizes all the subplots for this game. They should all seem familiar to regular readers, since they have been covered here a few times. Expect to hear all of these when the ESPN crew starts talking about them over the action.
Mike Prisuta puts it all on Pitt to show what it has at this point. I started excerpting, but then realized I was going to copy the whole thing. Read it all, but I’ll give you the conclusion:
No self-respecting program loses on Senior Night/Day, particularly in a circle/revenge game.
At least no self-respecting program should.
Joe Bendel, the Pitt beat reporter, wonders if Pitt will stop the run (don’t we all).
The Mountaineers stuffed the ball down Pitt’s throat last season, just like most will do with their Thanksgiving turkeys today. The Panthers were manhandled to the tune of 307 rushing yards allowed, enabling WVU to prove once again that it was superior in the smashmouth phase of the game.
It was like watching a 60-minute infomercial on “how to publicly humiliate your neighbor.”
“We let ourselves get pushed around way too much — and it left a bad taste,” Session said. “We have to get rid of it.”
Easier said than done.
These Mountaineers, who must rebound after a devastating loss to Boston College, are superior at running the football this season. They rank fifth in the nation at 258.3 yards per game and possess an arsenal of running backs led by Kay-Jay Harris (820 rushing yards), Jason Colson (643) and Pernell Williams (253), along with the all-time leading running quarterback in Big East history in Rasheed Marshall (686). Each member of that troupe averages better than 4.9 yards per rush.
And, until Pitt proves otherwise, is there any reason to believe that this quartet won’t repeat the effort of last season — or, from the season before, when the Mountaineers piled up 231 rushing yards in a 24-17 win at Heinz Field?
I’m tasting bile right now.
Finally, Bendel and the WVU beat writer give each team’s key’s to the game. For WVU they win if: they run for more than 200 yards, win time of possession and win the turnover battle. They lose if they don’t score first, special teams breakdown, and Palko escapes the pocket.
My thoughts to a couple of those keys. They are going to have more than 200 yards of rushing. I can’t see how they won’t. Between Harris and Marshall they will get the yards. Pitt starts slow on offense and only scored first in 2 games this year (Ohio and Rutgers).
Now the Pitt keys to win: Palko, Palko, Palko; get out there and take it to the Hoopies emotionally; and the defense does what it should do — tackle
With its spread offense, WVU will put the Pitt defense in one-on-one situations. This is the pure essence of football – mano-a-mano – and the victor in these battles often leads his team to a win. The Mountaineers manhandled the Panthers last season and rushed for 307 yards, while Pitt managed only 10. The question is: What Pitt defense will show up tonight? Will it be the one that held Boston College to 53 yards in a win, or the win that yielded 239 to Syracuse in a double-overtime loss? You can put this one in the books – early – if the WVU run game gets revved up. The Mountaineers rank fifth in the nation in rushing.
Pitt loses if: Pitt spits the bit with control of its own fate; punt and kick returns don’t take advantage of how bad WVU’s coverage is; and Palko struggles.
I really don’t have anything to add to that.
Let’s Go Pitt!!!
