That’s what the stories are based on Coach Harris’ press conference. One report describes it as a bull’s eye. I won’t repeat a lot of the stuff that came from the press conference. Tyrone Gilliard, though, also remembers the Bulls:
Safety Tyrone Gilliard, who was a freshman when South Florida defeated Pitt, said the Panthers plan to avenge the loss to the Bulls.
“We still owe them. I have that feeling just like the rest of the seniors,” Gilliard said. “We still hold a grudge. It was embarrassing to us the way they came up here and beat us that way. We still have a grudge and that’s why even with all the other stuff going on we’re only concentrating on South Florida because we still owe them some payback.”
Yes. Yes Pitt does. Pitt is now a 7 point favorite for this game. Back in September, USF was a 3 1/2 point favorite.
The other story based on the press conference puts it in terms of “focus.” In one of the notebook stories, it is observed how much of a run-oriented offense the Bulls are. Very true. USF has a 1000 yard rusher, but no WR with more than 430 yards.
The other not ebook story takes a theme for a post I was hoping to save, if for no other reason then the fear of jinxing things. The recruits that bailed on signing day last year.
Pitt fans should be somewhat familiar with South Florida freshman wide receiver Johnny Peyton, who leads the team in receiving yards (430) and is second on the team with 19 receptions.
Peyton, who is from Dade City, Fla., verbally committed to Pitt but reneged on his commitment during a news conference on signing day and, at the urging of his mother, signed with South Florida.
He was one of four players who left the Panthers high and dry on signing day, including local stars Andrew Johnson (Miami) and Anthony Morelli (Penn State). The other was Florida prep star Alphonso Smith, who chose Wake Forest.
Peyton is in a run-first offense where the top two- receivers have combined for 40 catches and 687 yards. Pitt’s top two receivers of Lee and DelSardo have 88 catches and 1453 yards. Think Peyton ever goes back to his mother and points that out? As for Andrew Johnson, he got into 4 games this year, touched the ball 16 times for 41 yards. I would want to say something about how he would have gotten more touches at Pitt, but after seeing how Brandon Mason was wasted this year (12 carries, 35 yards), but it seems like he may have been wasted at Pitt this year. Morelli. He would have done nothing this year, just like at Penn St.
You know, I had to go back and look at some of the posts from September and October when Pitt was getting ready to play USF. USF was picked to finish 7th in C-USA by the coaches. If they were to beat Pitt, they would finish tied for 7th with TCU. Otherwise, they will actually end the season 8th.
Finally a column from Ron Cook, who decides it was better to be lucky than good. Rant coming on, bear with me.
From the beginning, Pitt was lucky.
It was lucky Walt Harris picked quarterback Tyler Palko in an 11th-hour decision before the start of the season. Here’s a name you don’t hear much around here these days: Luke Getsy. Either Getsy is going to be a tremendous quarterback at Akron or Harris knew exactly what buttons to push to bring out the best in Palko.
Isn’t revisionist history wonderful? In the beginning of the season, Palko struggled. He was horrible against Ohio U., and it took until the second halves of both Nebraska and Furman for him to show some consistency. Why does it seem that outrageous that Getsy was right there with Palko for the job? The beat writers covering Pitt during training camp and practices even said that the two QBs didn’t seem to have a lot of separation. Palko improved as the season went along. That was part of the reason he was heavily recruited and he got the starting nod. His perceived and apparent upside/room for improvement was much higher.
Pitt was lucky its opening game at South Florida was postponed by Hurricane Frances. It didn’t want to take a young team on the road for a Labor Day game in zillion degree heat and zillion percent humidity. Now, it gets South Florida Saturday. The Panthers are playing their best football. The weather won’t be a factor.
Fine. Maybe. I’m not that wild about saying Pitt was lucky to have a hurricane blow through, destroying people’s lives and property. Actually, I’m with Coach Harris on this one. It’s kind of useless to speculate. Yes, I wouldn’t have been shocked if Pitt lost, but I also wouldn’t have been shocked with a win.
Pitt is lucky it has wonderful senior leadership. Vince Crochunis. Dan Stephens. Malcolm Postell. Tyrone Gilliard. Rob Petitti. Justin Belarski. They wouldn’t allow the Panthers to lose despite being down 17 points in the third quarter at home against Furman and 10 points in the fourth quarter at Temple, which is being thrown out of the Big East Conference for — get this — incompetence. They wanted a chance to go out as winners. They earned it.
It’s luck to have seniors that are leaders on the team? Luck to have been recruited? I don’t get this one at all. Good players and good people. To quote from The Princess Bride, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Pitt is lucky its players didn’t give up on the season early the way Harris’ mouthpiece — agent Bob LaMonte — did. After the shaky wins against Furman and Temple and losses to the worst Nebraska team in 43 years and a Connecticut team in its first season in the Big East, LaMonte blasted the Pitt administration, Pitt fans and the Pittsburgh media for unrealistic expectations. “Pitt is not a major power,” LaMonte said, unconscionably. “It is not one of the top 20 jobs in the country. There are limitations. Nobody was fighting to get Pitt into their conference during the Big East shakeup last year. They were an afterthought. They were treated like a stepchild, so it is a little delusionary to believe the program is bigger than what it really is.” You think LaMonte believed then the Panthers would have any chance of a Fiesta Bowl bid? Do you really think Harris did?
Again, if his point is only that, “Pitt is lucky its players didn’t give up on the season early,” then no it isn’t luck. That was good hard work by the coaching staff, and a credit to the players themselves who stayed focused while the fans and the media were distracted. If his point is to engage in some gratuitous Harris bashing via proxy, then it’s a different issue.
Pitt is lucky chancellor Mark Nordenberg didn’t fire Harris on the spot after LaMonte’s absurd comments. How would you feel if you were Nordenberg, had invested so much in the program and then had your coach’s knucklehead agent go public to belittle it? Tempting as dismissing Harris might have been, Nordenberg had the good sense to realize midseason coaching changes are so messy.
Firing the coach for the agent’s words. Why? To tank the season completely? To ensure that Pitt has no decent recruiting for 2005? The last time Pitt fired a coach mid-season, it was Mike Gottfried. That begot Paul Hackett, and… [involuntary shuddering]. Again, not luck.
Pitt is lucky its coaches, including Harris, kept teaching, kept pushing the players through the turmoil. Lost in all of the speculation about Harris’ future is the uncertain futures of his assistants. They did a marvelous job keeping the team on track. New tackles/tight ends coach Bill Bleil deserves special mention for helping to turn the offensive line — once a weakness — into a strength.
You mean they did their jobs, worked hard and are now in a position to keep their jobs? Why is it luck? I’d go on, but you get my point. Things now appear to have broken well for Pitt and you can ascribe some things to luck — BC and WVU imploding when it mattered, the timing of Pitt’s run this year, and the state of the Big East; but the things Cook chooses to call luck are not even close. He is wildly dismissive of the individual talents and abilities of the people who made the decisions and did the work. As near as I can tell, the point of the piece was to dismiss and deflect any substantive credit that Coach Walt Harris may deserve for this season.
You stay classy, Ron.
