Haven’t read a damn thing yet. Crashed last night at John’s in-laws. Went downstairs to the kitchen where John was getting some food for his kid. He had the P-G sports section out and I saw the headline to the Smizik column. I didn’t read any further. Just had to marvel at the hypocrisy. Does he even see it? One day to the next? So media recap will be a little belated.
We ended up watching the game at Fanatics in Squirrel Hill. Not too big a place, lots of TVs at all angles (though why one was tuned to ice dancing on ESPN I’ll never know), and they piped the broadcast throughout. We were able to get the last available table, so I tried to take notes and took abuse from John, Lee and Shawn for it. Let me tell you comments like, “blog it!” all night just don’t get old. No really, guys. It was special.
Pat checked in with a couple times from Tempe. Sounded like he had a good time tailgating, when we could understand him (I mean crowd noise, not anything else. Really.).
Note taking was inconsistent. Table got crowed as the nachos and wings came into the mix with the pitchers. That was on top of some rather spicy Thai food. An interesting drive back to Ohio today, to say the least.
During Utah’s first series, Gary Danielson started going on about the conversation he had with Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads. He related that Rhoads said that Pitt has faced a number of teams with spread offenses in the last couple years. Of course, there was no mention of the lack of success Pitt has had against them.
Palko was under pressure the entire game. They mentioned at the start that Petitti was battling “flu-like symptoms,” though I suspect it was a scorpion.
After stalling out on their first series, Utah just blows through Pitt’s line and secondary to score a TD. Early in the drive, Brent Musberger shrewdly notes that “the middle has been a little soft” regarding the Pitt D. That’s kind of like saying Lindsay Lohan has some family issues or Jenna Jameson is somewhat familiar with adult filmmaking.
After the score, they cut to Utah fans in the stands. Mormon and bigamy jokes ensue.
Another Pitt drive fizzles out, 5 minutes into the second quarter. A blocked field goal. Special teams have just gotten more special as the season worn on.
Damn, even the Utah cheerleaders do midrifs. What is wrong with the Pitt cheerleaders?
Utah takes it 69 yards mostly passing to score again. 14-0 Utah.
Pitt has a little more than 5 minutes to take the donut off the scoreboard before the half. Pitt starts to put together a decent drive, when Lee finally snaps at Brent Musberger. Brent starts hitting his storyline on Urban Meyer with, “You might recall Notre Dame came after Urban Meyer…”
Lee suddenly shouts, “Oh, shut the f–k up, Musberger!” This was about 10:03 PM with about 4 minutes left in the half. I’m amazed Lee made it that long before he snapped.
Pitt took a shot deep down the field to Greg Lee. The ball was perfectly thrown and would have been a TD, but Lee just muffed it. Replays showed it bounce off his facemask and forearms. Pitt couldn’t miss opportunities like that. There haven’t been that many, and there likely wouldn’t be many more. After that, Utah really upped the pressure up front. The O-line started collapsing. Palko gets tripped up as he tried to avoid a sack and loses 13 yards. Then Palko has to dump off the ball to Furman on 3d and 23 as Utah manages to get pressure with only a 3 man rush.
Utah ends up letting the clock run out to end the half. They go to halftime showing more Utah cheerleaders and some fans. Leading to a round of discussion as to how and why all Utah girls seem to have such bright shiny teeth. They seem otherworldly. I realize the Mormons don’t smoke or drink coffee, but that just doesn’t seem enough of an explanation. This bothered me for the rest of the night.
Man, that’s a long halftime. Somehow, Pitt is only down 14-0. Utah shows practically no signs of rust. They are as good as advertised, but Pitt is still in the game. I mean if Pitt makes some adjustments, tightens up the coverage and doesn’t miss as many tackles. And if the O-line can give Palko a little more time and allow the running game to get going. And while they are at it, they can come up with a good alternative energy source and a workable solution to funding Social Security.
Just as halftime was ending, and they showed the stat splits, Lee declared that, “We’re losing the chess match.” He was justifiably smacked in the head for uttering that phrase.
Utah gets the ball to start the second half and Alex Smith put on a little show. An 80 yard drive in less than 4 minutes. Smith passed for 66 yards and ran for 11 more in only 7 plays. Clearly the Pitt D made the halftime adjustments it needed to cope with the option/shovel passes.
Pitt answers with a stirring 3 and out.The ice dancing is starting to look interesting.
The Pitt D officially rolls over. Alex Smith runs through about 4 tackles on 3d and 7 to get a first down. It happens while Musberger and Danielson are having a phone chat with Dave Wannstedt. In fact, the Utes score too quickly that they have to ask Wanny to stay on the line so they can keep chatting after the commercial break.
Pitt finally scores. Beautiful pass to Greg Lee off the play action. Lee caught it in double coverage and with pass interference. Derisive cheers for avoiding the shutout in the bar.
Utah then put on a clinic. Bad moves on special teams had them starting on their own 6. They went 94 yards in 4 minutes. Near the end of the drive, Smith was running for the 1st, and was tackled from behind. Out of nowhere, I suddenly shouted, “Sweep the knee! Sweep the knee!” They didn’t. Utah scored to make it 35-7 and I stopped taking notes.
Plain and simple. Utah was as good as advertised. Pitt got destroyed and humiliated. Nothing else to say at this point.
