Now there’s a rallying cry.

“My freshman year, we started slow,” linebacker J.J. Horne said. “But we pulled it together after a win over Temple. That’s all it takes is one win.”

Said senior running back Raymond Kirkley: “That season, it took a win where we put it all together and our entire team changed. We got confident and that bred more confidence and that led to more success. It was a great turnaround, something we believe we can still do this year.”

That special season would be 2001, Pitt’s first in Heinz Field. The Panthers opened the season with as much hype and optimism surrounding their program as they had in more than a decade.

Yes, Pitt started 1-5 that season and ripped off 6 straight wins. I do find the revisionism of that season’s turnaround amusing. The one piece of the story that always seems to be missing. The junking of a spread offense after the 1-5 start. That’s always left out of the retelling.

In 2001, the “spread” was all the rage in college, especially after success at Northwestern. Coach Walt Harris decided to implement it over the summer, thinking it would make the offense more explosive and dangerous. It was a disaster. Plays were not getting in to the QB, the line couldn’t stay still, they just were completely unfamiliar with it. (WVU also went to the spread that year, and it took them most of the season before grasping it.) The offense was trashed and the defense was always out on the field.

Still I suppose at this point, if the players can find inspiration in the season, go for it.

The offense is still planning to be balanced. But, it seems the kind of balance is shifting just a bit.

When people say ‘balanced,’ when we do run the football, we need to make positive yards on first and second downs,” said Palko, who was forced to throw 58 passes in Friday’s 37-29 loss at Rutgers.

“It’s not to say we have to be 50-50, but we need to be able to run the ball as well as we pass the ball. We need to be able to do what it takes against a particular defense each week.”
…
“It’s terrible,” Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh said of the offense’s lack of balance. “Obviously, we didn’t run the ball worth a darn. It’s very disappointing.”

The huge deficit facing the Panthers in the second half dictated their decision to abandon the run. They finished the game with minus-11 yards rushing.

“Give Rutgers some credit. They did a good job of scheming our running game,” Pitt running backs coach David Walker said. “It was not a good showing (for Pitt) to say the least.”

Yeah, Rutgers just blitzed, the line collapsed and the runners were as stuck as Palko back there.

Actually, that’s fine. Concentrate more on the number of quality runs rather than just the number of runs equal to passes. Hopefully with Rashad Jennings back, there will be some improvement as the load is shared a bit.

Apparently Coach Wannstedt has been having intense, physical practices this week.

Well, this has to be embarrassing to the Trib. in it’s Pitt coverage.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt dismissed sophomore receiver Allen Richardson from the team for what the coach termed as “disciplinary reasons” and announced the suspension of redshirt freshman defensive lineman Nick Williams for violating teams rules. Wannstedt, who said the disciplinary actions are not related, would not elaborate.

Yet, here are the reasons.

Richardson was dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons because of an on-campus incident Tuesday night which involved a BB gun and marijuana. It is at least the second time Richardson had to be disciplined this season. He was sent home from the Panthers game Sept. 9 at Ohio University because he was listening to his I-Pod during a team meeting.

Williams was suspended for violation of team rules Sept. 26 after he was involved in an altercation with another student at a party after the Panthers win against Youngstown State.

Williams was not allowed to travel with the team to Rutgers and will not be on the sidelines on Saturday.

As for Richardson, where does he think he is, Penn State? Richardson, must have a 5-cent brain. He was sloppy as a punt-returner last season and couldn’t even get on the field this year. Not exactly a great loss, despite his alleged speed and talent. Well, hopefully he’ll get it together, maybe go back to Ohio and latch on with a MAC team.

LaRod Stephens-Howling was also upgraded, but coming back this quickly from a high ankle sprain I’m not sure just how much action he gets or effective he will be.