About the actual game, it was observed that the offensive line provided decent protection for Palko — after the 1st quarter.

The battle between Syracuse’s defensive ends and Pitt’s offensive tackles was supposed to be a mismatch, and it turned out to be just that.

The funny thing is, the Panthers’ tackles were supposed to be the ones who were overmatched, but, instead, they dominated the Orange’s stellar pass-rushing combination of James Wyche and Ryan LaCasse the entire game.

It wasn’t by coincidence, either.

“I heard an awful lot about those two guys all this week,” said Pitt left tackle Charles Spencer, who was a big reason the Panthers gave up only one sack.

“I’ve been getting it all week from our coaches about their defensive ends, so this was something personal. They are really good defensive ends. I don’t take anything from them, but I think I did a pretty good job against them.”

The young players stepped up on offense, with LaRod Stephens-Howling getting his first 100 yard game. Derek Kinder had probably his best game in his young career with 8 catches for 81 yards and a TD.

“I think I’m gaining Tyler’s confidence a lot,” Kinder said. “I’m just trying to come down with every pass he throws to me, and I think it helps him a lot that he knows he can look to me when he goes through his progressions and trusts that I’ll be open. And scoring a touchdown was icing on the cake.”

The one guy on Syracuse who was as good on the field as the press and coaches were saying before hand was Safety Anthony Smith.

No one has blocked more kicks at Syracuse than senior free safety Anthony Smith.

On Saturday, Smith blocked a punt attempt by Pittsburgh’s Adam Graessle. Teammate Reggie McCoy gathered the block and returned it 21 yards for a Syracuse touchdown.

It was the sixth block of Smith’s career and established a school mark. All have been punts.

“We went out there with a plan and executed the plan,” Smith said. “One of their guys kicked too wide and I just went underneath. It was pretty easy (to get it). I got in there scot-free. I seen Reggie out of the corner of my eye, I was just like, touchdown.”

Smith, who led the nation coming into the contest in passes defended, had an interception which he returned 73 yards. Smith led the Orange with 12 tackles.

I don’t know how the coaches are spinning it or how it looked on TV, but from where we were in the stands, it looked like Graessle took way too much time to get off the punt. Something that would infuriate Pat all of last year.

Something I wish I could have passed on before the game, but I didn’t realize it. The Syracuse beat writer has a blog and was live-blogging updates throughout the game. Actually, a pretty cool thing.

Not surprisingly, the loss is being pegged on the offense (gee, that sounds awfully familiar).

The Syracuse University football team is chained to an offense that is taking the Orange straight to the bottom of the ocean.

Defense and special teams set the stage for an upset on Saturday against the University of Pittsburgh. But the Orange offense tossed it all overboard with another dreary performance in a 34-17 Big East Conference loss before 33,059 fans at rain-soaked Heinz Field.

Syracuse blew a 17-7 lead against the Panthers – the first time since the Virginia game on Sept. 17 it has led an opponent – by throwing four interceptions, losing a fumble and finishing with 202 yards of offense. The Orange was 0-for-12 converting third downs, had possession of the football 11 minutes less than Pittsburgh because the offense could not stay on the field and repeated a familiar and demoralizing script that is grotesque in its consistency.

At Syracuse Head Coach Robinson’s press conference today, he was not terribly optimistic.

Robinson on if there is anything positive after looking at the film:

“No fumbles. We went from nine to zero. That’s much improved. Now, there were other turnovers, but our ball security was better. You have to eliminate the interceptions and getting hit by the ball on a punt.”

Robinson on the biggest challenge of coaching a 1-6 team:

“Getting that second win. It really is. I thought that last week; same thing. It’s hard. Like I said, at halftime we had given ourselves a chance at least. It was basically a 0-0 ball game. It’s hard. It’s hard to win, it really is. That’s where it’s at right now.”

Saturday was Pitt’s homecoming, so it was fitting that Syracuse running backs coach Desmond Robinson would find himself on the sideline at Heinz Field.

Robinson, a linebacker and defensive end at Pitt in the late 1970s, is in his first season as the running backs coach at Syracuse. He broke into coaching as a graduate assistant for Jackie Sherrill at Pitt in 1981.

Just one of those things.

Other stories on Pitt, focus on the offense coming along from where it was at the start of the season.

Pitt had seven second-half drives. Four of those lasted at least six plays. Two of those hit double digits and were more than four minutes long. This from a team that combined with its offensively challenged opponent on 17 drives that went five plays or less through early in the third quarter.

Is the Frankenstein-like running offense Wannstedt has created perfect? Hardly. But it’s worlds better than the one that pushed around by Notre Dame and Nebraska early in the season.

He left out Ohio.

Tyler Palko doesn’t have any answers for the bad offensive starts, but he’s trying not to think too much about it (at least publicly).

“I don’t know why we keep coming out flat and falling behind in the first half,” Palko said.

“I really can’t put my finger on it, but we’ve been able to recover and win, so I guess we’re doing a good job in staying focused.”

And as long as the opponents are bottom feeders, there’s always time to comeback.

Coach Wannstedt is also trying to figure out the slow offensive starts.

“It’s not a physical thing. I don’t know if it’s a mental thing. Overconfidence? God, I hope not,” Wannstedt said. “It’s a mental maturity thing. It’s about not being stressed, like thinking, ‘I’ve got to make the play.’

“Being poised. That’s it. Poised football.”

Must. Go. Zen.

Owed time with the family — and a collective cold — along with football and the World Series.

Before I get to the game stuff, a quick prop to regular commenter RKohberger for getting a Q in the P-G College Football Q&A (hat tip to Chris who e-mailed me Friday night about it).

Q: How much will the success of Penn State this year affect Pitt’s recruiting efforts? This year’s batch of high school seniors have committed and do you see anyone changing their minds due to Pitt’s slow start and Penn State’s winning season?

Reed Kohberger of Columbia, Md.

FITTIPALDO: I have not heard of a Pitt recruit going back on his commitment, Reed. Pitt has received a handful of commitments and some of those players are highly ranked, and they all seem to be sticking by coach Dave Wannstedt as he molds the Panthers into his type of team. Penn State is doing quite well again this year on the field and in recruiting, but I don’t think it has a great effect on Pitt. Paterno will get a few and Wannstedt will get a few from the WPIAL, but after that I don’t think they’re recruiting many of the same players regionally or nationally.

A lot of the highly ranked players committing to, or considering going to PSU this year seem to be from the Eastern/Central PA and further along the Atlantic Coast. Not sure if it is because Pitt (and some other schools) plucked the big names in the Western part of the state early or not.

Paul Zeise had his Q&A as well, which started off with a bit of a “told you so,” attitude regarding Pitt heading into the Syracuse game.

Q: As Pitt climbs back into the Big East race, what freshmen and other new faces do you believe will continue to see playing time? Will players like Conredge Collins, John Bachman and C. J Davis play a little less with the upcoming weeks as the competition gets better?

ZEISE: Well, C. J. Davis is in the starting lineup so he’s going to play regardless and I would expect him to get better as he gets more experience. Pitt offensive line coach Paul Dunn said earlier this week that Bachman will get on the field as the game dictates because he is behind Charles Spencer, who happens to be one of the better players on offense. Conredge Collins is now playing on the special teams, but with the backfield situation as crowded as it is, you are correct, I would expect him to be used in a similar manner to how he has been used at fullback the past few weeks. I would expect Tim Murphy will handle the bulk of the plays that call for a fullback. As for the other true freshmen who have played, guys like Rashaad Duncan, LaRod Stephens-Howling, Rashad Jennings, Gus Mustakas – those guys have proven they are the best players, or among the best, at their respective positions so they will continue to play.

Looks like H.B. Blades took a vocal leadership role during the game and it resonated.

But, between the first and second quarters, middle linebacker H.B. Blades delivered a simple message to his defensive teammates.

“I told the guys, we can’t wait for the offense to score, let’s score ourselves,” Blades said. “I told them it was time for us to step up and make some big plays ourselves until the offense got going.”

Blades not only delivered the speech, he also delivered the goods as he picked off a pass by Syracuse quarterback Perry Patterson and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown on the third play of the second quarter. That sparked the Panthers, who tied the score by halftime and cruised to a 34-17 win.

But while Blades and the Panthers’ defense might have led the way — they held the Orange to only 202 yards as Syracuse went 0 for 12 on third down — freshman sensation LaRod Stephens-Howling and emerging star Derek Kinder provided the offense with some much-needed punch.

Stephens-Howling made his first start, rushed 23 times for 101 yards (4.4 per carry) while Kinder had eight catches for 81 yards and a touchdown. When the speedy Stephens-Howling wasn’t in the game, Pitt’s other freshman tailback, Rashad Jennings, pounded the Orange for 52 yards on 12 carries.

You know, as bad and as quickly as Pitt got down in the first quarter, Syracuse only had the ball for under 5 minutes. It was something like 4:40, they showed the 1st quarter stats on the jumbotron and that was somewhat surprising.

The defense wasn’t doing anything fancy in the game.

For Pitt, a simplified defensive plan worked with brutal efficiency Saturday in its 34-17 thrashing of Syracuse at Heinz Field.

“In the first half, we ran basically one call. You can’t get much simpler than that,” linebacker H.B. Blades said. “We just went full speed to the ball, and you saw the results. We didn’t blitz much. We just ran around and had fun.”
…
“At the beginning of this season, we had trouble handling adversity,” Pitt linebacker J.J. Horne said. “When the offense couldn’t get things going, we’d go out there with our heads down, and we’d let (the other team) drive down the field.

“Today, when our offense turned the ball over, coach looked in our eyes and we were smiling, like, ‘Let’s go play.’ ”

After restoring their 10-point edge, the Orange were unable to piece together a decent drive.

An interception by Horne, who is playing despite a separated shoulder that has not yet fully healed, led to a score. Palko hit wideout Derek Kinder with an 11-yard touchdown toss.
…
Guys are getting confident and getting results,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said of his defense. “We’re not doing nearly as much.”

By that, Wannstedt meant the Panthers aren’t doing as much with the schemes as they were earlier in the season.

“I was a little upset about that,” Horne said with mock seriousness. “We had plays designed to blitz and everything today, but every time in the huddle it was, ‘Base defense, base defense.’ ”

Blades said keeping things simple made it easier for everyone to make plays.

“For the younger guys, they don’t have to think as much,” Blades said. “Everybody knows their responsibilities on base call, so they can just go out and play. It comes naturally. That’s the main thing, everybody going out and having fun.”

Joe Starkey sees the game as another step in the right direction.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt described his team’s 34-17 victory over sickly Syracuse on Saturday as “a great win” before quickly correcting himself.

“A good win for us, I should say,” Wannstedt said.

OK, it was a terrible win — but a win nonetheless.

Pitt deserves credit for rallying from an early 10-point deficit for the second consecutive week and for winning its third game in a row to improve to 4-4 overall, 3-1 in the Big East.

Incredibly, these deeply flawed Panthers are right in the thick of things in this deeply flawed conference, and will play at least one truly meaningful game, after all.

He takes some backhanded swipes at the BE and wonders about how it went so bad so quickly for Syracuse. One of those articles where you have to write something, but there is no real theme.

Ron Cook, meanwhile, has no such problem finding his theme. Complaining about the crowds, especially when compared to Penn State.

What a difference.

What a letdown.

It’s hard to say what was more depressing. Was it the generally lousy football played by both teams? Or was it that so few people were at Heinz Field to see it?

It was enough to make a guy fully realize the enormity of the job facing Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt.

I guess I’m in the minority as not being terribly disappointed in the crowd size.

There are the usual reasons Cook gives for poor Pitt attendance, but I’ll add a couple more.

First, in comparison to Penn State or Michigan, it’s bogus for another reason. Despite either a down year this year or some recent bad play — both those programs have built up a sizable cache of goodwill and big winning to compensate. Pitt hasn’t. Plain and simple, Pitt is still recovering — fan base-wise — from the descent in the ’80s to the pure crappitude of the 90s. You don’t get that back overnight. You don’t get that back in under 10 years. Pitt didn’t have a better than .500 final record (including a bowl game) until 2000. Prior to that, you have to go back to 1989. It isn’t going to change just because there is a new Coach.

Second, he talks about how the ND loss took the wind out of the sails for fan support for this season. I disagree. That loss hurt, but considering how well ND has been doing, it hardly seems so bad. What totally demoralized and sucked the fan interest and desire to attend were the subsequent road losses to Nebraska and Ohio. Those were absolutely killers. After Nebraska, people gave up on the season.

I’ve been to the past 3 games, and my own attitude was that of fatalism and almost playing out the string. Going to the game was as much about getting together with friends as it was to see Pitt play. These 3 games should have been sure wins, and each one had me wondering how Pitt could blow it. It was tough and I don’t like admitting it, but I think that has been the feeling for the fans.

It would take an upset of Louisville in a week and a half to change most fans feelings about this year. That would show the fans that the season isn’t totally lost and there would be reason to hope for something more for the season — especially going into the final home game against UConn.

Wow. Over 24 hours without posting. No wonder my hands are shaking. That or not yet having the morning coffee. Got back later than intended last night, and happily slept in this morning.

Haven’t even looked at the papers yet, so here are some semi-random thoughts from the game.

— Any chance the coaches can somehow convince the players that when the game begins it is already the second quarter and they are down by 10? At least the offensive line which doesn’t seem to know what is going on until they let Palko get creamed a couple of times?

— Syracuse is bad. I mean, feel sorry for (some of) their fans, bad. Yet, Pitt gave them hope for most of the first half.

— Small comfort for the Syracuse kicker, but at least he wasn’t the Auburn kicker who went 1-6 last night. Costing Auburn the win at the end of the game and missed the kick to send it to a second OT. (That Auburn feel bad for our boy Harlan, as his girlfriend is a diehard Auburn fan, and we know that it cost him.)

— Dumbest moment: Darrelle Revis back to receive a punt that clearly outkicks the coverage unit. Catches it with at least 15 yards of open field in front of him and just freezes. I mean, just stood there. Maybe he was waiting for his blockers to get there, or something. It was insane. Then as everyone gets closer, he starts running to the sideline. Gets caught before he can barely make a few yards up-field. If he just took off running straight ahead, he would have had at least 10 yards before someone could get him. With a head of steam built up, who knows?

— Speaking of brain-lock, I assume the coaches have tape to look at. I presume they have charts to see what plays got what yards. So why do they keep trying to run LaRod Stephens-Howling straight ahead? It’s not working.

— Greg Lee is a maddeningly inconsistent talent. He’s starting to remind me of a healthy Princell Brockenbough. Will drop or miss some easy to slightly difficult passes right off his hands or body, then will make the spectacular catch to almost make you forget how he killed a couple previous drives.

— Derek Kinder is emerging, though, as a very reliable receiver.

— What has happened to Eric Gill this season? He was a pre-season Mackey Award candidate. Now he just seems completely lost out there.

— Given the absolute crappiness of the weather, I was pleased with the actual attendance. A lot of late arrivers (like us) who missed the opening kick-off, and plenty of people huddling in the concourse from the rain. The weather has been the worst for a season in quite some time. Actually that says more about how lucky we’ve been than how bad it actually has been with respect to the weather.

— Most people waited until after Mark May was honored at halftime to bolt for the toilets and the concourse.

— I couldn’t bring myself to mention it until after the game, for fear of jinxing things, but this was Pitt’s first win this season in a televised game.