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.
