Well, the Pitt News has grades for the football team after 8 games. Here’s the quick summary:
Offensive Line: C-
Quarterbacks: B+
Receiving Corps: C+
Running backs: B+
Defensive Line: B-
Secondary: A-
Linebackers: A
Special Teams: D+
Coaching: C
There seems to be a bit of grade inflation here. I’ll agree with O-Line, Secondary, Special teams, and Receivers.
Quarterbacking, I’d have to drop to a B or perhaps a B-. Simply asking where would this team be without Palko, is not sufficient for that high of a grade. Yes, he is adjusting to a new system, but he had some absolute clunker games (Ohio and most of Nebraska come to mind) with less than stellar games (Cinci). If Palko is the best player, then higher performance is expected.
Running Backs is a B-. There hasn’t been sufficient consistency, in part due to injuries and the change in systems, but there is still a long way to go to meet the potential especially in Jennings and Stephens-Howling. Not to mention using Conredge Collins now that his redshirt is burned.
D-line is a solid C. Not very good against the run and no pass rush.
Linebackers I’ll go with an A-. Blades elevates the group, but not to a perfect score. He does seem to be doing it by himself.
Coaching is a C-. While being 4-4 seems to beg a straight C, looking at the schedule includes an inexcusable loss to Ohio and an almost, but not quite excusable loss to Rutgers. Maybe 8-0 was unrealistic at this point, but 6-2 or at a minimum 5-3 would have been average.
Louisville, has also found itself dealing with disappointment.
The best the Cards can achieve is 9-2 — or, more precisely, 10-2. Nothing less than four more victories plus success in something as grand as the Gator Bowl can erase the sting of losses to South Florida and West Virginia.
The Cards have been good, just not as good as advertised. Or as good as last season. A check of NCAA team stats reveals this squad is down 40 yards per game on offense while giving up nearly an extra 40.
That has translated into a defense giving up an extra touchdown per game, slipping from 24th to 68th in the national rankings. That’s one reason U of L remains outside the Bowl Championship Series Top 25. Five of the six BCS computer rankings have the Cards no better than No. 28.
Louisville wins out, but Dr. Bo will withhold a bowl prediction until he sees if the Cards are playing in a real game (Gator) or holiday filler.
I’d suggest that the drop-off in rankings was due to the BE, but considering that 2 of the 3 BE teams they have played are fellow C-USA refugees, that is unlikely. Clearly, they too are not as good as expected.
Still, it’s not like their offense is in the crapper, and Coach Wannstedt has acknowledged that Pitt can’t afford to spot them points like Pitt has been prone to do.
“Everybody knows how good they are as a football team and how well they play at home,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “We can’t fall behind by 10 and expect to come back against this team.”
Wannstedt, whose team will tangle with Louisville Thursday (7:30 p.m., ESPN), is referring to the gaudy numbers Louisville posts on a regular basis. In their last three home games the Cardinals have scored 63 (against Oregon State), 61 (Florida Atlantic) and 59 (North Carolina) points. Not surprisingly, they are 3-0 at home.
Overall, Louisville is averaging 46.9 points, good for second place in the nation. Their offense is producing 499.9 total yards per game, a mark that is eighth nationally.
Pitt is a huge underdog in the game. The line started at 18 1/2 and is now at 20 1/2.
“I didn’t even know we were that big of an underdog,” Pitt defensive end Chris McKillop said. “I try not to look at those things. I look at them like any team, although Louisville’s a great team, but we can’t make them more. … But now that I know that we’re a big underdog, it bothers me.
Now, use it to help motivate you and the rest.
