Give some credit to the O-line in the loss to Louisville. They may not have opened up much in the way of running room for the game — why break a tradition for the decade — but they did a good job in providing pass protection for Palko. Keeping Dumervil almost the entire game without a sack is a feat no one else can claim this season. I think it might have been the first game where he didn’t tally a sack in the first half.

The bad, of course, was the offense as a whole — though the focus was on the drops from Lee.

It was the sound of a running game that never quite got in gear. It was linemen taking penalties at crucial times. Mostly, though, it was the sound of passes thudding off receivers’ hands.

The offense managed just a touchdown and two field goals, and it was shut out in the second half. The Panthers twice moved the ball inside the 40-yard line, but they came away with nothing.
…
Louisville (6-2, 2-2) began the third quarter with a snappy, six-play TD drive to build a 29-20 lead. Pitt tried to counterstrike, but its drive fizzled at the 37 with three straight incompletions.

Wideout Greg Lee dropped passes on second and fourth downs. On Pitt’s next possession, after the Cardinals tacked on a field goal, Lee came up empty on the next two balls thrown his way.

On a sideline timing pattern, he never turned around to see the pass thrown by quarterback Tyler Palko. On second down, Lee failed to hang onto what could have been a 25-yard pass play.

Lee finished with seven catches for 95 yards, but nearly all of that came in the first half. After halftime, he made one grab for 10 yards.

“He had a bad night,” Wannstedt said with a shrug.

The drops were especially costly, since Louisville was able to put up field goals both times after getting the ball back.

“It was very frustrating,” offensive tackle Charles Spencer said. “We had a bunch of three-and-outs, and you can’t have that against a great team like Louisville. It definitely hurt us.

“But everybody makes mistakes. He’s got to keep his head up. We can’t let ourselves get down on each other.”

Lee was second-team All-Big East last season, when he made 68 grabs for 1,297 yards and 10 touchdowns.

This year, he was a preseason All-American selection, but he has not lived up to the hype. Lee leads the team with 41 catches for 805 yards and five touchdowns, but he has been plagued by drops and mental mistakes.

The entire team from the head coach down is willing to cover for Lee, but at this point, his drops have become glaring. Whether he has his head in NFL dreams already or is just not responding to the support, something needs to change. He is the #1 receiver on a team that is not shown to be particularly deep at the position. Pitt has no chance against WVU in 2 1/2 weeks. If he doesn’t snap out of the funk the team is toast.

Finally, the ugly goes to this piece from Paul Zeise regarding the team for the season. I’ve been a fan of what Zeise has to say about the team — especially in his Q&A — but he is wide of the mark here. He is ostensibly pointing out the problems of the team this season — where individual players have underachieved and where overachievement last year hasn’t been matched. Yet, he quickly glosses over the problems and mistakes from the coaching staff this season. In fact, he again, passes it back to the players.

The coaching staff also had a period of adjustment, but, to their credit, coach Dave Wannstedt and offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh admitted that the transition from the NFL to college was a little tougher than they had anticipated.

The two also have taken far more than their share of the blame for some things that have gone wrong and for some weaknesses that existed before they arrived.

And that leads to a point that is tougher to quantify, but one some players believe is a big factor in the team’s struggles — some players have not been able to raise their own bar to meet the lofty expectations of the new coaching staff.

Wannstedt has brought a “championship mentality” to the program and has forced the players to dig deeper in order to reach their maximum potential. He has demanded a higher level of mental and physical toughness, and that has taken some players out of their comfort zone. He has made it an open competition at almost every position.

While most players have responded to and welcomed the change, a handful, mostly upperclassmen, have struggled with it. But Wannstedt has made it clear he wants to take the Panthers to the highest level and has committed himself to making it happen. He expects the same from his players.

Now I’m the first to admit I’m not there in the practices and seeing what happens from week-to-week, but Coach Wannstedt hasn’t had much of an open competition at most positions since the spring practices — go ahead try and explain why TE Eric Gill remains the starter.

He doesn’t exactly get into how the coaches have made mistakes or had problems other than to say that they have had issues with the transition. Gee, thanks. Instead he lays most of it on the players — especially the upperclassmen who have gotten comfortable.

You know, a cynic might think that Zeise is playing a bit of an access game. At this point, with 2 games left, the senior players are as good as gone. It might be best to play up to the underclassmen who will be back, along with the coaching staff. That will provide more and better stuff for next season. Better to lay more of the problems at the feet of the players who are nearly out the door.

Honestly, I’m uncomfortable saying that because Zeise has been so good in his communications and talking about the team, but this piece was just that bad.