Okay guys, last minute thing. Ian Cohen of Sexy Results and a fellow AOL Fanhouse blogger answered 5 questions about UVa for me.
This will be the open thread to comment on the game tonight.
click on the “listen live” button in the upper right side of the web page.
that is the website for fm news talk 104.7, the local station that does the pitt games.
UVA has 12 (that’s right 12 yds) on the ground so far.
Pitt has played well so far, and seems like good rotations of D line in with no drop off. revis is limping.
O Line is dominating UVA up front so far also.
Listening to the game via internet on 104.7 and have ESPN Gamecast up on the screen, so it’s a pretty good way to follow the game.
Special teams look good, Defense looks very good so far with Revis pick resulting in 19 yard return TD. Brooks at RB due to tweaked ankle on Howlings. UVA has about 15 yards rushing so far.
Take away the UVA interception, and its essentially 31-6 (but back to reality), 31-13 is great at this point in the game.
Big plays both O and D, great rushing defense – forcing the UVA team to pass on every play almost, and pressure on a continual basis.
To note: almost all the big plays were by veterans; freshman played and contributed, but we didn’t have to rely on them.
This feels good!
One drawback: 8 penalties for 91 yards. Could be because we were very aggressive, but I’m sure DW will address this with the team.
The team sounded fast, as opposed to last year’s team, and it sounded like it was well played in all aspects of the game, with standout play by the lines.
Congrats to both the team and coaches!
HAIL TO PITT!
D line rotation was pretty clutch and the speed on the outside was too much for the slow UVA tackles. Would’ve like to see a few more sacks, but we sacrificed sacks in the 2nd half for taking away the screen pass.
We just looked great. Big plays, but I’m not so sure we even needed them. UVA did nothing on offense. Absolutely nothing.
It was also great to see that ’76 National Championship team.
Nevertheless, hate to heap it on, but as posted to panther. rants prior to game…
Neil said…
Considering the weather, I’m thinking more along the lines of Shane Brooks (v. C.Dokish ala Larod). We shall see, though… 12:28 PM …
I need lay it on tonight…esp. after last year’s prognostications.
hence, damnations in full, I am so F*cking Proud Of This TEAM!!!!!
HAIL PITT!
Really? Because I was listening to the radio and heard Hillgrove say something to the effect of “…and the screen gets crushed!” about three times. I thinks Pitt’s made some improvement in that area.
Almost all of the yards UVA gained on the ground were short gains, and no rushing plays hurt us.
Agree with Chris above re: screen plays. The announcers on the radio made it very clear that UVA attempted 4 or 5 screen plays with one succeeding in the 4th quarter for 20 yards. All the others were either well covered or broken up.
The running game, while the stats don’t really reflect it, sounded like it was improved, and I’m speculating, but after LaRod getting gains of 17 & 19 yards in the first half, he could easily have broken off some big ones in the second half had he not been injured. Brooks sounded good though, and he might be the guy to go to in short yardage situations. I’ll bet if DW would have concentrated on running the ball last night it would have worked out well.
From Hillgrove’s calls on the radio it sounded like there was constant pressure on the QB all evening – granted no sacks, but once this team gets settled in and DW feels comfortable about turning loose the blitzes we’ll see some fireworks in that area. And, was the DL as good as it sounded like? Listening to it last night it seemed that there was marked improvement there, with good penetration & constant pressure and speed from Clemond at DE.
I’m interested to hear other’s thoughts on how DW started & played the veterans last night – and how well they responded. It sounded like the players who started last year did very well, and the guys playing for the first time really supported and contributed in a solid fashion.
Look, I’m trying not to get to optimistic after one game, but I was thinking last night that opposing coaches are going to have a hard time with game planning against PITT this year as we seem so well balanced – we’ll see, but this team is going to be exciting to watch as long as the Coach keeps them hungry and humble.
Have been following other Big East results and we did very well with the exception of the Orange who lost to Wake Forest (expected). Rutgers is for real in my opinion, and they have a backfield that might turn out to be one of the best in the country with the great FB Leonard and young HB Rice who went for 201 yards yesterday (after a 1200+ yard rookie season). If Louisville wins tonight this weekend will help in boosting the BE presence with the poll voters down the road – I hope.
We can’t take any teams lightly this year, the ‘lean and hungry look’ will have to be there game after game. This is where we’ll see how good of a college coach DW is.
As I listened to the game it struck me that, toward the end, I expected PITT to make the important defensive plays, as opposed to hoping they would as in the past. That’s a big difference, and as I understand one game means little in the scope of a full season, my expectations of progress, competitiveness and team play seems to have been met at this early stage.
An aside: Pitt picked up another highly-rated hoops recruit this weekend, Gary McGhee of Indiana. Rated as 11th best center in the 2007 class.
Nice weekend!
Great start, though. I’m actually excited.
As a side note, I saw Aaron Gray with Orlando Antigua before the game (I was standing near the Pitt tunnel) and he looked slimmed down and more athletic. A very good sign IMO.
I don’t doubt we can beat them – I’m just concerned about staying level headed for Cincy.
Watched the Louisville game last might – they are good but definitely can be scored against – they gave up a lot of big plays for TDs.
Don’t believe the loss of Michael Bush will really hurt them – the two sub RBs that played in his place were fantastic and one was so frickin’ fast no one seemed to be able to touch him on end sweeps.
I thought I’d hear May May crow a little about PITT, but maybe he’s holding off for awhile. I am glad that Trev Alberts is gone though, he was very poor as a commentator.
Tailback LaRod Stephens-Howling had an ankle injury and sat out of the second half, but he is expected to play Friday at Cincinnati. No other player was injured, though several battled cramps throughout the game.
Strange, but I read about a lot of cramping in HS games up in that area also – must have been the weather somehow.
