0-2, that’s the record of former PITT coaches up to this weekend.

I think that West Chester is two words, but then again, I’m from Western PA. So what do I know? Ask somebody from east of the Susquehanna. 😉

Notice how really bad (most of) the Little 10 has become? Should be a walkover for OSU. Some lowlights:

Illinois drubbed by Rutgers (I was there, Illinois looked stunningly like Div 1-AA)

ND putting it on Joepa and ex-Pitt signee Morelli (my allegiance in that game a no-brainer)

Northwestern creamed by New Hampshire

The ‘cuse almost beating Iowa

And next weekend….

0-2? Walt is one, who is the other? You’re not counting J.D. Brookhart?

By the way, did anyone else notice Palko laying into Kinder on the sideline after his 2nd touchdown catch? The camera was right on top of them on the sideline. Palko looked ticked. What was that all about? I thought I heard a few F-bombs slip too…

Well, I think they were just getting each other pumped he wasn’t laying into him. Anyone know how Bostick did this weekend?

I just meant Harris with that first comment – I know it’s small minded but I don’t want him to do well at Stanford.

Saw the Palko-Kinder sideline exchange, I believe it was as Ben says above – that they were puffing chests after a great play.

After this summer training camp, and the reporting about Bill Stull – I’m curious as to how he’ll perform in action. People sound impressed with him. I went back and checked his recruiting ratings and was surprised he was so well rated. Looks like PITT will be well set at QB for the next few years with both he and Bostick coming aboard.

From ESPN:

“Couches and mattresses were set on fire outside houses in Ohio State University student neighborhoods, and three people were struck by a car following the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes’ 24-7 win over No. 2 Texas on Saturday night.”

See, everyone wants to be like the WVU fans!

We actually lost ground in the Polls….go figure…and how is PSU still ranked after that beat down?

I can’t go against Walt….the only reason to go against Stanford is that if they get real good it makes us look bad.
Polls don’t really matter right now, if we lose to MSU we are out anyway….win and we are in (the top 25).
This next week is huge for the big east…..BE would get lots of cred if Lville, WVU and Pitt win out.

Pitt is a 2 point favorite over MSU on the opening line.

Palko did drop the F-Bomb three times…my TV picked it up loud and clear, but it was as has already been said, just locker room talk. You could also hear coach Rhodes drop the F-Bomb (he called the defensive effort after the Cincy TD and 2 PT conversion “Fing embarrassing” and told them “your bodies are fine”, it’s your heads that are fatigued, or words to that effect. I like the intensity. As for the game and this season so far, people, the glass is full!!! Pitt dominated that game, and was never in danger of losing it. If I see one more idiot (Cook) say something like “Take away this play or Take away that play” and it’s a different game…Really? You can take away plays? Oh that’s right, no you can’t…they all count. I don’t recall Mr. Cook writing “Take away Randle El’s throw, or Willie Parkers run, and the Steelers lose the Super Bowl!” Oh heah…take away 25 of ND’s points yesterday, and PSU wins!!! It’s a stupid argument.

I wonder if anyone has noticed that defenses are playing us exactly how they did the last two years. That is to say that they are putting 8 or 9 people near the line…in the past two years it worked, this year the line is good enough to absorb this…which is why you are seeing Palko throw long passes to WR’s who are in single coverage. It’s not that the OC wasn’t smart enough to call those plays last year, it’s that Palko was running for his life within two seconds of the snap. Runs were immediately stuffed most of the time. At least the running game is now showing some signs of life, the run defense is at least good, if not very good. I’m not saying we are ready for prime time, but compared to what I saw the last two years, this team is already vastly improved. Yes, they had a long way to come, but I feel confident the DW’s plan is in full swing. We will continue to see improved play from year to year and become a regular at the top of the Big East standings in the not too distant future. Hail to Pitt! (Who said Homer?)

Frank:

Is Ron Cook the anti-Beano?

Actually, I do think Ron is a PSU grad, can anyone confirm or deny this?

I also agree with you that this team is much better than last years version and the best is yet to come.

Let’s not get too hung up on top 25 ratings this early in the season, if Pitt continues to win every week the ratings will take care of themselves.

One last item, I picked up a story on the wire a few minutes ago stating that MSU’s top two running backs are really banged up and might not be ready for the game saturday, let’s see how this moves the opening line of Pitt being a 2 point favorite.

MSU looked pretty good this weekend.

Former Pitt QB’s were 2-1 if you count Morelli 🙂

Don’t hate on Harris! Remember, Pitt kicked him out, he didn’t choose to leave Pitt. He only brought our program out of the f’ing dumpster for us. I hope he kicks butt at Stanford, it’s a nice school.

I think Palko might have been chewing Kinder out for pushing off on that play, he’s lucky he got away with it.

I remember reading an article where Bill Walsh had stated that he had been having ‘informal’ talks with Harris about taking over the Stanford job as early as 2002. I believe it was in the cards for awhile, and Harris’ agent’s comment about PITT never being an elite program was calculated to make Harris’ departure look like it was PITT that wanted him gone.

I give Harris credit for his bringing PITT back to being a decent program, but I also think that his half hearted recruiting (concentrating on skill positions) was self serving.

I admitted it is small minded to feel this way, and I might be biased, but this head coach seems so much more sincere and engaged with every aspect of PITT (football, student life, local high schools and community).

Again, I may be not seeing this correctly, and it’s my opinion only.

As to MSU, it should be a closer game than the past two, and I’ve always thought that their QB Stanton is excellent (or terrible depending) – just like the rest of their team. They always seem to win a shocker per year, beating a much higher ranked team – and then have some head scratching losses. It looks that the Big Ten is down in overall talent this year, so maybe that works in our favor.

We can win this game though, and maybe we’ll see some improvement in our weaker areas, such as grinding out good yardage on each rushing play, and getting the TEs more involved.

Bostick had a good weekend also…

“Pitt quarterback recruit Pat Bostick had a big game Saturday night, completing 30 of 40 passes for 388 yards. But Bostick’s Manheim Township team lost to Governor Mifflin, 42-21.”

Perfect Weekend 3-0

Pitt Wins
Steelers Win
Penn St Loses

Thats a perfect weekend

My impression was that Palko was yelling at Kinder about the “pushing off” also. It didn’t seem like chest thumping to me. (Although I completely disagree with the announcers opinion that offensive interference should have been called on that play. The defender was not playing the ball and was obstructing Kinder’s path.)

Just like a strike is different for every umpire, each referee calls interference differently, even from play to play. I don’t think I would have argued if it had been called on Kinder, but it wasn’t blatant either. Refs tend to reward the player who is aggressive but not egregious. And as mentioned above, the DB wasn’t playing textbook defense, and therefore Kinder got the benefit of the doubt.

As they say, there could be a penalty on every play. I personally was PO’ed that Fulmer alone was held on about 6 different plays none of which were called on Friday. That ref didn’t happen to see it that way. What do you do?