Bunch of things needed to be done this morning, and then I will have the monitor duty on the AOL Fanhouse — watching and posting on all the college football games — this afternoon and evening (yes that includes making snarky comments on the Michigan-PSU game).
So, the media write-up is going to be lots of link and little commentary and excerpts.
Starting with the locals, which I’m sure most of you have already scanned.
It’s hard to play up the “bad luck” angle of Friday the 13th when the game was over so quickly. The road blowout by Pitt was their biggest in years.
H.B. Blades had a great game and impressed the Butkus Award Committee — which happens to be run by the Orlando Downtown Athletic Club — which is a nice coincidence. The watchlist gets cutdown from 66 to 10 next week.
I’ll skip analyzing the Smizik column that hardly skimps on backhand slaps at Pitt, to simply observe the abject shock he is experiencing at the idea of a Rutgers-Pitt game that really matters.
The AP story has Coach Wannstedt apparently answering a question about trying to score again before the half.
The second kick came as the clock ticked off to halftime, when despite a 38-point lead, Pitt pushed for a TD.
“We had 30 minutes of football left,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “We would never intentionally run the score up, but it was the same play we ran last week against Syracuse to run the clock out against them. And he was open.”
I don’t think anyone can really accuse a team of running up the score when it is still in the first half. I was happy with it, because it was about putting UCF away. The stepping on the throat that you want your team to do.
Now for the Florida media. They were in a surly mood.
UCF couldn’t stop Pitt on Friday night.
Not on the opening kickoff.
Not on the Panthers’ first possession.
Not on the Panthers’ last possession.
Not anywhere in between.
Pitt never punted. The Panthers converted 10 of 12 third downs. George O’Leary, UCF’s frustrated coach, couldn’t remember another game in which his defense failed to force a punt.
Now, when you get trounced you can play up the “bad luck” angle. But that can only account for so much.
The only problem was that from the very first play of the game Friday night, it was clear to almost everyone in the announced crowd of 35,858 at the Florida Citrus Bowl that UCF’s woes had nothing to do with simple bad luck.
On the bright side, UCF seems to have found another WR to compliment Mike Walker.
This seems to have upset the media to some degree because of who was coaching Pitt.
Wannstedt, a flop as head coach of the Chicago Bears and the Miami Dolphins, has energized his alma mater into a powerhouse once again. Pitt improved to 6-1 and is riding a four-game winning streak. The Panthers, whose lone loss was to Michigan State, could play a major role in the national championship race as they close the season with consecutive home games against No. 5 West Virginia and No. 7 Louisville.
More later.
