I made the point yesterday that whichever team loses on Saturday will get called out by the media as being a sham product of a weak schedule. Sure enough, the AP has just such an article making the papers.
Pitt hasn’t had a record this good in mid-October since 1982. The Panthers might soon learn if they’re as good as their 6-1 mark indicates, or if that record is the product of a softer-than-usual schedule.
Funny how this worked out, but opponent Rutgers is in the same position.
In what is turning out to be one of the Big East Conference’s games of the year — and who could have figured that — Pitt (6-1, 2-0) meets No. 19 Rutgers (6-0, 1-0) on Saturday in a game that may determine which team’s talent matches its record.
I also happen to agree with the assessment that Rutgers has received more of a challenge then Pitt has to this point. It’s not a huge difference, but it’s there.
Ron Cook at the P-G notes that this is a big opportunity that Pitt has continually missed at home to make a statemtent of progress (he doesn’t note any exceptions but I will — beating VT in 2003 seemed like it until Pitt followed it up with bad losses to WVU and a home humiliation to Miami).
He also spends half the article concerned with putting bodies in Heinz Field. Coach Wannstedt won’t bite. He’s seen plenty of programs struggle with attendance regardless of the success.
“I was at the University of Miami when we had the Heisman Trophy winner” — Vinny Testaverde — “and were 8-0 and had 35,000 for a game against East Carolina. I was at Pitt when we won the national championship in ’76 and had Tony Dorsett and averaged 48,000. I was at USC when, if we didn’t play Notre Dame or UCLA, we might get 40,000 when we played Oregon or Oregon State …
“We want a packed house, just like everyone else. If it’s to be, it will be. All I know is we’re going to keep recruiting the top players who people want to see. We’re going to keep winning games. I want to put out a product that the alumni and the people of this city can be proud of. That’s all I can do. That’s all my football team can do.”
Admittedly, you don’t like to get lumped in with perceived front-running fans. The thing is, like Pitt those are programs in pro-city towns, so it all comes down to winning (LA at the time Wannstedt is speaking had the Rams and even the Raiders came. A bit different now, and by coincidence the Trojans are packing them in).
I want to see more people and better support at the game, but we all know the majority mindset is they want to see the team winning before they come. Heck, the blog stats reflect it. The drop-off in hits following the Michigan State loss was significant, and only now with a 4-game winning streak has come back to the levels of the week leading up to that game.
And of course, all the beat writers cover mention this topic.
The critics have pointed out that the Panthers’ schedule isn’t very strong and the best team the Panthers played, Michigan State, beat them rather soundly and hasn’t won since. The Panthers haven’t defeated a team with a winning record.
In that case, it’s more of a lead-in to discuss the Rutgers team.
The players know the team isn’t seen as legitimate yet because of the schedule, but also know they are the ones that can change it.
“We’re not concerned about what people say about us, that we’re not that good or we haven’t really played anybody,” Pitt linebacker H.B. Blades said. “We just do what we’re supposed to do, go out and win games. All that other stuff is going to take care of itself, as long as we keep winning.
“It’s a little strange, but they’ve done a great job so far this year. They’ve beaten ACC schools, Big Ten schools. They’ve just been killing people. They’ve been doing it this year. We’ve got to beat the teams that (have) been doing it, and Rutgers has been doing it.”
The main difference is that the Scarlet Knights have beaten three teams with four wins or more — Ohio (4-3) and South Florida and Navy, both 5-2. Pitt hasn’t beaten a team with a winning record, and Michigan State has lost four consecutive games since beating the Panthers on Sept. 16.
“We struggled against Michigan State. That was probably the only team that could validate us,” said Pitt linebacker Brian Bennett, a Delanco, N.J., native. “People say, ‘You haven’t beaten anyone,’ but we went out and practiced, prepared to win and beat people the way we were supposed to.
“We’ve got to beat these guys if we want to win the conference, to be considered a legit team.”
And Thursday night’s UVA-UNC game will go some ways to determining who had the better win against a bad ACC team.
If there’s any caution, it’s that hyping the game too much may make an actual loss that much more painful.
“This is an opportunity for us to play a ranked opponent on national television, and it’s an opportunity for us to see where we’re at,” Palko said. “By no means will this game make or break our season, but it’s going to be a test. So, we’ll study all week and see where we’re at when we take it.”
Yeah, it only feels like SATs to determine whether you are going to be able to get into Pitt or Slippery Rock.
