No one’s said much about the defense because, well, the defense did fine. It also helped that they were playing a team with very little to offer in terms of offense. And, quite frankly, last year the defense did fine in the first half of the season against offensively inept or inferior teams (Virginia, Cinci, Citadel, Toledo, ‘Cuse, UCF — 55 points), but as the season progressed or against a team that understood the concept of the forward pass or had a running game (MSU, Rutgers, USF, UConn, WVU, L-Ville — 219 points). So, I’m not going to be reading too much into the performance.
Just a thought, I realize the release of Pitt’s basketball schedule was something dictated by the Big East, but couldn’t Pitt have had a waiver to delay for a few days. Think about this extra promotional incentive. Attend the Grambling game and be the first to get the Pitt basketball schedule. It couldn’t have hurt. Couple that with Wanny not revealing who will be the starting QB until Smith or Bostick runs out with the offense on the first series and it would be some great reasons to go to the game.
Mike McGlynn is eager to get back to playing.
McGlynn did his best to show Pitt coaches what they were missing in his cameo last Saturday. He replaced sophomore Jason Pinkston for one play at right tackle, and promptly unleashed his frustrations on an unsuspecting Eastern Michigan defender by driving him backwards 15 yards.
“I was excited and I took it out,” McGlynn said. “I definitely left it all out there on that play, that’s for sure.”
McGlynn is expected to replace Joe Thomas on the line who gets a bit of a defense from Zeise’s Q&A.
Q: Joe Thomas seems to be everyone’s whipping boy for the OL troubles, but why does C.J. Davis get a free pass? He hasn’t exactly dominated the competition these past two years, and versus Eastern Michigan he was whiffing on blocks and late on his assignments. Maybe Bokor should get some reps versus Grambling.
Zeise: I disagree about Joe Thomas taking more criticism than the other guys on the line. Are you going to tell me he has taken more flack than Chris Vangas? And Thomas was not singled out at all last year because people understood he was a true freshman. But I think one thing you need to remember is Thomas has had a number of nagging injuries that have slowed his progress this training camp. He hasn’t been healthy yet and coaches understand that, they aren’t down on him, they aren’t giving up on him, but at the same time, this coaching staff understands it has to win games now (like I said in my opening). He’s got a lot of talent and will still have a great career, but even he’ll tell you he’s struggled a little this year so far. C.J didn’t light it up either, but he’s been a consistent performer for two years so he gets a little slack. And if he has a couple more games like that, you might see Bokor, or even a guy like John Fieger, getting a few more reps at that spot. Believe me, this won’t be the only lineup change this year — the hook will be quicker for everyone because Dave Wannstedt is going to put the 22 guys out there who he thinks give him the best chance to win.
Thomas is catching more flak this year for two reasons: 1) his potential is greater than most of the other players on Pitt’s O-line, so more is expected; and 2) he hasn’t shown it — whether because of injuries or not — which means no progress from last year.
Kevin Gorman posts that he thinks it should (will) be Kevan Smith starting if for no other reason, that the players on the team seem more behind Smith at the moment.
