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October 21, 2007

From the first few plays of the game, I though we were going to lose this game by a million points. A Pitt drive that couldn’t really get anything going followed by a 56 yard run by Cinci QB Ben Mauk – not the start any team hopes for. Five minutes into the game and we’re already down 7. A three-and-out followed by three more points for the Bearcats.

But then something amazing happened. LeSean McCoy and LaRod Stephens-Howling turned it on big time. On our first TD drive, Shady ran for 21 and 5, followed by a Cinci penalty, then Stephens-Howling picked up 11. Before you know it, Pat Bostick hits Darrell Strong and we have the game tied up.

After 137 yards from McCoy and 100 from LSH, the first time Pitt had two 100 yard rushers in a game since 1998, Pitt picked up the biggest win in the Wannstedt era. Ironically enough, he wasn’t even on the field. It’s the first win in well over a month, and the first win over a BCS conference opponent since beating Syracuse on October 7 last year. The big question, as Jimbo Covert’s my Dad asked in the game thread comments, is, “A turning point in the Wannstedt era, or just a weeklong break from the usual pain and agony?”

I feel that the players won this game in spite of the coaches, not because of them. The way our running backs played didn’t seem to result from any magical change by the coaches. McCoy was simply the same Shady we’ve seen thus far, and LaRod just did a hell of a job today. Stephens-Howling is due for congrats today; he’s always been the little running back who was rarely able to pick up yards after the first contact. Saturday he was able to take some hits but pick up an additional 3-4 yards on those carries – a huge difference when you think about it. Did LSH get mad that McCoy was getting so many carries and so much of the load so he decided he needed to have a huge game? And anyone who says McCoy is a bad teammate is horribly wrong – there was nobody cheering for LaRod after his runs more than Shady.

After those rough losses to UConn, Virginia, and Navy, a lot of people were saying how those games set Pitt’s program back. I guess if Pitt is going to have that happen, we might as well try our best to do it to other teams too. From a comment on Josh Katzowitz’s UC Bearcats blog:

After this loss, no Nippert expansion, no indoor practice facility, no BSC Bowl, no ranking, no respect, no bandwagon. Terrible loss. As a 15 year season ticket holder this is very disappointing.

And the feeling is great.

One thing that I’m a bit worried about was the amount of times that drives looked like they were heating up then stalled. We settled for three Conor Lee field goals where we drove down to the 24, 7, and 14 yard lines respectively. I don’t want to ask for too much from the Panthers because we’re so used to seeing numerous three-and-outs each game, but it was definitely a point I noticed. If this team had any type of hope for a bowl game and the season wasn’t lost, I might be more concerned.

Those blue-on-blue jerseys didn’t look good at all, but I’m not objecting to wearing them again if we keep winning in them. Too bad we won’t be able to do it next week. Instead, we’ll see the white-on-blue on the road.

Seems like the Big East refs are having some trouble lately. On Friday, a UConn player clearly called for a fair-catch on a punt but was allowed to return it for a touchdown [video]. From what I could see from the stands yesterday, the refs made some questionable calls. Walking out of Heinz Field after the game, I heard someone talking about the unsportsmanlike conduct (celebrating) call on Oderick Turner after converting the two-point conversion. I think it was actually a make up call – the ref may or may not have missed Turner pushing off the Cincinnati defender. To be fair, I haven’t seen the play more than three times, but I’d like to take another look at that.

Good to see Pitt play a good game, but we should still try to maintain the happy and realistic medium when talking about this team. It’s still possible that we won’t win another game all year. Conversely, this win shows we can pull off a win on any given day. Get ready for Louisville next Saturday; suggested reading can be found at Card Chronicle.





I like the all blue uniforms. As someone said to me during the game down on the field. “They look faster.” Better then the all “vegas” gold.

Comment by Dave 10.21.07 @ 8:25 pm

I’m going to disagree with your assessment just a bit. I really don’t think we entirely won in spite of the coaches. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they helped a TON. But Paul Rhoades, at least after the first drive, certainly was more aggressive with his sets and his scheme. He mixed some stuff up. He showed some different looks. Don’t get me wrong, he should do a lot more. He should also get people like Mike Phillips and Chris McKillop off the field. But, at least they did SOME stuff differently.

I also don’t think Cavanaugh had a bad game plan. Still too conservative and of course, he didn’t have a chance to get all conservative and stupid because we never had the lead. But he put the offense is a decent position to win. He also put TJ in over Pestano. Granted, I think Turner isn’t really much of a player and would like to see a bit more Mo Williams, and he probably lucked out with Thomas getting hurt because it showed that someone could come in and play better, but hey, he did SOME things better.

Now have they suddenly woken up and realized that you need to scheme as well as have talent to win? Not sure. Have they decided to just play the best players instead of the more senior guys? not sure. But it was improvement.

Comment by ryan 10.21.07 @ 8:32 pm

You guys all amaze me. “We won in spite of the coaches” Really, that makes no sense considering the way you blister the coaches when we lose. I guess the players came up with the game plan and called all the Offensive and Defensive formations and plays!! ” A lot of people were saying how those games set Pitt back”. A lotof people. You are one of “those people”. Get real. Admit Pitt had a good game on Saturday and give credit to the players and coaches. Doesn’t mean we have turned a corner, but for one game we did it right.

Comment by TMGPanther 10.21.07 @ 9:08 pm

more importantly…the bball scrimmage was held today. what does everyone think?

Comment by Yi 10.21.07 @ 9:31 pm

TMGPanther, do you know what \”in spite of\” means? It means even though our coaches are bad, we still won. I \”blister the coaches when we lose\” the same as I do when we win. Our defensive schemes, especially with the lack of an effective blitz, could be called and prepared by a fifth grader.

If you don\’t think those last three losses didn\’t set the program back a little then obviously you expect Pitt to turn into Duke — a complete basketball school.

I don\’t give the players enough credit? Did you read the entire paragraph where I said how great of a job McCoy and LSH did? And it\’s not like the coaches deserve to be put up on a pedestal after one solid game…one good game does not wipe out three or four bad ones.

Comment by Dennis 10.21.07 @ 10:45 pm

I have to go with TMGPanther on this one…If we are going to blast the coaches when we lose, then we have to give the coaches some credit when we win…We ran for 260 yards against a defense that had averaged giving up only about 87 yards rushing per game. On defense, we gave up about 256 yards of offense in the first half, and 17 points. In the second half, we gave up about 100 yards and no points. Sounds to me like some good adjustments were made…I highly doubt it was the players that made those adjustments. I was at the game and I thought CAV called a great game. In fact, he has been solid all year. Even those two hard to take passing plays at the end of the Navy game seem a tiny bit more justified now that we watched as we failed on fourth and inches in this game. The QB sneak was the correct play call, but your center is not supposed to be stood straight up by the defense, which is what happened.

Comment by HbgFrank 10.21.07 @ 10:53 pm

They looked sloppy and slow in the beginning, but looked much better towards the end. Sam Young was huge, playing above the rim (15+ IIRC). Looked really good. I didn’t see much of that “fast break” stuff they’re selling except for a little at the end. I figured we were going to look more like we did a few years ago before we changed the offense to the “give it to the big white guy standing under the basket” offense – more motion, cuts, etc., but we really didn’t. We kind of stood around a lot and settled for jumpers. It looks like we need a lot of work in the next 10 days. Blair is a beast, and he seems to want it more than anyone else on the court – I would compare his intensity to Hansboro when he has the ball.

Diggs played much better than McGhee again, just like all summer. Had 10+ points IIRC. Wannamaker looked good too, should get plenty of playing time – i think he’ll be fine as a PG when necessary – i’d rather see him than Ramon there most of the time.

Oh, and most suprisingly, Fields and Blair really did lose a shit ton of weight in the last 3 months. I was shocked, compared to what they looked like in July.

Cheerleaders still ugly.

Comment by Stuart 10.21.07 @ 10:58 pm

We beat a declining and overrated Cinci team and we’re ready to crown our coaches as dieties?

Also, the breakdown of the trophy (hah!):
link to cincinnati.scout.com

Comment by Dennis 10.21.07 @ 11:04 pm

BTW – Cinci held the number 7 rusher (number 3 rusher in any BCS conference) in the nation, Ray Rice, to under 100 yards. Makes what we did seem much more impressive.

I think we have the talent to win games – i just don’t think we’re going to be consistent at all because our talented players are young. I think we’re going to have to put up with this for a while – win some we shouldn’t, and then lose to SU and Navy. I think we won’t know what team comes out each week. I don’t think this means Rhoads should stay – unless he wins every game for us the rest of the year and proves the last several years we’re all a learning curve.

Comment by Stuart 10.21.07 @ 11:06 pm

Do you know the best thing about the victory was.. the celebration and smile on the faces of all our players, coaches and fans. I am so happy for our players for not quiting or listening to all the whinning on this board about coaches, players and the program being set back 20 years. Those young men went out there and played with Pitt pride for four quarters.., and guess what.. we finally got the ball to bounce our way

Let see if we can take the momentum from this weekend’s win into Papa John stadium and get a win on the road.

Hail to Pitt… NICE WIN over a ranked team and despite being down at half

Man, how many underclassman played? Dom, Dan, Mo to name a few

Comment by cdmoore25 10.21.07 @ 11:41 pm

just b/c we win one game doesnt mean we should sign all the coaches to 10 year extensions. saturday’s game was a step in the right direction, but until the coaches string together a few games like this in a row (not wins, but solid showings), its still fair game to criticize harshly. so far they have given us plenty to criticize and not much otherwise, and until that changes they are all fair game. i still want rhoades fired at the end of the year, no matter how many more wins we get.

that said, im more impressed with cavanaugh over the past few weeks. he seems to be doing a decent job with a terrible Oline and freshman qb. look at jimmy clausen at ND, he was supposed to be the greatest qb in 15 years and he was benched within a few weeks.

Comment by matt in orlando 10.22.07 @ 12:24 am

I unfortunately couldnt make the game… (tried to give my tickets away, but people thought i should pay them to take the tickets) I got a huge laugh out of the faces of the fans at the end of the game when everything seemed to be going our way. Did anyone else see the looks that were half happy and half disbelief. (literally they looked like they were confused that this couldnt be happening)
I agree that it was a quality win, but it was cincy… VERY OVERRATED… and they seem to be on the decline. Easy on giving the coaches so much credit. Celebrate it and move on. we are 3-4, and this year is still pretty damn poor. I hope that Wanny and the guys have things figured out.
Cavanaugh had a decent game plan and i felt really did well. The O-line did a great job. Cincy seemed to really tire. The holes that LSH ran through at the end of the game were HUGE! The reasons he didnt go down right away were that offensive line cleared so much space defensive linemen didnt touch him, and he had so much speed, because he hit the massive holes so hard. Im not giving LSH too too much credit, because i think about anyone with legs should have got good yardage at the end of the game when he was getting his yards.
Rhoads blitzed a little more than normal, which i liked. Still his defensive scheme was awful, but the players came through and just did well on defense.
Pitt’s D is half decent against a pro style offense. Once WVU or even South Florida play us I’m a little worried we are going to get SMASHED….

PS. Bostick has the potential if he loses his happy feet. He got sacked one time i think??? but he gets so flustered. I guess he just needs more experience, but he is going to be half decent once he feels comfortable back there.

All in all its good to win, and i hope that we just played and coached really well, but I kind of get the feeling that Cincy was just pretty bad, and screwed themselves.

Comment by adam 10.22.07 @ 1:26 am

Our offensive line is not bad for all the injuries that we have to it.

Comment by adam 10.22.07 @ 1:30 am

Adam – you said…

“PS. Bostick has the potential if he loses his happy feet. He got sacked one time i think??? but he gets so flustered. I guess he just needs more experience, but he is going to be half decent once he feels comfortable back there.”

I didn’t watch the game, but have seen the others and can see that Bostick is doing just what QB coaches teach young QBs to do – and that’s keep your feet moving at all times. Sometimes as a QB matures you won’t notice it as much – and some keep doing it through out their careers (watch Peyton Manning tonight – his feet look like the penguin’s in the movie “Happy Feet”).

He’ll probably grow out of it and become more like Montana who always kept his feet in motion but never brought them high off the ground – more like sliding around. The main thing is that even with all the lower body movement and pass rush avoidance (which he is becoming very good at small moves to avoid pressure) Bostick always keeps his head up and eyes downfield to attempt and complete the play. That’s instinctive and most young QBs tend not to be able to do that. Watch the films of Kevan Smith when the pressure got close and that’s how most new QBs react.

Comment by Reed 10.22.07 @ 5:30 am

We won despite Rhoads. The safeties in particular were rendered useless by how far off the ball Rhoads has them playing. They cannot make a play until a runner is 20 yards downfield. Meanwhile the only strength is our corners’ deep coverage ability, which means it’s not paramount to play the Safeties so deep.

Comment by geeman2001 10.22.07 @ 6:37 am

Reed.. What im saying is not that his feet keep moving, but he gets nervous and feels that the pocket is collapsing, so he tucks or throws the ball away when there is alot of time left. Bostick takes his eyes off of his recievers alot of the time. Its very normal for any qb that hasnt had experience. He just needs to relax a little more. Bostick just needs to start to realize how much time he has and use it wisely. He did make a lot of mature decisions at the game though. I think he will be a pretty smart qb from what ive seen. He has been great for a freshman.

Comment by adam 10.22.07 @ 10:24 am

it was so obvious that he was still flustered that on the one draw he sold pass very well by getting his happy feet on his drop back and looking as though he was about to leave the pocket on his third step. Then quick hand off to shady.

Comment by adam 10.22.07 @ 10:27 am

Dennis, I know what “in spit of means” and anyone reading my comments would understand that I was suggesting that your view that the team won “in spite of the coaches” was not a fair or accurate assessment of Saturday’s game. Also, I never stated that you didn’t give the players credit I was pointing out that you should give both the players and coach’s credit. I have no idea why you threw in the basketball comment. My last sentence “Doesn’t mean we have turned a corner, but for one game we did it right” seems to agree with your view. If you only see your role as one of blistering the coaches whether we win or lose then your perspective will be diminished. By the way, I thought we had an effective blitz for at least one half Saturday. I’m no homer for the coaches, but I recognize when something positive happens and applaud it.

Comment by TMGPanther 10.22.07 @ 2:10 pm

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