That’s my feeling after the rough loss to Louisville — disappointed because we had a chance for a win, but content with the way the team looks moving forward into the future. Sure it took almost 45 minutes into the game for things to look upward, but it looks promising.

Notes from Papa John’s Stadium**:

— Brock Bolen was clearly in the endzone on Louisville’s last drive, and it’s amazing that I can see it every time I watch the replay but the officials on the field and in the booth can’t. Makes me wonder…if they had given UL the touchdown there, would it have kept them from reviewing Oderick Turner’s possible touchdown? Did the refs only take another look just to even out what had happened at the other end of the field?

— For the record, it’s hard to say Turner isn’t down:

Clearly looks like one or both knees are down short of the goal line.

— Looking at “the play”, you see two very nice plays made by Louisville defenders. First, #14 (Rod Council) who is circled in yellow. Also look at #22, Lamar Myles, who stormed right through the defensive line. Both players did what they needed to make McCoy think too much and try to make a decision without ever grasping the ball.

Also, a nice job by Council to securely recover the fumble.

— As many of the comments said in the live blog, we saw McCoy crying on the sidelines, and locker room interviews talk about him and Bostick being upset. There’s nothing wrong with this — it’s good to see that this team’s core players really do care. And honestly, it is very hard to be upset with Shady. Without him, we don’t pull off that great final drive. We ran the same damn play each time and he still managed to pick up 19, 19, and 7.

— Bostick and McCoy are going to grow from this loss.

LeSean was heading out (to the bus) with his uniform on; he wanted to fly home with his equipment on. I said, `No, you can’t do that. You have to change before you get on the plane.’ His emotions were that strong that he didn’t want to be in the locker room. I think that they handled it as well as could have been expected and neither kid has been in that situation very often. So it was all part of the game and they need to grow up along with that and know that they have my support, the team’s support and know that we wouldn’t be in position to win any games if those two guys don’t do their part — so that’s the other side of the coin. It’s just where we’re at right now.

— I still feel a bit uneasy about the way we scored our first touchdown. Intercepting the ball (nice catch by Aaron Berry) on the Louisville 27, so we had amazing field position. We then pulled off the trick play, Darrell Strong to McCoy. We’re rarely going to get that type of field position, and there’s only so many trick plays to try. We can’t win games living of off trick plays.

— Adam Gunn had to leave the game in the fourth quarter and did not return. I also noticed McCoy limping a bit after getting tackled in the fourth quarter, but he looked to be okay on the final offensive drive.

— Aaron Berry started the season slow, mainly because of some injuries, but is evolving into the player he was expected to be.

— On McCoy’s touchdown run to tie the score at 17, did you see the blocking by our offensive line? Especially tight end John Pelusi, who lead the charge by pushing the pile ahead for 3-4 more yards into the endzone.

— Speaking of tight ends, I wish we would see more balls thrown towards Nate Byham. Getting WR’s Maurice Williams and TJ Porter involved in the passing game is definitely a huge step forward. Both are very good athletes, and it seems like Bostick likes to find them.
Syracuse, noon, Saturday. Hopefully a win since it’s probably our best chance to get one the rest of the year.

**Is it worse to play in a stadium named after ketchup (Heinz) or a pizza chain (Papa John’s)?

Playing not to lose. Trying to minimize mistakes. Starting conservative. Whatever you want to call Pitt’s offensive strategy in the first half of games, it isn’t a very effective plan. They are coming out run, run, run and the defense knows it. Not only does it lead to a lot of early 3-and-outs, it hurts field position. Making it harder and harder for the defense to make stops.

That’s the overwhelming theme/meme in the papers.

A reflection of the statistics, however, shows the error of Pitt’s game plan against a Louisville pass defense that ranked last in the Big East and 103rd nationally. The Panthers (3-5, 1-2) appeared to play not to lose in a game they needed to win, a cautious approach that proved costly.

“Part of the mindset was, move the ball and play keep-away a little bit,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “Once we got that confidence going in the second half and started adjusting on defense a little better, that was our thinking. We felt if we turned the ball over, we would have no chance. That was our best opportunity.”

The problem with that theory floated by Wannstedt, is that there was nothing from the offense in the first half (or the 3d quarter) which he could legitimately say gave the offense confidence.

Wannstedt is not going to let go of the excuse that he is playing too many freshmen.

“To have two freshmen in a role where one of the two of them is touching the ball basically every play, that doesn’t happen very often,” Wannstedt said. “When you go in that huddle, from a skill-position standpoint, there’s not a whole lot of experience there.”

That didn’t stop the underclassmen from coming through in the fourth quarter, when Pitt came within a yard of tying the score. McCoy rushed for 65 of his game-high 120 yards, and Bostick completed 6 of 10 passes for 118 yards.

“We opened the offense up a little bit, as far as throwing the ball down the field,” McCoy said. “I think they started getting tired, and we started busting them up.”

That’s what makes it so frustrating. He has no choice. He knows it. He has no choice in the 4th quarter when the team is trailing, and good things happen — for a second straight week.

A bigger problem, at least recently, however, has been the Panthers’ reluctance to open up the offense early in the game since consecutive losses to Michigan State and Connecticut earlier this season. In those two games, the Panthers turned the ball over early and that led to easy scores for their opponents.

Since then, coach Dave Wannstedt has said Pitt comes out with conservative game plans in an attempt to avoid early turnovers.

That’s good in theory. The problem is Pitt has not been a good team at coming from behind — it is 1-13 under Wannstedt when trailing at halftime. Pitt and Syracuse are the only Big East teams averaging fewer than 30 points per game, which puts pressure on the defense when trying to win a low-scoring game.

The other thing is, in the losses to Michigan State and Connecticut, the early turnovers were interceptions thrown by redshirt freshman quarterback Kevan Smith. He has since been replaced by freshman Pat Bostick, who has played at a very high level for a true freshman.

Saturday against Louisville, the Panthers tried to be conservative in the first half and would have trailed by 14 at the half had it not been for an interception by Aaron Berry late in the second quarter that set up the Panthers at the Cardinals’ 27. That set up a trick play for the Panthers’ lone first-half score.

And if you take that play out of the equation, the Panthers ran 23 other plays in the first half for 22 yards — less than 1 yard per play. And Bostick threw only eight passes, completed three for 6 yards.

I acknowledge that Bostick didn’t look good for most of the game. He was missing on his throws. A lot. He didn’t look sharp. That said, the team did nothing on the passing game to even try to stretch the field. The pass plays called most of the game were screens (that didn’t work and even Louisville’s defense recognized) and pass plays that did nothing to exploit the weak Louisville pass defense.
That said, you know it’s not changing.  Before the games, he will talk about opening it up a little more. Letting Bostick do more. Bull. You know each and every remaining game, once it starts he will revert to ultra-conservative and predictable. Then after the game — win or likely lose — he’s going to trot out the young players at key positions excuse again.
If I’m a recruit, I have to question Wannstedt at his word when he says that the best players will get on the field. No. It is the players he feels most comfortable with. Coach Wannstedt is clearly — even at this point in the season — extremely uncomfortable with starting and really using true freshmen. McCoy is the exception only because he is a running back and so much further ahead of anything else Pitt has.

I  agree that at some point Coach Wannstedt has to trust Bostick to do more earlier in the game. The reality is I don’t believe it will happen.

I’m sure most of you have read the comments from Pat Bostick and LeSean McCoy. Each essentially trying to take the blame for the fumble at the 1 yard-line at the end of the game.

To their credit, Bostick, who was 10 of 20 passing for 136 yards, and McCoy, who rushed 26 times for 125 yards and a touchdown, took responsibility for the fumbled exchange. Both were fighting back tears when they discussed that sequence.

“I didn’t get the ball to him, bottom line,” Bostick said. “We don’t have much to show for [the effort] because we didn’t make the play.”

McCoy then responded, “No, it wasn’t all on Pat. I didn’t secure the ball well enough. I was trying to read the defense, but you have to secure the ball first. Things like that happen.”

Wannstedt was quick to defend his talented freshmen and pointed out that the Panthers would not have been in position to possibly tie the score had Bostick and McCoy not performed so well.

“These kids played as hard as they can play and there were a lot of plays in the game that could have made a difference and this is not about one play,” Wannstedt said.

And this one.

“I didn’t get it to him, bottom line” Bostick said, sniffling.

“It wasn’t on Pat,” McCoy quietly interrupted. “I didn’t secure the ball well enough. I got lackadaisical with the ball, trying to read stuff. I need to secure the ball first.”

Good stuff. Both players clearly distraught over the loss. Taking it hard and trying to shoulder all the responsibility. Just, um, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Before he entered the interview room, Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt could be overheard talking to quarterback Pat Bostick and running back LeSean McCoy.

He instructed the two freshmen to share responsibility for the goal-line fumble on a handoff near the end of the game, then he deflected blame from both.

“There were a lot of plays in the game that could have made a difference, and this is not about one play,” he said. “If these two guys continue to play like they did today, the University of Pittsburgh is going to win a ton of games, and these guys are going to have great careers.”

Well, clearly Bostick and McCoy are coachable in all facets.

Interesting little tidbit from a Cinci student paper.

While watching the University of Cincinnati Bearcats football team take on the Pittsburgh Panthers last week at Heinz Field, I could not help but notice an annoying reporter from the Pittsburgh media. Throughout the game he was complaining about Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt. Even when the game looked well in Pitt’s hands he still believed Pitt would blow the game.

“Wannstedt is going to [mess] this up,” he said.

For all we know, this was some kid from the Pitt News getting worked up over his team. Not the paid media. Still, that should fuel the Monday Morning Speculation.

Enjoy.