Real world intrusions killed all hope of posting yesterday. Settling in for a game that I can’t help but have some hope for an upset.
12:02: Oh, no. Pitt is wearing their Georgia Tech tops. Why? Who? Someone is to blame for them. I need a name. Give me the name!
12:03: Meaningless stat. Pitt has lost the last two to Rutgers. Those were both night games. I’m thinking that the last time Pitt lost to Rutgers in a day game was back in ’98.
12:14: Guess Teel’s thumb is feeling better. Still, I can’t complain that Pitt is selling out to stop the run. I’d rather take a chance with Teel and the receivers than Rice.
Field goal is good.
3-0 Rutgers, 11:29 in the 1stQ.
12:20: Bostick hits Turner who fights for extra yards. Nice. Get’s Turner’s head in the game immediately as well as opening things up.
Turner should want this game. He is a Jersey boy.
12:21: Poor footwork by Bostick. on that 3d and 5 pass attempt.
Pooch punt fails miserably.
12:25: Wow. Gift interception to Kennard Cox. Britt had position, but let it go past him. Good return.
Pitt at the RU 23.
12:26: No shock that Rutgers will also sell out on the run.
12:28: FG for Pitt now. 33-yarder is good.
3-3, 6:39 in the 1st quarter.
12:33: Wow. A fumble! McKillop caused it. On a blitz? Ah, Jabu was back.
Under review? For what? To see if his arm was coming forward?
12:34: Howling takes it to the 9 yard line for 3 yards.
Munoz (OLB) for Rutgers is down after the tackle.
12:36: Smart dump-off to Howling. Damn. Just stopped short of the goal line.
1st and goal. Have to make this a 4 down attempt.
12:39: Offsides by RU on two straight plays as Pitt QB sneaks have been pitiful.
Oh, crap. what the hell was that? Lucky to be sacked rather than the turnover. Not sure how that can be reviewed.
Vangas stepped on Bostick’s foot as he pulled out.
12:41: Refs say McCoy was short. 3d and inches from the goal line.
Wow. Great stop by Rutgers. Hat right on McCoy to deny him. I’m impressed by that one.
12:44: Going for it after a TO.
Jump ball to Strong. Hey. It worked this time!! Grife. Now we will have to read in the post game by Wannstedt saying, “See, told you it works.”
10-3 Pitt, 2:14 in the 1st Q.
12:50: Rutgers is getting good field position off of kick-offs. Short kicks and good returns on all 3.
Rice gets the first down on two carries. Curious to see how conservative Rutgers goes. Two turnovers by the QBs.
Scratch that. Cox got burned by Britt up top for a TD pass.
10-10, 59 seconds left.
12:52: Damn right there was holding on Strong. Nice pass. Still right on the money.
12:54: 6 yard sack on Bostick. Hesitate, held when no one had turned. Not to mention that side of the line collapsed.
End of the 1st quarter with a hold. Declined.
12:58: Rutgers can’t stop going offsides.
Damn. Another short-armed pass by Bostick. Looked like he hopped as he threw as well.
1:02: Brytus punt from mid-field, high, but bounce goes straight up. RU starting at their 25.
1:04: Mick Williams with a dumb late hit.
Blitz nearly got Teel, but got it away. Offensive pass interference by Britt on Chappel.
1:06: Great pick-off by McKillop. Dropped back and made the leap. SHould have been a late hit on Rutgers for diving on McKillop.
1:10: McCoy with a tough 9 yard run gets it to the RU 19 and a 1st down.
Crap. McCoy fumbled at the 14. Phew. Recovered it. 3d and 5.
1:13: Wow. Lee completely pulled that FG. I thought it was blocked the way it curved, but they say it was a clean miss.
1:17: Oooh. A sideline report on Rhoads. I always like things that make me want to drink more.
And a blitz that pays off. Forcing a 3 and out.
1:18: Well special teams are going Rutgers way. That punt really bounced their way.
1:19: Howling with a nice cut back run for 6 yards. Still 3d and 3. Turner shocked when Bostick gets it away to him and drops the 1st down.
1:20: Punt by Brytus, picking ball off the turf. Good job on getting it away.
1:26: Chappel seems to be in for Cox, and definitely has the speed and technique to stay with Britt.
1:27: and on cue, Chappel called for pass interference. Granted, I’m biased, but it looked clean to me.
1:29: Rice breaks it, gets past Chappel. (I should have kept my mouth shut) and runs it right in for a TD.
17-10 Rutgers, 4:51 until halftime.
1:36: “Never a good sign when your center gets blown up and put in your lap.” Thank you Dave Sims.
1:37: The blitzing by Rutgers is getting much more pronounced.
Good news. Pitt finally gets a good bounce on a punt.
1:38: Romeus got a push then got the block on the pass. Nice swat.
Lovelace appears to be in the rest of the way. Teel won’t be back it appears.
1:42: Pitt appears content to run out the clock and get to the half.
Yep.
Rutgers leads 17-10 at the half. Not sure why Rutgers keeps getting away from the run. They look like they can wear Pitt down, but keep stopping themselves.
Pitt’s offense is what we thought it was.
Not that good. The line can’t do much for McCoy. The blitzing and aggressiveness of the Scarlet Knights are overwhelming the lines and frankly Bostick needs time to throw. Every QB does, but with his wind-up style he especially needs it.
Pitt had 4 straight games against defenses that weren’t particularly good to outright sucking, so this is something of a shocking reminder of how much work is needed.
On defense, not too bad, but it helps that Teel is injured and now out. Still. It just seems a matter of time before Rice wears them down — see, last year.
2:06: Pitt starts the second half at their 29.
Kevan Smith returns???
Wow.
Oh, great Byham shaken up on the kick-off return.
2:07: Smith takes the snap and goes straight ahead for 14 yards.
McCoy runs for 3.
Throws behind Collins while Greene came at him.
Smith, actually escaped and got the 1st down. Nope. Otah called for holding.
3d and 17. Now Smith sacked. No lane for him to run. Nothing downfield to throw.
2:11: 66 yard punt with a solid 20+ yard bounce and roll.
2:13: You know, as Pitt gets a 3 and out, I can’t help but think I’ve seen this game before.
Sometime back in September. Give me a sec, I’m sure it will come to me.
2:16: We all love McCoy. He’s so good. He’s only scratching the surface. He is trying to do so much.
That said. He has to take better care of the ball.
Rutgers has the ball back.
2:24: Man this has become a dull game. Quick flicking.
24-0 UConn over Syracuse midway through the 3d Q.
FSU beating Maryland 21-6.
Georgia Tech has a 10-9 lead over UNC. The Yellowjackets got their 5th passing TD of the season.
Florida with a late patsy game is beating FAU 42-20 early in the 3d Q.
Kentucky beating Georgia 10-7 coming out of halftime.
14-3 Ohio St over Michigan halfway through the 3d.
Illinois killing Nwestern 35-14. There’s a hatchet or something involved for this game.
Entertaining live game on ESPN Classic. Tulsa leading Army 35-31.
Halftime, 21-18 Mizzou over K-State
2:33: Well, golly. Pitt managed to get a 1st down on a 3d and 1.
2:37: Damn. Forced to settle for a FG.
17-13, Rutgers, 16 seconds left in the 3d quarter.
Geez. First the situation seems familiar. Then the QB. Then the score. Wish I could place where I’ve seen this game before.
2:45: Oh, come on. That ball was so overthrown and the ref was determined to throw that one.
Nice correction. Waived it off.
2:50: Oh, yeah, that’s why Smith wasn’t starting. Staring down receivers too often with a lot of air underneath the throws. Pass broken up by two Rutgers players hitting each other fighting for the INT.
2:57: Blindside sack by Murray! Fumble by Lovelace! McKillop recovers! Lots of exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2:58: Direct snap to McCoy gets completely blown up. Look, the “wildcat” formation works at Arkansas because they actually have an O-line. In case the coaching staff hasn’t noticed, Pitt is noticeably lacking in one of those.
3:00: Well, given the Pitt offense overall, and down by 4. No way the team can settle for a FG in this possession. 4 down time if necessary. Yes, I know there’s still plenty of time, but…
3:03: Naturally Wannstedt is not going to do that.
31 yard FG attempt is good.
17-16 Rutgers, 11:05 left in the game.
3:06: Desperate times by Rutgers. Teel is back.
3:07: Uh-oh. Rice is starting to get longer runs.
3:12: The defense, um, bends but doesn’t break. Thatcher nearly with the pick, but no completion.
30 yarder by Ito is good.
20-16 Rutgers. 7:50 left.
3:21: Ball game. Smith gets sacked on 3d and 13 with 4 1/2 minutes left.
Smith is indeed being looked at on the sidelines. That’ll resolve any QB controversy if he’s hurt.
3:25: Technically Pitt has a chance. Pathetic punt goes barely 20 yards. Pitt starts at own 40. 2:40 left.
Bostick back in.
3:27: Look, I know Bostick has struggled. I know he hasn’t been the most accurate. But if you can’t even take one shot downfield on 2d and 1, there will never be a chance to open things up for the run.
Pitt is moving down field, but time is running out.
3:29: Strong with a big catch, but didn’t get out of bounds. Spiked the ball. 25 seconds left at the 7.
Ugh. Offensvie pass interference by Turner. Denises the TD. Now at the 21.
Intercepted in the endzone. Tipped. Strong didn’t know where it was.
Strong was open…make a good throw its a TD.
That doesn’t mean that the official didn’t blow the call, but I think whenever you play a game close to the sleeve you put it in the officials hands.
The officiating made a couple of offensive PI calls (two on Rutgers earlier in the game) so you know they were calling/looking for it.
I am heartbroken as anyone, but I think its too easy to blame officials…
As someone earlier wrote “…we are not good enough to recover from a bad call…” (I am paraphrasing). This is the real problem not the bad call.
DaveD
Does anyone know the name of that official?
You wanna see offensive pass interference? Look in the first half where their player laid ours out. That’s pass interference.
Same fucking ref didn’t call the penalty when Britt ran over Chapel, same ref made that terrible call when Chapel had perfect coverage, and same ref and made that terrible call at the end against us when we won the game.
FUCK YOU! I watched the game. What the fuck did Rutgers do to win that game? NOTHING! Pitt won the game. 1 turnover. On a great run by McCoy. The refs stole it. The defense played as well as any Pitt d has played in 5 years. The offense didn’t turn the ball over and made plays at the end of game. How can you criticize Pitt? Your are delusional.
Why don’t you tell us all what powerhouse you played college football for…
…this is where they find a way to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory and make morelli the overall number one pick all in one series…god i hate msu…
Second of all, we could have done things better in the first half especially. It was obvious that Pat was struggling and although we wanted to throw the ball down the field, some flare passes or especially some screen passes would have been much more effective just to get the D line off of Pat’s back.
Don’t get me wrong, with that bad of an Offensive line, it’s hard to do much, but we could have been more effective throughout the game.
But that was still complete robbery. I cannot believe they didn’t even give us the TD in the initial call. Two feet down by a mile.
I said “I’m not pretending like we didn’t play an awful game…” and you don’t seem to understand what i meant by that. Its self-evident. That is nowhere near saying “pitt did everything right.”
The rest of what i said: “…or if one of a handful of things would have went our way…and yes, even after the call, we had the ball at the end, still had a chance, and threw an int. But we’re not good enough to win any game twice. We’re just barely good enough to win once. And that wasn’t good enough today because of one fucking retarded ref. This isn’t whining where “that should’ve been pass int†on a ball that WASN’T caught – this was A CAUGHT BALL, this was a TD, we WON THE FUCKING GAME…”
Seriously, do you understand what i’m saying? Because your comments lead us all to believe you don’t, at all. You’re also very classy with your “clueless wonders” comment – ironic how it slips by you that we won the turnover margin by a large amount…and to top it all off, we score the winning touchdown…
Don’t purport to have any idea of my intelligence level or assume i went to Pitt for one reason or another. You have no idea…keep being a hypocrit by lobing insults and then calling others who do so “classless”…
link to colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com
This comment is not so much because of these comments but one of the other Pitt sites: the D played well. We held their run the whole game except for one play. I hate PR as much as the next guy, but give credit where credit is due. Rice did not run all over us like we all thought he would. Good defensive performance.
and scott: a ranking for liberal arts schools? seriously? since you like lists so much, point out your school on this one: link to colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com
That felt good. And to prove I’m a stand up guy, kudos to the Pitt defense (I can’t bring myself to say that directly to Rhoads) for a nice job today.
Here’s a thought – attack my arguments and what I say, not me. Do you understand what logical falacies are?
Who cares?
I agree that Pitt didn’t do enough to win. It shouldn’t have come down to an officiating blunder.
On the other hand, I also agree that Slutgers didn’t do anything to win the game either. They played just as much of a shit-laden game as we did.
But they just got a good call (at least for them, not us) at the end.
Should they have gotten that call? Probably not.
But oh well. If we had stepped above the slop and shit football that was being played by BOTH teams, we wouldn’t won by two TDs like we rightfully should have.
We didn’t play above that level though, and we opened ourselves up to getting assfucked out of a game that we should’ve rightfully won.
Next year, we’ll beat ’em by 17 at Heinz to eliminate any chance of Tony Soprano’s paid off refs (relax, I’m being sarcastic) costin us a W.
Amen!
Smith briefly sparked an offense that was lifeless in the 2nd quarter. And, most importantly, he lit a fire under Bostick’s ass.
So yeah, benching Pat to start the 3rd was a good move. The proof that it was a good move is in the result. And if Pat’s game-winning TD pass doesn’t get called back, this is a non-issue right now.
Next year its our turn, look at the potential:
1) all of the big games are at home.
2) Bostick and McCoy both almost a full year of experience.
3) Kinder and half the injured team come back healthy and rested.
4) Our nemesis Pat White, Brohm, and Ray Rice will all be gone.
5) The defense has steadily improved every week since the Navy disaster.
lots of good things to look forward to.
We’ve lost 4 or so games now by 1 play. Things are looking a lot better. Hopefully the roster we have next year makes that one play difference at least. This is the first time in recent memory that we put the clamps on a good running team.
We *didn’t* do enough to win the game twice. We’re not that good yet. That’s asking too much of this team. Quite simply, they got fuct. And our players are all better people than I am for not bitching about it. I would be furious.
And i don’t care if their sloppy play means they didn’t *deserve* to win the game – they made the goddamn play at the end to WIN THE GAME. Who the hell determines who *deserves* to win a game? What the hell is that? They made the play to win the game. That’s all that matters. And it was stripped from them. Too bad they didn’t make it twice…
I hope they remember this next year when Rutgers comes here, and do something about it. If we’re winning late next year, there is absolutely no chance I’d let up, even for one second. Our goal should be to embarass them next year.
Did anyone think that Strong should have scored on the late catch?
Hail to Pitt-
PS- Pryor would be the missing link to our magical run in 2008- BTW- that is the year DW said the team would be ready
From this game, it does look better for next year, but i’m still tenative. Yes, our D played well against the guys that were on the field, including a mobile backup QB – but when Teel would come in, our secondary would get exposed on deep throws – or we put in Chapel and he provided no run support. Its awful. We need some guys to step up out of nowhere next year.
Our QB situation improves by default, as long as Stull doesn’t transfer. Either Bostick improves immensely, or Stull is the man – and we start throwing that tricky “forward pass” thingy i see other teams doing. Our lack of passing has obviously been the biggest problem with this team. We had a very solid chance of having been 8-2 at this point with a real QB and a top WR like Kinder, even with our other problems.
Also – what the hell is that embarassing formation that we have to go to in order to get 1 yard? Are we really that soft we’ve resorted to crawling? I appreciate the coaching staffs willingness to do anything, no matter how pathetic, to get us a win, but those lineman should hang their heads in shame at what they’ve had to resort to. What happened to all that Buddy Morris strenght crap? All those lineman should have to wear Strong’s “I WORK OUT AT CURVES” pink shirts in practice next year until they can consistently get 1 yard when necessary. This is either a line coach that needs fired or more time needed in the gym. Disgusting. I’ll understand if somehow Rhoads maintains his job, but i see no way in hell that the Oline coach has any chance at all to be here next year.
As others have mentioned, the schedule and other schools graduating players helps immensely too.
Like i also said, and agree with you cdmoore, give him an extension, rewrite the buyouts in the University’s favor just in case. Win-Win situation, and a no-brainer. To bad we have no AD.
Now that it looks optimistic, i’m reverting back to my typical Pitt-fan self and waiting for the impending disasterous collapse…
a lay over in Cincinnati,
2 $40 game day tickets,
$150 rental car,
watching the coaching staff blow another victory, priceless!
Pitt plays just good enough to lose every week…and this is due exclusively to the coaches, WHEN WILL IT STOP? Big time coaches coach their kids to big time wins, and this coaching staff has not and will never be able to accomplish this feat. Until we get a competent coaching staff things will never change.
Wanny X-mas list: New DC, New Oline, New OC…Juco Center, Juco QB, Recruit athletic QB, Some stud DBs, LBs
PR X-mas List: 1. By/Read/Understand ? any book dealing with blitzing, aggressive defenses. 2. New Resume…send to Akron, Miami OH, Kent St. oh hell…whoever will take him
O-line Coach: A nice set of Samsonite Luggage and a moving van…hopefully a good letter of recommendation from Wanny
Pitt O-line: The Heart to make a yard when it counts
If you are referring to Strong’s catch that took him down to about the five, I’m going to give Strong the benefit of the doubt on that one. Bostick put the ball where it needed to be but he floated it a bit. Strong made a nice catch and broke at least one or two tackles right after making the catch. I seem to remember him having two Rutgers defenders standing in his direct path to the endzone, and another one coming from the middle of the field. He lowered his shoulder to try to bull his way into the endzone, but it would’ve been tough for anyone to get in there.
On the final play, he probably should’ve looked sooner, but I think Bostick let the pass fly about a split-second too early.
The ball was thrown to the exact spot that the tallest guy on the field was going to be. You’d expect him to be able to outjump the shorter ones and get it. Too bad he can’t. I wouldn’t even bitch if this wasn’t the first time he did this.
The play before was a much bigger improvement from him than i’ve seen all year. At least he didn’t try to run out of bounds short this time. They must have made him wear the pink shirt again after the Navy game.
I hear you about Kinder – maybe he makes both of the grabs we needed and we have a winning record right now. Oh well…
For the records- Next year Byhnam is taking that reception and turning into to SIX. Byhnam is a stud.
Hail to PITT
Bostick will be fine as long as Shady helps him, which he will. I would not trade them for any other freshmen in the country. We show flashes of what can be, we just have to make it be a full time thing.