There was the story from Joe Starkey on Brian Davis. Essentially about what was and might of been.

What happened at Pitt?

“Basically, I stopped going to class,” Davis said. “Can’t blame anyone but myself. I’m not the only one who’s ever done that, won’t be the last, but I can’t blame anyone but myself.”

Davis believes he erred in staying too close to home. He put too much time into entertaining his homeboys from Washington and too little into taking care of business at Pitt.

Davis, though, is content with his life and has one.

Not so for Todd Becker.

Becker made waves as a true freshman on special teams for Pitt, a top-10 program at the time, and was named special teams captain as a sophomore. But on Dec. 16, 1982 — the day before the team was set to fly to Fort Worth for the game — his life came to a tragic end.

At the time, Becker had been banned from a dormitory for several minor infractions, most notably squirting a fire extinguisher. He snuck into the building to attend a party thrown by several of his teammates, but when authorities were called, he fled for fear that he wouldn’t be able to play in the bowl if he were caught.

Becker ultimately fell to his death from a third-story window. He was 20 years old.

The program hasn’t been the same since, enduring just 12 winning seasons in the ensuing 25 years. Pitt lost that year to SMU, reached another New Year’s Day bowl in ’83, but didn’t return until 2004 — and even then, was highly overmatched.

Something that has more to do with coaches, recruiting and players since then; but it makes an interesting time mark.