Ever since these pieces confidently predicting Pitt to be very good this season, I’ve been nervous. I think it is just my nature. Everyone starts predicting great seasons, and I start to worry. Of course there are other reasons (*cough* O-line *cough*).
Last time Matt Hayes of the Sporting News was predicting a big season for Pitt, well, it was the same year everyone else was. So, when I read this after spring practice, it made me a little edgy.
“Pitt,” says Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, “is going to be very good.”
Why take Kelly’s word for it? Because Kelly’s team, ranked and rolling late last October, lost to Pitt in a game that became the turning point in Wannstedt’s shaky tenure at his alma mater. The point where a program that had stumbled and bumbled through 29 previous games and lacked any semblance of an identity found itself and finally won a meaningful game. Cincinnati went on to finish 10-3 and in the top 20 in both polls.
Just how big was that win? The answer came a little more than a month and three tough losses later. Wannstedt loaded the entire team — including all the redshirts in a highly rated freshman class — on a bus and made the 75-mile trip to Morgantown for what those outside the program believed would be a beatdown from the opening kick. Instead, it became an epic game in the history of the bitter series.
Hayes doesn’t actually say why he thinks Pitt will be good this season beyond the defense and being close in some games last year. Guess that’s why he titled his story “A gut feeling.”
Then there was Smizik’s post-spring practice story.
Such is the depth on the team that two starting linebackers from last season, Shane Murray and Adam Gunn, will be challenged for their jobs by Greg Williams, a converted running back with outstanding speed; Tristan Roberts and Brandon Lindsey.
No one will challenge middle linebacker Scott McKillop, who is among the best in the country.
Quarterback remains a question, with Bill Stull and Cross likely to get the most playing time. But Pitt doesn’t need excellence, only competence, at quarterback with the brilliant LeSean McCoy returning at running back.
It’s a formidable array of talent. Wannstedt has arrived at Pitt. It took longer than expected but the wait figures to be worth it.
A disturbingly positive piece that had many unsure who really wrote it. Of course, the flipside was that he assigned an “easily within reach” number of wins for Pitt this season of 9. That means anything less and he can comeback with another column in the season on how the team has disappointed.
So Pitt must win over Bowling Green, Buffalo, Iowa, @ Syracuse, @ Navy, Rutgers and Louisville. Then the team needs to go 2-3 @ USF, @ ND, @ Cinci, WVU and @ UConn. In Wannstedt’s 3-year tenure, Pitt is 4-11 on the road — with 3 of those wins coming in 2006. To get to 9-3, Pitt will need to be at least 3-3 on the road this season.
