Is this what Pitt is this year? A team that just keeps winning by the skin-of-their teeth. Even coming back against the worst team in the Big East and possibly the worst team amongst the BCS Conference teams (Washington and Washington St. may have something to say).

Falling September 28, 2008

I’m trying to be positive. I really am. I can’t ignore, however, that this is the third straight game where we find ourselves exhaling and saying, “at least they won.”

A lot of people talked about Pitt’s physical conditioning wearing down Iowa last week. This week, that really showed against Syracuse in the second half. As Pitt shifted to running the ball, you could see the Orange defense wear down. That’s great, but I just don’t think Pitt can count on that. Especially against the better teams.

Apparently, Coach Wannstedt, er, expected this kind of game.

“Anybody who thought it was going to be different than what it was this afternoon has no clue about young athletes and coaches and trying to win,” he said.

Actually, anyone with some knowledge of the college game had every right to expect a Pitt rout from the first kickoff and not a game in which a fourth-quarter rally would be needed for victory.

He didn’t really put the play on youth did he? Sadly, there is no Wannstedt transcript. He does know that Syracuse had 25 freshmen and sophomores on their offense and defense two-deep? Pitt starts and plays a lot less youth.

Well, the 10-point deficit to the Orange was the largest Pitt has ever overcome in the Wannstedt era.

It was the largest deficit Pitt (3-1, 1-0) has overcome under Wannstedt, who improved to 19-20 in his fourth season, including 4-7 in Big East road games. Syracuse (1-4, 0-1) has lost 20 of its past 22 conference contests.

“You can always refer back to that,” Wannstedt said of overcoming a double-digit deficit, “but I look at that kind of like going for it on fourth down; you’d rather not.”

The running game — to no one’s shock — broke out against one of the worst run defenses in the country. LeSean McCoy broke out in the second-half when Pitt focused on the run. 147 yards on the day. One run in particular stands out.

McCoy only had one long run in the game, a 34-yarder in the third quarter, and the end of it was the most entertaining part. On the first play after Pitt gambled on fourth-and-inches from its 32-yard line and made the first down on a quarterback sneak, McCoy burst over right tackle and into the clear. He cut to the sideline, and the race was on. He made it all the way to the SU 32 before three tacklers cut him off. Seeing one SU player in front of him, one alongside him and one behind him, McCoy promptly sat down on the Carrier Dome turf.

“Hey, I gassed out,” he said. “I didn’t have anymore gas in me. I didn’t even have enough gas to get out of bounds.”

Fellow tailback LaRod Stephens-Howling wasn’t buying the explanation but vowed to wait a day before letting McCoy have it.

“I already told him we’re not going to talk about that until the film room tomorrow,” Stephens-Howling said with a smile.

Coach Wannstedt broke tradition by handing out a game ball right after the game.

“I thought our kids did a great job at halftime of not coming unglued, of staying positive. I normally don’t award game balls in the locker room until I see the film … but LaRod Stephens-Howling, the guy made tackles on kickoffs, the guy made tackles on punts and he obviously scored the two touchdowns.”

Probably could have given one to Connor Lee as well. Do you really need game film to determine that nailing 4 FGs — 3 of them of 40 yards or more — in the game merits a game ball? Especially when it ties a Pitt record. Not to mention, still not missing and XP.

Not that Pitt didn’t get help from Syracuse.

Pitt benefitted from one major break in the first half when Orange coach Greg Robinson decided against going for a first down on fourth-and-1 at the Panthers’ 38.

Instead, he ordered a punt. To that point, the Orange had dominated play and led, 14-3, while the Panthers’ defense spun its wheels.

“That decision gave us confidence,” said Pitt middle linebacker Scott McKillop.

The Panthers, who mostly conceded the outcome likely would have been different if Syracuse had forged a 21-3 lead, responded by outscoring the Orange, 31-10, after the punt.

You don’t say? You mean having a 4th and 1 inside the 40 and punting says something to the opposing defense? Not to mention what it must say to that team’s offense. I guess Greg Robinson didn’t review the tape of the BGSU-Pitt game. And man, did Robinson face questions.

The fourth-and-1 play from the Pitt 38 in the first quarter with the Orange leading 14-3 looked bad – and Robinson was hammered pretty good for his decision (I mentioned on the blog it was poor game management). Here’s another piece to that play – center Jim McKenzie failed to snap the ball when Pitt jumped off sides. It’s a set play that the Orange works on twice a week. If McKenzie snaps it, Pitt is either flagged for being off-sides or quarterback Cam Dantley bulls ahead. The problem was, McKenzie didn’t snap the ball. Brain freeze?

“We had our chance to convert and didn’t get it,” Robinson said of the fourth-down play. “The risk and reward was good.”In his post-game press conference Saturday after the loss to Pitt, Robinson took one for the team by declaring he wasn’t desperate in that situation. He never brought up the fact it was a set play and that McKenzie didn’t execute the snap. McKenzie had at least two poor snaps with Dantley in the shotgun formation. One contributed to a sack.

I was wondering about that. Pitt did jump, but Syracuse never snapped and then just froze. I admit that stats ranking teams with only 4 or 5 games played, generally don’t say a lot. In Syracuse’s case, they do.

– Third down conversions – SU’s offense is ranked 115th nationally.

– Third down conversions defense – Orange is ranked 117th nationally.

Here’s two more:

– First downs offense – SU is ranked 116th

– First downs defense – SU is ranked 115th

Eeewwww.

Oh, and it also helped that Greg Robinson is a moron as a head coach. He decided that Curtis Brinkley needed a break late in the game. Sure Brinkley had run for 106 yards at that point. Sure Pitt had just finished a nearly 5 minute scoring drive to tie the game.

Brinkley said he was good to go. His body langauge suggested he was not the least bit happy about standing on the sidelines during that point of the game.

“That was very frustrating,” Brinkley said. “I wanted to be in the game, but at the end of the day it’s a coach’s decision and the coach decided to put somebody else in. I wasn’t hurt or nothing. I wasn’t tired. I mean, my momemtum carried me throughout the whole game. My adrenaline was rushing from the first play. I ain’t get tired throughout any minute of the game.

“It was a coach’s decision. If it was up to me I would have played more, and if it was up to other people, they probably would have wanted to play more. But the coaches wanted who they wanted out there, and all I could was listen to them and, you know, respect what they want.”

Robinson said Brinkley, who rushed 16 times for 119 yards, was fatigued.

“Doug had hurt himself, tweaked his ankle,” Robinson said. “I felt we really didn’t have him at full speed. Antwon is a guy that has been very impressive to us. The idea was, we’re playing to try to win the football game, and when Curtis needed a blow, we needed to put him in. We were going to use Doug just because he’s such a fine blocker for third down situations.”

Antwon Bailey only gained 5 yards on two carries, then Dantley was sacked on 3d down. Needless to say the natives are unhappy. Yet Greg Robinson is still employed as I type this.

While Bill Stull passed for only 166 yards, Derek Kinder was responsible for 92 of them with 8 catches. Kinder also got a puffer from the local paper.

Cat Basket is still frustrated with the coaches and the way they call the game.

Pitt Panther Prowl is trying to find more positives than negatives.

Not much time to dwell on this game (thankfully). Big Thursday night game coming up.