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October 7, 2008

Poll Thoughts

Filed under: Football,Polls — Chas @ 1:50 pm

So, yes, Pitt re-entered the AP poll at #24 this week, while remaining outside the Coaches — at roughly #33. The oh-so vital blogpoll has Pitt outside the top-25 at roughly #32.

For those of you ticked that I don’t have Pitt in my top-25, well tough. I’m a homer, but that doesn’t mean I have to vote for them when I don’t think they are a top-25 team right now. Yes, some bloggers who vote are probably pushing their team higher. That’s fine. If their biases are that strong, they can go that way. I don’t particularly like it, and the “everybody else is doing it” argument is weak.

I need to see them show another effort like the USF game. It took until Game 5 for the entire squad — from the coaches to the players — to play a full 4-quarters. That’s a serious issue. Everything is there, but the consistency. Maybe I’m being harder on them because I watch this team so closely, but I am still not sure what I will see from Pitt on the 18th.

One other thing. It’s been pointed out that Pitt isn’t going to kill a lot of teams in the final score. That is very true. It also means that it will be hard for Pitt to get too high in the polls without a lot of teams in front losing — big. Grinding games, where Pitt scores in the mid-20s and opposing teams score around 20 just does not look like a team that can be trusted to win every week by voters (presently Pitt’s averaging 25 ppg while allowing 21.6).

In that respect, Pitt is a lot like UConn and Wake Forest. The result is also going to be the same. When the team wins, it will be a incremental climb. A loss and the drop is substantial — because the lack of trust in the team is confirmed.

The value of winning the game on a Thursday night is tremendous in attention. Just as Pitt has learned the previous years how negatively it is viewed when you lose. If Pitt had beaten USF on Saturday without national coverage, they would not have gotten into the top-25 in any poll.





I couldnt agree with you more on not having Pitt in the Top 25. Way to stay neutral. More writers/coaches should vote the same.

Comment by bigbat25 10.07.08 @ 4:10 pm

1 good win, 1 bad loss, 3 wins against bad teams, and those 3 wins were not dominant.

Need at least 1 or 2 more wins for top 25.

Comment by Jon C 10.07.08 @ 4:22 pm

I have mixed feelings:

I like the underdog role. I like not being ranked and having “no chance” to beat these ranked teams. I like when our coaches and players are not complacent and assume that we’ll win just because we’re ranked and based on hype.

Although, espn only shows top 25 teams for highlights. non-ranked teams other than ND don’t get national publicity. recruits watch espn and need to see us consistently. Pittsburgh is a fair-weather town for Pitt football. I think too many people fell off of the bandwagon when we lost to BG and the USF game/new ranking will start bringing them back.

Pros and cons. Still have to win. Navy is now the most important game of the year. We have more talent and should beat them. The coaches need to stay aggressive with play calling and the players need to remain hungry.

Comment by Hail2Pitt 10.07.08 @ 4:48 pm

I agree Navy is very important, win and we are a a solid top 25

Comment by Mike 10.07.08 @ 6:21 pm

I am perfectly happy Pitt is not ranked at this point in several polls at this stage in the season, even at 4-1. I would rather we win at least one or two games before entering the rankings. If we have only the one loss going into the Notre Dame game, we will get an appropriate ranking if we win that crucial game. Pitt’s recent history has not been good when they are ranked. “One win at a time” should be the motto of this Pitt team and its fan for the time being. The rankings will take care of themselves over time.

Comment by SCPittMBA 10.07.08 @ 6:42 pm

Hail2Pitt – I don’t know how many people fell off the bandwagon after BG, I’m sure some did but how would you even measure that given the strong attendance figures for both the Buffalo and Iowa games?

Comment by Reed 10.08.08 @ 4:05 am

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