You know, maybe it’s the dreary Monday. Maybe it’s the medication. I’m just having a hard time working up the requisite anger and frustration I should feel.
I’m in no mood to defend Wannstedt. I don’t think I’m numb to it all. Yet, I just have this self-pitying sadness about the whole thing.
The timing of these losses have been exquisite. I’m seeing some of the usual rationalizing stuff about how, if Stull hadn’t been knocked out Pitt would have come back. Or how Pitt is only 5-2 and can still win the Big East. All true. Yet, the hope has been beaten out of many and is barely hanging on for others.
Again that goes to the timing of each of the two losses. Both at home. Both on important home dates. Both with crowds over 50,000. Both after getting back into the rankings and national discussion. Both with the fanbase and even the local population ready to get behind the team completely. Fanbases can only take so much of that over time. But in one half of a season?
DAVE WANNSTEDT IS THE NEW TOMMY BOWDEN. The former Clemson coach “stepped down” a little less than two weeks ago, and we already have a successor to his letdown throne – Pitt’s Wannstedt. Few would have been disappointed if Pittsburgh lost two games this season, provided those losses were at USF and to West Virginia. Instead, Pitt has lost to Bowling Green and Rutgers, both of whom are 3-5. Pitt is on the same path as recent Clemson teams: If you find a reason to get a little excited, get ready to be wildly disappointed. Pitt’s 54-34 loss to Rutgers gets my vote as the most embarrassing performance of the season. Pitt made Rutgers look unstoppable. Mike Teel had thrown three touchdown passes all season; he threw five in the first half against Pitt. Kenny Britt hadn’t caught a touchdown pass this season; he had three before halftime. Rutgers hadn’t scored three touchdowns in a game against an FBS (i.e., Division I-A) team all year. The Scarlet Knights topped that with 10:43 to go in the first half. That should suspend any talk of a Big East title in Pittsburgh for the rest of the season.
Of course that could be unkind to Bowden. At least Tommy Bowden took Clemson to bowl games in his first 9 years, and actually finished the year ranked 4 times. Granted it set the fanbase up for bigger spirit crushing losses, but at least the hope wasn’t completely irrational.
In Florida they liken Pitt under Wannstedt to a classic character.
Ah, Pitt fans, we hope you are enjoying The Dave Wannstedt Experience. You must feel like Charlie Brown attempting to kick a football from Lucy’s hold. The Panthers had control of the Big East race right there in front of them, and struggling Rutgers yanked it away with a 54-34 rout.
Yes, and the media started believing as well. So much for that.
One day, we’ll all stop falling for Dave Wannstedt‘s tricks. Until then, however, we’ll continue to believe in his Pittsburgh Panthers, only to have them make fools of us time and time again.
Today’s “gotcha” moment came courtesy of Rutgers (Yes, the same Rutgers team that’s delivered so few noteworthy performances this season, we’re all still talking about Mike Teel‘s helmet-hitting habits and the tavern ruins unearthed during stadium excavations), which marched to a 54-34 win over the No. 17 Panthers.
It’s only been two weeks since Pitt reasserted itself as a top 25 team after beating South Florida (whose latest woes are chronicled below) and already, it’s lapsed back to its Week 1 ways and lost to an unranked opponent.
Pile on the Wannstedt. Pile on the Wannstedt.
2. Dave Wannstedt indeed still coaches Pittsburgh: Wanny is known throughout the land as the worst kind of coach: one who can recruit like crazy but then has trouble with the actual coaching part. Until Saturday, it looked like he had shaken that label.
Then Rutgers put up 54 points as Pitt made so-so Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel look like Dan Fouts. At one point, Teel had completed 13 passes and six of them went for touchdowns.
It’s going to be a fun week.
you said the hope has been beaten out of many. I have to say as a Pitt fan the hope is not beaten out of me. Those that are and who give up the team after every tough loss and proclaim they are world beaters aren’t the kind of fans pitt needs. After all, I don’t think we would all be as crushed after a terrible loss if we didn’t talk them up and hype them up to ourselves pre-season. The fact of the matter is, this is a good team, it is a better team than previous years and Wannstedt is moving in the right direction. The team has had big wins, but is also clearly not immune to losing. All this talk that its BCS or he should be fired is absolutely ridiculous. If anyone can honestly say that the product on the field this year is worse than last year than yes he should be canned. That is not the case though. The offense looks so much better, and the D has played well until our biggest weakness was exploited this game. We got a glimpse of what the offense looked like last year when Bostick went in and it was an ugly reminder. So I think as fans we need to support this team and be a little REALISTIC. They are not a top-5 team this year, but they are a good football team. I believe the improvement on teh feild this year is immense and will continue to do so every year in the future. The real Pitt fans will keep chearing and keep watching hoping that one day we can turn the corner to a national power but know that this year is not that time, but may be a step in the right direction.
Those are the programs whose fans should realistically expect 8-4 or 9-3 seasons with a 10 or maybe even 11-win season sprinkled in every so often, along with a run at a conference title and a BCS bowl game. And most of those teams at that level will lose games like the one Pitt lost to Rutgers Saturday. That’s because the talent gap between the 30th best and 80th best program in the country is often not that great anymore.
That’s the reason an Indiana team that was 2-5 with only two wins over Division I-AA schools can host #22 Northwestern and win.
That’s the reason a Virginia team that got destroyed by UConn and Duke a month ago can pull upsets over the 18th-ranked team in the country on successive weeks.
It’s the reason why a Rutgers team can go into Pittsburgh and upset a Pitt team.
These kinds of programs don’t get enough elite level talent across their entire roster to avoid losing those kinds of games all the time.
And even the teams that do get that kind of talent aren’t immune to a bad loss every now and then. In successive years, USC has had bad losses at Oregon State (2008), at Stanford (2007), at Oregon State and UCLA (2006). Oklahoma lost at Colorado in 2007, lost at TCU and at UCLA in 2005.
I just think that for programs like this, it’s a more gradual improvement because it takes longer for the overall talent base to pan out.
So I don’t think that many people here were ever making any claims that Pitt is a national championship contender. I know I’ve said all along that eight wins and an appearance in a decent bowl game were and still are realistic expectations for this team this year; anything beyond that was gravy.
And I can even rationalize Pitt losing this game to Rutgers, given that Rutgers came in with a three-year starter at QB who – if nothing else – throws a good deep ball, two experienced wideouts who project as decent NFL prospects, and one of the better younger coaches in the game today. Schiano found a weakness in the Pitt defense that showed itself all the way back in the Buffalo and Syracuse games, and he took advantage of it. I do agree with the sentiment that no amount of coaching or adjustments will make up for the fact that maybe our DBs just weren’t good enough to cover those guys. Sometimes, the other teams – even the 2-5 ones – just have better players at certain positions and are able to create advantages in matchups. Losses like this will happen.
It’s just tough because it seems like every time this program seems to be on the verge of getting over the hump and getting to the point that we can start talking about maybe even EXCEEDING expectations, you get this.
So while I can rationalize the loss to Rutgers, it doesn’t make it any easier to accept as a fan of the program.
Of course Wanny deserves to be criticized for the defensive game plan, that being said our defensive backfield needs to step up at some point and make some plays. They were completely outclassed by the Rutgers receiving corps.
Final thought, the season is far from over. 5-2 is about where one should have expected this team to be around this time of year. Next week’s game against the Irish will be very telling of how the season will turn out and what this team is made of.
Hidden key to the Notre Dame game: their field goal kicker is 4 for 10 this year. How can Notre-friggin-Dame not get a good kicker?
But there is more to winning than talent and coaching. Pitt still needs to learn how to win. Just reading these posts and what people are saying on college football boards elsewhere are saying proves it. We as fans are always expecting Pitt to blow it. We have a recent history of blowing it- an environment and mentality of losing. Talent doesn’t change that. The players need to learn to win for that to change.
The program is heading in the right direction. Our offense is looking very good. Before this past week so was our defense. Getting more wins will help to change the mentality and expectation. But that part of the process- where the players (and the fans) actually expect to win doesn’t come over night. Hopefully the coaches are helping to change that mindset. Beating teams like USF and WVU will certainly help it as well. If it doesn’t change, we will always watch the team lose to teams they should beat while beating teams they shouldn’t. But if (when) it does change, look out. All of this will finally pay off.
The key to this team is simple- Our players NEVER ever quit. They NEVER started pointing fingers or yelling at the coaches or teammeates. The fans are the only one yelling for coaches to demote players or the AD to fire DW. Do you realize that we were down and everything was going wrong we fought to the end? Injuries.. Turnover or bad breaks did not stop our young man from competing. That is the sign of a team that I am proud to cheer for. We will be fine. Just continue to support the players, coaches and the university.
Hail to Pitt and I cant wait for Saturday. ND better be ready!!!!
Hail to Pitt!!!!
I am very very proud of my panthers and wear my clothing with proud. I am a pitt fan, i am behind the coaches and players.
“Secretly replacing Dave Wannstedt with newly unemployed Tommy Bowden, meaning he keeps bringing in great recruiting classes, winning one big game a year where you can’t fire him, but ultimately disappoints over the entire season. Oh wait, he already does that. Nevermind. But you have to admit, it would be cool to see Tommy Bowden with a mustache.”
I expect my alma mater to engage in its best efforts to assemble a winning program. But judging these coaches and this team — and sometimes the individual players — on a week to week basis is becoming disheartening on this blog. We can all agree that we are Pitt fans and want to win and we can get emotional. But the level of despair after each loss and attacks against the coaches and, worst of all, the players are becoming overwhelming.
Despite this loss to Rutgers, this team can still win the Big East and its BCS bid. This is not a disaster. Objective minds can look at the situations at Syracuse and Washington and agree on the need for change. But I can’t see how objective minds can view this Pitt program with the level of anger and frustration that is displayed here on a daily basis.
I was just as angry an disappointed as any of you on Saturday. We just need to take a deep breath and lighten up here. These kids need our support. I’ll take a 5-2 start because we don’t know what these kids and coaches can do the rest of the season. I’m not giving up on them.
His record as a coach revolves around mediocrity and making everyone like him. He may win a little more, lose a little more, but he is no champion.
And you Wannstedt backers need to stop the name-calling and finger-pointing. I have spent $1400 flying off to Pitt football games this year and I have been a fan since 1965. Maybe it is just time for him to retire and enjoy life while he is still healthy. He seems half to the glass a lot of the time.
Come on Tony… you can see what Wanny is building. It is there and that is why people are frustrated.
BTW- this team is better than any team we had in the past 15 years.
HAil to Pitt
and thnaks for spending money to support the program.
Not a golfer, I suck at golf, but did play ball professionally. One play, i.e. the muffed punt, can dramatically change momentum and the direction that the game is going to take. So yes, I think if Berry doesn’t muff the punt, Pitt probably drives down the field to take the lead. At the very least, the field position would have been dramatically different. Couple the muff with giving up a TD on the very next play and the game was over.
From an anomous player’s brother on the team, from my understandings DW’s practices are spent too much on special teams, and scrmaging rather than working on fundamentals and reps,and reconition. Im a first year high school coach who is a JV D corrdinator and I can see that. This is horrible that DW (who has been a coach for years and has won a super bowl) is not doing what he needs to do to get us where we belong.
Im telling you people, if we dont get 8 wins this year we should demand that he is out of here. I already have a replacement if it doesnt workout. Its nothing personal to DW but I love college football and I love Pitt and Im tired of seeing us be coached the way we are! We should be better than this. But then again we are 5-2 but we have better win at least 8!
You speak the truth, Dave’s a great guy who loves the school, the team, and the city, but he’s just not a good coach.
My only worry is, if he leaves how do we keep pulling in the great recruits?
Watch the FIRE you see from our young men this saturday against ND.
I will says that Phil Bennett need to have his and defensive line and LBs ready for the screen and flats to rbs that Charlie likes to call. The Also, ND will take their share of of shots down the field.
Berry needs to have short term memory. Learn from your mistakes and grow.
DW will put us in positon to win. The players wont quit. We have to hope to get the magic bounce that we did not get against Rutgers.
Kudos to Teel.. you had a career day against us but this wont stop the pitt train from moving forward
HAIL TO PITT
PITT 34- ND 31
PS- We need to support Bostick becasue he is a very veyr good player that will only get better
Could be another high-scoring game, as I’m not 100% Notre Dame’s defense can contain McCoy.