masthead.jpg

switchconcepts.com, U3dpdGNo-a25, DIRECT rubiconproject.com, 14766, RESELLER pubmatic.com, 30666, RESELLER, 5d62403b186f2ace appnexus.com, 1117, RESELLER thetradedesk.com, switchconcepts, RESELLER taboola.com, switchconceptopenrtb, RESELLER bidswitch.com, switchconcepts, RESELLER contextweb.com, 560031, RESELLER amazon-adsystem.com, 3160, RESELLER crimtan.com, switch, RESELLER quantcast.com, switchconcepts , RESELLER rhythmone.com, 1934627955, RESELLER ssphwy.com, switchconcepts, RESELLER emxdgt.com, 59, RESELLER appnexus.com, 1356, RESELLER sovrn.com, 96786, RESELLER, fafdf38b16bf6b2b indexexchange.com, 180008, RESELLER nativeads.com, 52853, RESELLER theagency.com, 1058, RESELLER google.com, pub-3515913239267445, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0
November 22, 2008

Just as you make your own luck, I don’t buy into destiny. I prefer free will.

So, here’s the liveblog that should get underway sometime around 7-ish.

Since there has been something of a queue to participate, I’ve sent out some invites (near the max allowable) to those that I trust will be able to reasonably control themselves that should allow more participation. Hopefully that will help.

Here’s the Link to tonight’s liveblog.





haha, the guys annoying, but do you need his address and number?

Comment by Patrick 11.23.08 @ 12:39 am

Man, is our secondary bad.

Comment by dan 11.23.08 @ 12:47 am

yeah, fields falling down, decicco letting some guy walk by, and others i cant remember, hope we get it fixed by friday though

Comment by Patrick 11.23.08 @ 12:49 am

I’m on a Pitt IP, jackass. And either way, if you do that, I’ll press charges.

Comment by Joshua 11.23.08 @ 12:51 am

If you are on a Pitt IP then its even easier and 100% legal. Every room at Pitt has its own IP address, and your hostname contains your building and in some cases your room number. Universities broadcast this information so that they can pass the blame onto the student instead of taking it themselves. For instance, if you were pirating music on the university’s connection, the university can pass on liability to you. It also comes in handy in scenarios like this.

Comment by matt 11.23.08 @ 12:55 am

This game makes the brawl even more important. Perseverance pays off…

Comment by ChrisA 11.23.08 @ 12:57 am

oh snap, anyway, anybody go to the IUP game, i know blair had a monster game, how was it?

Comment by Patrick 11.23.08 @ 12:59 am

Well, if you show up at my door, I will call the cops on you. Because I’m pretty sure stalking is still a criminal offense.

Comment by Joshua 11.23.08 @ 1:01 am

hahaha… josh is a tool

Comment by Hogan 11.23.08 @ 1:03 am

HOOOOOOGAAAAAAAAANNN!!!!!

Comment by Joshua 11.23.08 @ 1:04 am

Awesome Colonel Klink reference.

Comment by johnny 11.23.08 @ 1:07 am

so any predictions on the wvu game?

Comment by S. Tepper 11.23.08 @ 1:09 am

I will make no predictions for either of the last 2 games. I don’t think anyone who follows this team would bet a left nut on win or lose on the last two.

Comment by Tony In Harrisburg 11.23.08 @ 1:24 am

This secondary is an absolute disgrace. I’ve tried to give them another chance week after week but for Christ’s sake how many mental mistakes can a secondary make? Aaron Berry is to worried about whether his fucking forearm shivers are on straight that he forgets he is playing a game (I actually saw that pussy adjust his shivers mid play). Its not entirely on the secondary, the dline didn’t finish all night. They made Tony Pike, who couldn’t possibly run a sub 5.0 40, look like he was Vick escaping the pocket. They have a ways to go before they are a BCS worthy team. I expect them to beat UConn but am certainly not looking forward to WVU next week. As for Joshua I only pray Pitt meets Duke in hoops again this year so we can watch Blair pull in another 20+ rebounds and shove it down Kyle Singlers pussy soft throat

Comment by stache 11.23.08 @ 1:39 am

Bill Stull is AWFUL!!! We have to get a better option than him. Why is it that none of our QB’s can feel pressure and get rid of the ball? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE start developing a QB for next year. Bring in a real QB coach. Something? Anything???

Comment by Oakland_Cloud_Factory 11.23.08 @ 1:57 am

Don’t blame me, Wanny recruited and coached the QBs and kept Stull in the game.

Comment by Joshua 11.23.08 @ 2:00 am

Where was the 15 yard penalty at the end of the game? I’m not saying Pitt would have won. Clearly Cincy outplayed us all night, but come on! People were throwing oranges and running out onto the field while the ball was in play. There should have been a 15 yard penalty and one last play.
The officiating was terrible tonight. Cincy didn’t need that much help.

Comment by Oakland_Cloud_Factory 11.23.08 @ 2:05 am

Dude, why in the world would you think I was blaming you? Wait, I’m reading back through the comments. Joshua, you apparently have become the center of the Pitt fan universe. I can’t tell, what is your team? You’re aren’t a State Penn freak, but clearly you dislike the Panthers.

Comment by Oakland_Cloud_Factory 11.23.08 @ 2:08 am

that was depressing and i had to share tv time with my OU alum roommate, which made it even worse…

Comment by Greg in New Orleans 11.23.08 @ 2:16 am

Ah, I see, you’re just a hater. Joshua, you’re pathetic. You dislike the Panthers so much that you’ve dedicated much of your time and energy in to learning as much as you can just to discredit them. You seem to have developed a fetish. Good luck with that. Better the Panther Blog than that grad student in Bio who almost knows your name…

Comment by Oakland_Cloud_Factory 11.23.08 @ 2:21 am

It’s called I developed a hatred of Wanny when he destroyed my beloved Miami Dolphins. Slowly but surely, that seething hatred spread toward idiot fans like you who would eat a s**t sandwich if Wanny took a dump in front of you. So, maybe I’ll like Pitt football again when Wanny eventually gets the axe. But after seeing the behavior of Pitt fans on this site and on the Scout boards for Pitt and Cinci (and if you go over there, you’ll see the seething disrespect Pitt has toward Cinci. I mean, doesn’t Pitt at the very least grudgingly respect WVU?), I will always detest the Pitt football fan.

Comment by Joshua 11.23.08 @ 3:14 am

Enough with this Joshua person. The truth is, Pitt played ONE huge game and didn’t show up. Please don’t give me USF. ND, and Iowa being huge games. The first two stink and the last one is the fifth best team in a mediocre conference. A good win yes, but hardly something amazing. The deal with Pitt is that they don’t show up when the program needs the win the most and don’t look now but if Pitt doesn’t close out the season well, then in four years Wannstedt has done less than Walt Harris. Not that I was a huge fan of Harris, but facts are facts.

Comment by Mark 11.23.08 @ 6:04 am

Ah, the twin powers of Google and egomania combine once again to expose identities.

Comment by steve 11.23.08 @ 9:02 am

Josh, Pitt took the lead against Iowa early in he 4th quarter and then played conservatively. Pitt also did not any turnoers from Iowa until the last minte of the game. Summary, Pitt, who like Iowa both improved troughout the year … but don’t fool yourself to thinking that (1) Pitt wasn’t the beter team that day, and (2) aside from PSU and OSU, tat the Big 10 this year was any better than the BE or ACC. Once again, the Big 10 was the Big 2 and 9 others.

Speaking of PSU … ask any Nit fan and they will tell you that the big difference between this year and last year, and for that matter, the team 2 years ago vs 3 yeasr ago (Orange Bowl) is Darryl Clark and Mike Robinson vs Anthony Morelli ….. or in other words, Tony Pike vs Bill Stull. Unless Pitt can get a good running attack to keep the pressure off of Stull, he is unlikely to make something out of nothing

Comment by wild Bill 11.23.08 @ 9:20 am

Anyone got Walt Harris’ phone number? I want to beg him to come back to develop our QBs! I’m hoping the redshurt freshman is as good as he looking in the Big 33 game or Bostick is morphed into what we thought he could be! I watched the game a second time on the DVR and Cincy had a lot of guys who were really up for the game – making big hits and key blocks all over. I still think it would have been a game if the WRs caught a few more of the balls that hit their hands or the secondary at least made it a little harder for Pike on some of the big plays. Cincy just seemed to really want it a lot more than us. Let’s take our frustration out over WVU. Pat White is going to get beaten like a rented mule. Remember how confused he looked in the backyard brawl last year? It will be even tougher for him this year on our home turf! Go Pitt!

Comment by Dishman 11.23.08 @ 10:06 am

Before everyone bashes the team and Wanny any more…..Cincy played a perfect game on offense. Their receivers made every catch, the QB made every throw and he did it just before getting hit every time. Offense could have played better, but don’t blame the D (except for the blown coverage.) Cincy would have made just about any D look bad yesterday. It was just their day, it happens.

Comment by Jon C 11.23.08 @ 10:09 am

I think that Cincy deliberately let our D line rush up the field and took advantage of that aggressiveness with draw plays, screens or just Pike taking off with the rock. We had no contain. Plus our secondary left receivers totally uncovered, which has been a big problem. They converted a lot of third and longs, it was just frustrating. Even with that, we lost by 1 TD. Lets win the next two and go win meineke or some other of the crappy big east affiliated bowls. This season is something we can build on.

Comment by Pittastic 11.23.08 @ 10:21 am

Too many dropped balls to place the blame solely on stull (Kinder dropped at least two big catches, McGhee dropped one, and Baldwin dropped a beautiful deep ball in stride that was a sure TD) those are just the ones I remember, you have to make plays to win big games and you have to make routine catches…..also watch the highlight on ESPN, McCoy could’ve beat the guy on the last play for a TD but stopped…in the PG he said he heard a whistle.

Comment by PBnJ 11.23.08 @ 10:47 am

The favored team (by 6) won at home by 7. Sounds about right. This was not about coaching, that is for sure. This game was about the Cincy players, the QB in particular, making the plays they had to make to win the game. The better team won. So what. I will make predictions for the next two games in this sense: I think the WVU game is a good match up for us, and the UCONN game is not. If we went 8-4, I would take this as a good season for our program.

Comment by HbgFrank 11.23.08 @ 10:56 am

I wasn’t able to watch the game as closely as I normally do since I was out with a bunch of friends and the game was on. From what I saw, though, this was going to be a tough game for Pitt to win. Cincy is a good team; Kelly has a great system that takes advantage of his team’s incredible speed. There’s a reason this guy is the hot new up-and-coming coaching prospect at some of the more traditional programs.

Nippert Stadium – a place that two or three years ago was probably playing to 50% capacity – was amped up and the energy there seemed to be unreal. Cincy’s players clearly fed off of that.

Kudos to Pitt for coming back with a solid effort in the end. But as many said above, Cincy made the plays they needed to make and Pitt didn’t. Sometimes that’s just a product of what you are, and Pitt is still a very young team at many key positions and players are going to make mistakes (Decicco in some of his reads and support deep, for instance).

At the beginning of the season, every reputable preview publication had Pitt finishing somewhere around 3rd or 4th in the Big East with an outside shot at the conference title. I hopes for eight wins and a halfway-decent bowl game. We might get nine and a solid bowl game.

Comment by Stoosh 11.23.08 @ 11:03 am

THIS GAME WAS NOT ABOUT COACHING??????? Are you kidding me? This game was everything about coaching. For all of you Wanny apologists let me ask you one simple question: If it is true that we need to keep giving Wanny passes because his “system takes time”, and he needs time to “recruit his own players”, blah, blah, blah. Then how is it that a coach like Brian Henry can come into a nothing program that nobody even knen played division 1 football two years ago, and suddenly turn them into a BCS team immediately. If that isn’t coaching, I don’t know what is. Wannstedt can’t beat a good coach across the field which is why he will NEVER beat the Henrys’, Myers’and Scianos’ of the world. Like I have said many times, as long as you are willing to live with an 8 and 3 year and the best you can ever hope for, then live with it, because that is what you are going to get. Just like Columbus used to call Bruce “‘ol 8 and 3 Earl”, we got ‘ol 7 and 4 Dave.

Comment by steve 11.23.08 @ 11:12 am

When asked, years afterward, why his charge at Gettysburg failed, General Pickett said: “I’ve always thought the Yankees had something to do with it.”

Comment by 66Goat 11.23.08 @ 11:19 am

THE BOTTOM LINE: IF PITT HAS A QB, WE ARE AT LEAST 9-1 (RUTGERS – 54 POINTS -TOUGH TO OVERCOME); WE LOST THESE GAMES BECAUSE WE DO NOT HAVE A QB THAT CAN THROW ACCURATE PASSES TO OUR TALENTED WIDEOUTS…TONY PIKE PLACED PASSES RIGHT IN GUYS HANDS, BILLY STULL CANT..PLEASE GOD GIVE US A QB..

Comment by poostull 11.23.08 @ 11:20 am

I think it’s taken all year for more fans to realize just how important QB play is.

Pitt will get exactly the same results next year if they stand pat with Stull at QB.

His stat line every game generally goes something like 15 for 25 for about 200 yds and 1 TD and an interception, but that masks just how ineffective he is. He’s never able to scramble for a key first down or make a pass rusher miss in order to complete a long ball downfield. He’s just there, and that’s not good enough to win big games.

I repeat my post from last night…..

Pitt’s got to get serious about the QB position. Cincy’s a great example of a team that doesn’t have half the talent on offense that Pitt does………but they accomplish more offensively because their QB is an athlete. He consistently made the pass rush look inept with his mobility and found receivers all over the field.

Then we watch Pitt get the ball and it’s pretty obvious early that the Bearcats are keying on McCoy (like everybody does) because they know Stull can’t beat them. He can’t move well enough to shake a rush and doesn’t have any vision or any arm to make a play when things break down. He’s just overmatched at this level.

The college game is so wide open the way it’s played these days and the play of the QB is exponentially more important than what happens at any other position on the field.

I want a playmaker back there and I don’t think Wannstedt has one on the roster. Stull’s a good WPIAL QB, Smith scares all of us the minute he gets in a game, Sunseri is too short to play D1 and watching Bostick play is…….well it’s just painful and I’m baffled by how any recruiter thought he had the tools to succeed.

I’m worried Wannstedt and his staff are going to waste a ton of other recruited talent and never win the games they should during this period because they never get the right play-caller in there. Face it — one position matters more than any other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment by ricky jackson 11.23.08 @ 11:39 am

Does this team have a secondary coach?

If so, he should be fired.

Comment by Joey D 11.23.08 @ 12:42 pm

I started to read everyone’s comments and the main thing is just…relax. If we get a split we are 8 and 4 and my expectations were met. This year is about growth. We are winning games that we should be and young talent like Baldwin is coming through. Let’s win one more game and who cares about which bowl we play in. I wouldn’t mind beating Ball State in Toronto or East Carolina in Birmingham. If we can end the season on a good note and get some new faces in the secondary next year, we will be fine. This loss is not the end of the world.

Comment by AJ 11.23.08 @ 1:04 pm

Also, can we stop with this Joshua nonsense. Let’s talk about the games, players, and other news. Enough with the profanity, insults, and other crap. Let’s just ignore that guy.

Comment by AJ 11.23.08 @ 1:13 pm

Why is everyone neglecting the numerous key balls that were dropped on 3rd down and placing all the blame on stull. Also, the secondary did stink at times, but one of the biggest problems was the lack of sacks. We got pressure but Pike had all day. If you let a QB who plays in a system like that to have that much time he will constantly pick you apart. Lineman were running full speed going for the QB, not breaking down, and flying right by him. Tackling a QB is like tackling any other player, you gotta break down. Pitt didn’t do that and LB’s and CB’s had to run with WR’s for inexplicable amounts of time. There also were some blown coverages solely on the 2ndary though. I agree with the not about coaching comments that have been made, w/ the exception of the 2ndary, 2 many mental mistakes all year at that position. Everywhere else though I thought there was a lot of execution issues as talked about above. This team is clearly an step up on any since Wanny has been here, to even be in the championship caliber game they were in shows that in comparison to previous .500 seasons. Pitt will be the favorite in the league next year, especially if McCoy stays. If they crumple next year, you can call for his head.

Comment by PBnJ 11.23.08 @ 2:23 pm

No Steve, the game was not about coaching. The correct schemes were used, and the right adustments were made. I’m not going to call individual players out, but suffice it to say, we had opportunities to make plays, some of them big on offense, and did not execute. We had them to 3rd and long many times on defense,then failed to stop them. Sometimes you just have to give the other team credit for winning a game. As for Cincy having a “sudden” appearance on the scene, that’s just incorrect. They have bee steadily building for the last three years. Don’t forget their last coach was successful enough to earn the Michigan ST head coaching job. When Cincy joined the BE, I predicted that it would not take them long to be competitive because they would be just one of two BCS schools in the state of Ohio. It’s one thing for you to blast Pitt’s coaching for this loss, it’s quite another to give no credit to the other team for playing one hell of good football game; or, to give them no credit for having a solid, respectable program. The better team won, it’s as simple as that. I’d say Pitt this year is where Cincy was last year.

Comment by HbgFrank 11.23.08 @ 2:57 pm

i was at the game, so i could not here what the announcers where talking about for the last 2 plays of the game. Should there have been a 15 yrd penalty on cincy for both of the plays, running on the field, tearing down the goal post and also throwing oranges on to the field?

Comment by mike 11.23.08 @ 4:15 pm

yeah, there def. should have been at least a 15 yard penalty and an untimed down for the last play

Comment by Patrick 11.23.08 @ 4:19 pm

Iowa was thrown a flag for storming the field against PSU too early. Texas Tech was flagged against Texas. I couldn’t understand why Cinci wasn’t flagged either.

Comment by PBnJ 11.23.08 @ 4:35 pm

with that being said, Cincy rushed the field on back to back plays, pitt could have gained another 30 yards, and ill take my shot with a fade route to baldwin. Did wanny or any of the coaches talk about it during the press conference? i know you dont lose or win a game based on one play, esp the way pitt was playing, but that 1 play could have been a very important play…

Comment by mike 11.23.08 @ 4:49 pm

Speaking of Penalties, why was 74, can’t remember his name, from Pitt’s O line given an un-sportsman like conduct/late hit penalty? That was absolute bull. We had a decent drive and momentum at that point, and that penalty killed it. I’m so sick of how horrible the BE refs are, not just in Pitt’s games, but when I watch other conference games I notice how horrible they are as well.

Comment by Dugdog 11.23.08 @ 5:11 pm

Pitt played a nice game, some times the better team wins. I think the week off hurt, as they looked a little rusty. I agree, our receivers had the drops, and that never helps the qb. Didn’t watch the game as had to work, why did they not throw to Baldwin even in short chain mover plays? He has the only set of hands on the team.

Comment by Kurt 11.23.08 @ 5:28 pm

Everyone including Baldwin had a case of the dropsies. Not to dwell on penalties either, but the last PI call was a little bogus, hand fighting on an overthrown ball is not PI on Chappel I think, that was crap. But, Cinci made the plays when they needed to and Pitt didn’t, I have to give them credit. I just think there should have been more times/ opportunities down the stretch if the last 3 or so calls weren’t bogus.

Comment by PBnJ 11.23.08 @ 6:00 pm

I still think Bostick does more to be a winner than Stull. He throws picks, but he is always in the game and now we have more talent to compliment him. I think Stull is unable to really add to this team. I know I am not the majority in this thinking. But giving a guy one game to show his stuff is not a fair showing. Look how Stull did against Bowling Green. I also think Bostick places ball where receivers can get them.

Comment by Pittisforreal 11.24.08 @ 2:41 am

No one on the PITT squad played a ‘good’ game – with the exception of McKillop. I do think that Stull is getting way to much blame for this game, although I’ll also say that should Sunseri have a more complete athletic ability package at QB he needs a real chance to win the starting competition over the off season.

What I find interesting is that all of the major complaints about Bill Stull leading up to the game – mainly his accuracy and arm strength, were not factors in the game. Stull’s deep pass to Baldwin (hit him in-stride and right on the hands) and the TD pass to Dickerson were as well thrown long balls as you’ll see in CFB. Perhaps no one really wants to hear this but Jonathan Baldwin has a long way to go before he actually plays at the level PITT fans have already put him. Aside from a few deep passes for TDs I believe he’s not lived up to the hype in many ways – he certainly has a lot of work to do before he becomes a complete WR.

Our receivers should man up and take the heat for a lot of our offensive problems – they did nothing to help the cause.

Comment by Reed 11.24.08 @ 4:35 am

Powered by WordPress © PittBlather.com

Site Meter